Humanizing Cyber Security During Remote Work

Tessian’s mission is to secure the human layer. It uses machine learning to protect organizations from email threats like phishing, social engineering, non-compliant activity and accidental data loss with real-time alerts and warnings.

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Challenge

Mission North’s challenge was to help Tessian shift the traditional narrative of cybersecurity as a machine problem to a human problem. Our goal was to show businesses that data loss protection hinges on employees, who shouldn’t need to be security experts to keep their companies protected.

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Strategy

We participated in the growing conversation around phishing and remote work, driven by increased attacks targeting employees working from home during COVID-19. Mission North and Tessian developed a survey and report on employee stress levels while working remotely, how stress impacted their security behavior, and how often they made cybersecurity mistakes at work. To highlight the human aspects of this problem, Tessian partnered with Jeff Hancock, Stanford professor and expert in trust and deception, to add insight into human psychology. Mission North gave journalists the unique opportunity to speak with Jeff and with Tessian CEO Tim Sadler, who also co-authored an op-ed outlining why people fall for online scams. 

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Impact

Tessian’s survey results coupled with psychological insights resonated strongly with media. Tessian’s Psychology of Human Error Report garnered nearly 40 pieces of coverage in business outlets like San Francisco Business Times and Politico, including an in-depth feature in Business Insider. The report generated coverage from top tech and cybersecurity journalists at The Cyberwire, TechRadar and The Hacker News. Jeff and Tim’s co-authored article was published in Fast Company.

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