Brain vs Cyber - Holly Foxcroft

right firstly heyy oh I've been wanting to say that for so many years um my dad was a northerner and I'm from Portsmouth um not only have I traveled all the way from Portsmouth um the night before I actually travel back from holiday with two very feral children um with a nearly 5H hour delay which meant I literally drove from Gatwick back to here which my daughter screamed for 4 hours on a plane and then did a 7-hour drive up here to find my laptop wasn't working and I hadn't finished my slides so they were finished about 20 minutes ago Rosie yeah about that so who my pictures haven't come up oh I know I know why it's my

phone two seconds I'll be back right there's a picture of me but you'll know what I look like now don't walk don't walk um so who am I and why am I talking to you um my name is Holly Foxcroft some of you may know know me because I post a lot on LinkedIn um and also I'm a friend to so many people in cyber um I stand for um a lot of people who suffer through inequality um through being ostracized I myself am autistic and I have ADHD I have have devoted my entire career to supporting uh neuro inclusion and understanding the role of neuro diversity and how it affects cyber security how it affects our communities

our um behaviors online um and supporting more people with the skills in cyber that aren't quite in cyber or getting paid for it through um let's just say meaningful Avenues um hopefully the next pictures are going to come up they're not so first of all let's just talk about what neurodiversity is some of us know the words some of us think we know the words um so I'm going to start off just um uh a very Bas layer of explaining neurodiversity is the concept that we all as humans think learn process information and our environments differently that difference is a form of natural human variation like we all have different hair color some we were born

with some we modified and we have different eye color we have different SK um skin color and our brain neurot types are different but also they can be different throughout our lives and throughout how our environment or health impacts us now we may know some neurod Divergence or um neurod Divergent um conditions which are down in the bottom left such as autism ADHD many of us think neurod Divergence is just autism we just think that that's what we're talking about and hopefully we'll learn a bit more about what that term actually means as we go through this talk so here's some quite string statistics all of these are taken within the last two years um I'm really excited

for this year's statistics because I cannot wait to see how much they Skyrocket this is to really show you how shocking neurodiversity or neurod Divergence in particular is still very much not being spoken about and supported enough and this isn't just within cyber this is from talking about children right through to adulthood if we just look at that first one by the age 10 children who have ADHD characteristics of ADHD can be impulsivity uh impulsivity doesn't always mean that yeah I'm playing with a Peg and I'll always be fiddling with something does anyone seen these Pockets we' got a little fiddle thing inside did you just did you do this just for me amazing um but particularly with women

it's actually all in our head it's like we got 27,1 um browsers open one of them is playing music but you don't know which one but outside you're calm so when you quickly change topics of conversation oh just stop talking or if a child is just moving about just sit still an average a child with ADHD will receive 20,000 more negative messages growing up and if we look at how that will affect a young person's brain through development it's going to have an effect long term on their mental health uh 15 to 20% of individuals are diagnosed with um neurod Divergent condition or neurod Divergence as I like to say but I am aware there are going to

be lots of language barriers here but the term we just say is neurod Divergence um that's going to double that's going to double and that also only includes the individuals who have received a diagnosis and there are many barriers to even getting that receiving that diagnosis especially if you're an adult only 29% of autistic adults are in paid employment which can be full-time or part-time 6 million um people in the UK thought to have uh dyslexia and the one that really upsets me the most is that still 65% of employees feared discrimination from Management in employment as a result of them being neurod divergent or disclosing their neurod Divergence oh oh gone too far so how

many of us just a show of hand know someone is someone or is close to someone who is neurod Divergent oh we're all a little bit spicy in here I love it okay how many of those is a child majority that's because more children are getting diagnosed why because we know more about it we know more actually it was up until the 1990s that the autism criteria was based on young boys so sorry ladies you wouldn't have received that also until the early 2000s you couldn't receive an ADHD diag nois if you were an adult it was only thought to affect children so these statistics are actually taken from the NHS um and there is a 787 per rise in

the number of diagnosises between 1998 2018 oh I'm not very good at this where did it all come from it's always been there sorry to shock you all we've always had it and I love this this um this is actually quite known in the uh autist Community um Mount Everest wasn't discovered until 1856 it was there the whole time it's how we have looked for autism it's how we have looked and understood but also accepted the characteristics of how people present themselves of how people learn of how people think so before the way that we treated neurod Divergence was actually through punishment shame ostracizing the different people over there I would definitely have been burned at the stake

