Think like a hacker: For neuroscientist, business professor at Columbia University, and former hacker Moran Cerf, the link between cybersecurity and neuroscience is instinctive. He points out that working in cybersecurity, particularly as a hacker, is often about understanding how people think and then spotting the gaps.That same shift in understanding, tuning into how the brain works under different conditions, can help cybersecurity leaders make better decisions and build more resilient teams. As Cerf highlights, he works with organizations to identify these optimal operating states, testing how individuals and entire teams respond to stress and when their brains are most effective.”The brain is not just a solid thing,” Cerf says. “It operates differently when you’re in different conditions; when you’re hungry versus full, when you’re alone versus with others, just before a deadline versus when you’re a few hours ahead. Once you know that, there’s the element of finding “¦ the conditions that make a person’s brain operate and perform their best.”He says this understanding can inform how CISOs divide tasks, assigning roles based on who thrives under which conditions, resulting in a reduction in burnout and a boost in performance. Stress isn’t the enemy, confusion is: Cerf, who once consulted global leaders on nuclear decision-making, says a key lesson from neuroscience is “we all like to believe we’re rational, composed, and logical thinkers, but rather our thinking is shaped by unseen assumptions, and the stories we tell ourselves”. That’s why Cerf urges leaders to challenge their own assumptions to help make better decisions under pressure.”I tell CEOs to assume for a second that you’re wrong about the fundamentals. It forces you to see how others might understand how things would work, how competitors do things”¦and ask them to see how far you can stretch your thinking.”Landowski and Cerf agree that stress in cybersecurity isn’t going away. But by understanding how the brain works, and taking small steps to support it, cyber leaders can build teams that not only endure high-stakes environments but excel in them.As Cerf puts it: “The thing is to know when your stress is debilitating and you can’t do anything, and when you’re stressed, but you’re still productive. If you learn to manage that, for yourself and your team, to be in the sweet spot then you can get more out of it and [stress] stops being negative.”
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