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Published on:

11th Nov 2021

Security on Autopilot with Dr. Alan Dennis

Many studies of cyber security behavior treat behaviors as the result of conscious thought. But, most behaviors are automatic and occur without any conscious deliberation of the benefits and risks of the behavior. Psychologists call this automatic thinking System 1 cognition as opposed to the more deliberative System 2 cognition. Unfortunately, System 1 thinking has rarely been studied in the context of security behaviors. In this episode of Cyber Ways, we talk with Dr. Alan Dennis about his groundbreaking research on the role of automatic thinking in cyber security. 

Dr. Dennis is Professor of Information Systems and John T. Chambers Chair of Internet Systems at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. Dr. Dennis has written over 150 journal articles, with many of those published in top journals. He is Past President of the Association for Information Systems and also served as Vice President for Conferences. His many contributions to the field of information systems were recognized in 2012 when he was named a Fellow of the Association for Information Systems. In addition to his research and teaching, Dr. Dennis has been involved in several technology startups, including his current venture, Wisdom Springboard, which develops educational video games to help students learn analytics and cybersecurity.

Dennis, A. R., & Minas, R. K. (2018). Security on autopilot: Why current security theories hijack our thinking and lead us astray. ACM SIGMIS Database: The DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems, 49(SI), 15-38.

Email vanslyke@latech.edu for a copy of the paper.

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Cyber Ways is brought to you by the Center for Information Assurance, which is housed in the College of Business at Louisiana Tech University. The podcast is made possible through a "Just Business Grant," which is funded by the University's generous donors.

https://business.latech.edu/cyberways/

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About the Podcast

Cyber Ways Podcast
The Cyber Ways Podcast brings academic cyber security research into the "real world." We interview top academic researchers to find how their research can be put into practice by cyber security professionals. Our focus is on behavioral aspects of cyber security. Occasionally, we touch on related topics, such as information privacy and surveillance.Each episode discusses one published, peer-reviewed article to reveal the practical implications of the research. Your hosts, Tom Stafford and Craig Van Slyke, are both widely published information systems academics who keep one foot in the world of practice.The Cyber Ways Podcast is brought to you by the Center for Information Assurance at the Louisiana Tech University's College of Business. The Cyber Ways podcast is funded through a Just Business grant, made possible through the generosity of donors to the Louisiana Tech University College of Business.

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Craig Van Slyke

Dr. Tom Stafford and Dr. Craig Van Slyke are both widely published information systems academics who keep one foot in the world of practice.

Stafford serves as editor-in-chief of The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems, the longest continually-published MIS journal, and has previously edited 13 special issues of notable journals including Communications of the ACM, IEEE Transactions, and MIS Quarterly. He co-chaired the 2018 Americas Conference for Information Systems and chaired 2019 Dewald Roode Workshop on Information Systems Security Research. He has been selected to serve as the chair for the 2025 International Conference for Information Systems, one of the most notable yearly research meetings in the field of business technology.

Van Slyke, former dean of the W.A. Franke College of Business at Northern Arizona University, has published over 40 articles in respected academic journals including Decision Sciences, Communications of the ACM, European Journal of Information Systems, and Journal of the Association for Information Systems. His fourth co-authored textbook, “Information Systems in Business: An Experiential Approach,” is in its fourth edition, and his first trade book, “On Leadership and Life: Essays on Leading and Living Well,” was published in 2017.