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This article was written by Joshua Goldfarb, Field CISO, F5, and published on DarkReading (www.darkreading.com). I am posting his article in its entirety (including some grammar edits) as it is an excellent observation of today's world. My first bachelor’s degree was a BA in English from DePauw University. In today’s world of high-tech, we often forget the fine arts. We studied art, poetry, and literary classics. I have found that learning more than accounting and software development skills has benefited me personally and in business. Enjoy the article.

Jim McKee, CEO of Red Sky Alliance Corp.

How Art Appreciation Supplements Cybersecurity Skills - Using different parts of our brains gives us different perspectives on the world around us and new approaches to the problems we face in security.

COMMENTARY - I recently delivered one of the keynotes at the Fall Summit 2024 for the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC). This industry consortium works to build cybersecurity and resilience in the global financial system. My talk began with a lyrical analysis of the Joni Mitchell song "Both Sides Now" and discussed how we can take lessons from it and apply them to our security programs.
To be clear, this was a risk. An audience of security professionals and security executives in the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) vertical looking for information about technical innovation and new research may not respond positively to a talk that centers on a lyrical analysis of a song written in the 1960s.
If you aren't familiar with the lyrics, I highly encourage you to listen; it's a great song.

I learned that people like it when we draw inspiration from sources outside of cybersecurity. After all, we are a relatively new field, and other professions have likely figured out a few things we're still trying to work out. Security professionals can and should learn from different fields and apply those lessons to their work.

1. Pay Attention - The analog world has many lessons to teach us. Inspiration, ideas, and solutions are all around us. We need to open our eyes to what surrounds us. It is not easy to take everything when we are focused on our jobs and everyday life, but it is still worth taking a step back now and again to take on the broader world and the lessons it can teach us. Many of them apply to the security challenges we face.
2. Open a Book - It may seem old-fashioned, but books are still among the most amazing sources of knowledge and inspiration. Whether classic or modern, some of the top authors have grappled with, processed, thought through, and written about some of the most challenging issues. It would be silly to cast all that aside and believe there isn't anything we can learn from as a security community. So, while William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Leo Tolstoy, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, and others may not immediately bring security to mind, we are almost sure to find essential lessons in their works.
3. Read Poetry - One of the things that amazes me most is how poets can take the exact words that most of us use daily and form them into the most beautiful works of art. Aside from the powerful messages that poems can convey, there is a unique angle to problem-solving that poets take to be able to transform language as they do. As security professionals, we can learn a lot from both the messages that poets convey and how they do so. As security professionals, we can certainly learn to communicate more valuable messages to our stakeholders and how to express those messages more clearly.
4. Listen to Lyrics - Although I only recently gave my first talk based on lyrical analysis, I have been listening to and analyzing lyrics for quite some time. Like authors and poets, good lyricists are talented at getting powerful messages into relatively few words. In the security field, we can learn a lot from this. First off, understanding that our management, executives, and other stakeholders want fewer but more powerful words from us is an important lesson. So is being able to deliver that message in a catchy, fun, or impactful manner, as with music. While filling reports and presentations with an overdose of data may be tempting, successful lyricists would advise us otherwise.
5.  Appreciate Art - If you've ever seen an original work of art (in a museum, for example), you know that it can sometimes take you back in a way that seeing it online or seeing a replica cannot. While I am not visual, I can appreciate that some people are. As security professionals, we can learn from this. Some people need to see data come alive visually to internalize it. We can take inspiration and learn from other fields that have worked out how to present data visually
6.  Study Creativity - Creativity comes in many forms. Whether someone is an author, a poet, a lyricist, an artist, or any other creative type, they all share one thing: They take inspiration from the world around them and synthesize something new. As security professionals, we can learn from this. There is no shortage of the same old conventional wisdom floating around our industry. Much of that conventional wisdom has led to less-than-ideal outcomes. If we allow them to, creative thinking, fresh ideas, and new approaches could do wonders for our field.

Coda - Literature, poetry, music, and art may not be sources you consider when looking for fresh thinking around security problems. They probably should be, though. Other fields that have been around considerably longer than the security field are likely good sources of inspiration for creative approaches to solving security issues. It seems like it’s about time we consider that when looking to advance the state of our field.

This article is shared at no charge and is for educational and informational purposes only.

Red Sky Alliance is a Cyber Threat Analysis and Intelligence Service organization. We provide indicators of compromise information via a notification service (RedXray) or an analysis service (CTAC). For questions, comments, or assistance, please get in touch with the office directly at 1-844-492-7225 or feedback@redskyalliance.com

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