A continuación, te explicamos cómo puedes involucrar y educar a tu audiencia en materia de seguridad de la información utilizando técnicas de narración de historias.

Na minha opinião, usar storytelling para envolver e educar o público em segurança da informação é uma técnica poderosa e eficaz. Se fosse eu, começaria por identificar o público-alvo e seus interesses, adaptando as histórias para atender às suas necessidades e expectativas. Na minha experiência, teve momentos em que histórias reais de ataques cibernéticos, com personagens e enredos envolventes, ajudaram a despertar a atenção e a compreensão do público, mostrando as consequências reais das falhas de segurança.

The hook is as an industry colleague of mine (Dustin Lehr) just described in a LinkedIn comment to my cyber newsletter, part of the psychology of engagement. Gamification plays a crucial role here in Information Security. In summary we must; 1. Tap into people's true motivations 2. Understand what drives a sense of fulfilment 3. Design great experiences 4. Learn together The hook can thus be the game, but the game is merely the connector to a much deeper sense of engagement and ultimately responsibility. We must make cyber relatable, understandable, meaningful. Take these components away, we will not get adoption or engagement - it becomes just a meaningless process that's lower in priority.

We can extend the metaphors in games into characters. I love playing with amusing parallels and to simplify stories and journeys. Its really cool to engage in a Jane or Bob et al journey and wear their shoes in the journey. We can create really engaging narratives too to explain concepts. It sure beats a policy huh? Much as a picture explains a 1000 words, a narrative or journey does the same with respect to information security (and what can be viewed as meaningless policies therein). Let's bring it alive, look at scenarios and consequences. Let's create decision trees that can lead to different outcomes and endings in the story and this shows us the critical path to learn from. Be creative. Why not - cyber is fun!

Emotional appeal is a powerful tool in storytelling, but keep it real. When your audience feels an emotional connection to the characters or the situation, they are more likely to retain the information presented it will make it memorable, we're hard wired that way. Make sure you're using relatable scenarios and genuine struggles faced by the characters, this makes our breaks stories, and, if the narration strikes the wrong chords it creates a negative effect. Authenticity in depicting emotions and outcomes is the key and departing as little as possible from reality will generate empathy to reinforce the lessons conveyed.

Emotional connections in cyber are tools of engagement that are much like that of a film director. The director wants to paint a picture, set a scene, create a journey and keep the user "present" on their engagement timeline. A director is an expert at this. We need to do the same and create an appeal to our people; our audience. If the brain is engaged it will work on the material, analyse it and create inference. There is little point in the opposite as the information in short term memory will have no appeal (hooks) and will not stick to the existing infrastructure as its not processed. For things to stick, they have to be processed. To be processed, they need attention which is achieved though all the points in this article.

Visuals are so powerful. They tell stories. And we can get super creative. I always take with me a pad or clipboard and when I speak with people and they start describing something interesting, I will draw it. It becomes a focal point of engagement and collaboration. It is easily mentally relatable as its a representation and summation of what we are discussing. I feel it is also respectful as its shows the person you are working with that you are processing and listening to what they have to say. I love sharing the visual and asking for people to annotate, elaborate or even erase. The point is here that visual material is interactive. Its rich in detail and its an encoded artefact of a complex conversation. Its powerful & its sticks.

Stories are great. Outcomes are better. Let's have our people, our teams, our users share stories themselves as to what they have learned in interactive cyber security and information security storytelling. It can be as radically simple as sharing "how I goofed up" and was caught in a simulation (very powerful that as others then tend to come forward) through to "I did not think about that until we walked the journey as a team". These practical takeaways and lessons worked well for eons in the past in myths / fables. They stick as there is always an interactive element to translate a character journey into reality and map it to ourselves. This is one of the reasons why I am going back to my roots in psychology so it can inform cyber.