Activity: Creating Security Personas from Popular Media

Creating security personas is a valuable exercise in understanding the different perspectives and roles people assume concerning cyber security. This activity involves selecting a story from a play, TV drama, film, or book that deals with cyber security, and analyzing the characters based on their security positions.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Security Personas

1. Select a Story: Choose a narrative that resonates with you and has significant themes related to cyber security. This could be a story from a popular TV show like Mr. Robot, a film like The Matrix, a novel like Neuromancer by William Gibson, or even a stage play. The story should include characters who interact with or are affected by cyber security issues.
2. Identify Key Characters: Once you have selected the story, identify the main characters. Focus on those who have clear positions or attitudes toward cyber security. For example, in Mr. Robot, you might focus on characters like Elliot Alderson, a skilled hacker, and cybersecurity engineer, or Tyrell Wellick, a corporate executive with his own complex relationship to technology and security.
3. Sketch Character Profiles: In your activity journal, briefly sketch out the profiles of these characters. This should include:
   • Name and Role: Who is the character, and what role do they play in the story?
   • Background: What is their background, particularly related to technology or security?
   • Security Position: What is their stance or position regarding cyber security? Are they defenders, attackers, indifferent, or conflicted? Do they prioritize privacy, or are they more concerned with control and surveillance?
4. Analyze Their Security Positions: Analyze how these characters’ security positions reflect broader themes in cyber security. Consider the following questions:
   • Motivations: What motivates their security position? Is it personal gain, ethical beliefs, or societal pressure?
   • Impact: How does their security position affect the story’s outcome? Does it lead to greater security, or does it expose vulnerabilities?
   • Alignment with Real-World Perspectives: How do these fictional security positions align with real-world perspectives on cyber security? Do they reflect actual debates in the field, such as the balance between privacy and security?

Example: Analyzing Characters from Mr. Robot

Elliot Alderson

• Role: Protagonist, skilled hacker, and cybersecurity engineer.
• Background: Elliot has a deep understanding of technology and uses his skills both to protect and to disrupt. He suffers from mental health issues, which complicates his relationship with the digital world.
• Security Position: Elliot embodies the conflicted hacker persona. He is deeply concerned with privacy and the misuse of power by corporations and governments. He often uses his hacking skills to expose corruption, reflecting a position that prioritizes transparency and accountability over traditional security measures.

Tyrell Wellick

• Role: Corporate executive with ambitions of power and control.
• Background: Tyrell is highly ambitious and uses technology as a means to climb the corporate ladder. He is tech-savvy but is more interested in the power that technology can grant him.
• Security Position: Tyrell represents the corporate approach to security, which often prioritizes control, surveillance, and the consolidation of power. He is less concerned with individual privacy and more focused on using technology to maintain and expand his influence.

Book Reference for Further Reading

If you’re interested in exploring the concept of creating personas and understanding characters’ security positions in greater detail, I recommend the following book:

“Security and Usability: Designing Secure Systems That People Can Use” by Lorrie Faith Cranor and Simson Garfinkel.

This book provides insights into how to design security systems that take into account the human factors of security. It includes discussions on user personas, which can be very helpful when analyzing characters in stories or creating security personas.

Conclusion

Creating security personas based on characters from popular media is an effective way to understand the diverse perspectives and motivations that drive security behaviors. By analyzing these characters, you gain insight into how different positions on security are portrayed and can relate these fictional depictions to real-world scenarios. This exercise enhances your understanding of the complexity of cyber security and the various factors that influence it.