probably in multiple lives um but that difference that showing that that person isn't quite like us that goes apart from as we as humans like we're we're really feeble we don't run very fast we don't have razor sharp teeth we don't have really big you know thick skin so we we do what the Penguins do and we do safety and numbers and if someone's a little bit different or if someone says that difference is not welcomed or accepted and what we've seen with how we've you know kind of gelled together at particularly in the western world is through I can never say these words colonialism and capitalism capitalism is that you have to be able to contribute to what we're

building as a society and if you can't do that in the way that we need you're not fit for this Society so neurod Divergence or differences were punished another example of this is labeling I've got my label but here we have a young child uh stood on a stool in a stressed position which would be physically stressful on their body uh and they're wearing that really fancy cone on their head which is called the dance cap uh fun fact actually that's called a thinking cap and it was actually designed to help you process your thoughts but they use it to make you look stupid and say that you are not learning properly or the class clown there's

there's lots of different ways that we can um we can say that we understand what this looks like and it would be that you're labeling that person you're labeling that person as different as stupid as not how we are assessing for people to be worthy when my son who should be with us today but again he's sleeping probably quite soundly which I wish sometimes I was doing um when he was going through his diagnosis I had this phrase said to me so many times you don't want to label him you don't want to label him yeah I do cuz this is a label this is my label um there's probably a few more to add to that um a

label is just something that gives us Specific Instructions it gives us a specific set of help guidance that helps us get the best out of something like our clothes label that we have and I I say this because I don't even know how to use a clothes label I don't understand what any of those things mean everything just goes in the washing machine at either 20 30 or 40 depending on uh how dirty it is and I hope for the best however it's only that labeling people as different that we see it as bad almost criminogenic and deviant but labeling is a positive reinforcement of how we should have support and be equal to equity from our

community peers and Workforce it's not a bad thing so we're all spicy we're all a little bit uh got a bit of neurod Divergent traits does that mean oh we're all a little bit autistic thank you for not saying yes because I probably would have just lost myself we're not what we have is something called spiky profiles up down up down and um on here this is what a neur and neurod Divergence uh has different um characteristics behaviors but we will all have some of this or not enough of what we would deem to be acceptable in a way um and we're all to be different so anyone else who's autistic ADHD may be looking at me and

thinking well I've got the same label as her and I'm definitely not acting like her let me tell you I could barely butter my toast this morning because I was so nervous being in a hotel that I didn't know bit different to me standing up here quite happily talking to a room full of people um and it affects us differently uh fixations this morning I had to have a different breakfast to what I've been used to eating for a week and has anyone ever had that holiday food and you get so obsessed with it and then there's that sudden realization you're never going to have it again unless you go back there that was me this morning

absolutely devastated but I do get fixated on on certain things this Peg is fast becoming one of them actually so this is what a neurod Divergence can look like and it's how much or how little you have these characteristics uh that would deem you to be neurod Divergent so no we are not all a little bit autistic we do share similarities and we share some that can be seen as similar but it doesn't mean that you are warrant to have that diagnosis also means that I'm a Huff puff because we all have differences and what is normal normal I want to replace with neuron normativity neuronormative standards because we're all normal but what is different is neuronormative standards

ways that is accepted by either our Societies or our communities as being accepted behaviors or characteristics or way to do things way to talk way to learn and in the West in particularly we have adopted our neuronormative standards and just to throw a bit of a curveball British people have gotten made it even worse too polite sometimes things just need to be said the way they need to be said and actually if you go over to uh the nordics uh autism profiles and very black and white in their delivery sometimes isn't picked up as much because that's just the way you talk um for example I if you ask me any question regardless if it's rhetoric you

will always get an answer I I personally I don't understand I also really struggle with humor um some jokes just completely go over the top of me because I just answer jokes if you ask if you say like a oneliner for me I I I to and I I still don't pick up on them as much but again neuronormative standards and they're societally set they are societally set but also they're culturally set what your employer wants how you fit in culturally there and those neuronormative standards can define whether you fit into a place and unfortunately many places follow try not to swear am I allowed to swear oh thank feather I'm a swearer sorry um they're

