Cyber crime is a rapidly growing issue and small-to-medium size businesses (SMEs) are increasingly in the sights of Cyber Criminals. So why do so many SMEs still treat Cyber crime like a mythical beast? We believe that part of the problem is due to a communication barrier between information security professionals and businesses, making the subject of Cyber Security seem hard to comprehend. With this in mind, when we exhibited at CYBERUK 2017, one of our goals was to bridge this gap and demystify this otherwise jargon-filled world, making it comprehensible to everybody.
Our Solution
To do this, we enlisted the help of two students from the Manchester School of Art, Hannah Williams and Emily Clarey. Together we used the concept of ‘Communication through Illustration’ to deliver our key messages. This visual way of communicating information is an established and powerful technique. Road signs, emojis, logos and icons – these are all simple and effective representations, providing information or directives. It’s likely that you’ve encountered and interpreted many of these visual cues already today.
This method was used to design informative and engaging artwork for our exhibition stand to convey our philosophy, as well as an animated video explaining our approach and how small, incremental improvements can contribute to better security. Hannah and Emily also attended the conference and illustrated some of the discussions that the team had with delegates, as well as some talks.
Their graphics efficiently and intuitively depicted the speeches’ key points.
This all-inclusive way of communicating enabled clear and meaningful information to be delivered effectively to all. It’s definitely a strategy we will continue to use.
“Techie” speak and jargon may be rife in information security, but we acknowledge that the way we communicate and express our message is crucial to how well it’s received and understood. For this reason we will continue to exclude unnecessary, confusing language and connect in the most straight-forward and comprehensible way possible.
Cyber security can be a complex topic but it affects us all, and so it needs to be understandable whether you’re an expert in the subject, or a novice. And as a wise woman once said, “Security has to work for people, or it doesn’t work.”