they're bullshitting that they follow hierarchy um and what's I'm going to throw um a few um Outsider thoughts in as I go through this because I want to stand here and say we should all love and accept people and everybody should be but that's not the reality actually you are in charge of your own your own normative ex expectations and what you should um accept what you are in charge of you are in charge of your own psychological safety you are in charge of your own environment what's normal for you if you are feeling ostracized find a way to make yourself feel safe but it is down to our employer as well in supporting people that do are

being bullied ostracized or mismanaged because sometimes being neurodivergent means you're only ever accepted if you are the superhero and where is this come from media representation has anyone met or seen or heard of this chat for those who don't this chap is um autistic and non-verbal um meaning he doesn't communicate with his voice and I want to say that's London or New York it is New York so he flew up in a helicopter they drove him around they then put him in a room with a massive long bit of paper like this and he drew it to scale I could just about draw a fox so fair play but we accept that he's a superhero

he's amazing he's Fantastic look what he can do other representations of neurod Divergence in this one I'm using autism as an example um and this I've had to change because it's generational I said Rainman to a few people no one knew who I was talking about when I was talking to a lot of University students they were like don't know who that is so uh to support everyone here are some fantastic example of how we've seen and accepted neurod Divergence but I want to pay a bit of attention to the last one because what we have seen recently in me of representation is that if you want to be a hacker right first one got to be

white second You' got to be a man have to wear the hoodie now it's autism that's social side those autistic characteristics another one is Scorpion um and that hasn't actually fed off of nothing we have had it fed to us or media representation because in 2017 the National Crime agency released in their Pathways into cyber crime report that autistic like traits are noticed in Pathways into cyber crime ouch that pissed me off quite a lot which I'm going to go into but we're not all superheroes and we don't need to be superheroes just to be be accepted when normal people doing normal things just our neuronormative normative standards may be different and it's about you understanding where our

shortfalls are and helping us because being neurod Divergent doesn't just come without those amazing superpowers of maths English and drawing actually we are more plagued with experiencing poor mental health and for longer periods and co-occurring mental health conditions and in cyber security we are plagued with poor mental health we are always in crisis mode um and our industry from what we are research or what research has shown is that we are at level with Frontline healthcare workers in terms of receive and being stressed but also our industry has more neurode Divergent people oh so why the hell am I talking about all of this at a cyber security conference I all probably s I think

we're at the wrong pides um so where does all of this fit within cyber security so I spoke about it earlier in 2017 that original research that came out noticing autistic like traits that really pissed me off that really pissed me off because much like that media representation has done it just feeds into the narrative that yet again neurod Divergence is criminogenic deviant people to be a afraid of so in 2019 I put my pen to paper which is a really hard thing for me to do um and I wrote research with um Regional organized cyber crime units that looked into the vulnerabilities of neurodivergence that contribute towards Pathways into cyber crime not just looking at one community of people and

making it only about that but actually what what are those vulnerabilities and how do they support people going into Pathways into cyber crime particularly looking at younger generations and I looked at um crimin existing criminogenic theories and social learning theories really good actually got a really got a really um nice shiny certificate and a picture of me and a silly hat for it um and now I want to take it one step further which is what I'm going to start explaining about it and hopefully pull this talk together how far am I oh bloody hell so first of all why do we first need it this one's the obvious one because cyber security is diverse and we need diversity and

also they weren't actually lying when they found out that there was a lot of neurod Divergence in cyber crime so if the adversaries are thinking a bit differently we're going to need some people that also think a bit differently on the other side of the fence to support us but one of the biggest barriers is helping those people into employment and keeping those people in employment and supporting them one of the biggest barriers is recruitment news flash I'm still autistic after you hire me so stop just focusing on the recruitment side and start looking at the wider more uh The Wider full employee life cycle we are amazing problem solvers why we think differently a dyslexic person actually

thinks in 3D if any of you have got a really nice house and you're making it even nicer look for an architect with dyslexia uh the way that they can see things in their mind uh is different it is innovative and the way that people can assess problems I'm really rushing through these now because I've only got 10 minutes when I say enhanced focus and dedication and I speak to a lot of people in cyber security in this room how many of you have had a problem and not slept drank ate probably taken your eyes away from something until that problem is fixed oh look at that that still goes for when you're in that workplace employers I'm looking at

you to support those people that may need help in reminding to go to the toilet that's me now let's look at the other side the vulnerability side because again I can talk to you all day about Earth strengths but that's not without service just showing you that that there is also needing further support so let's look outside of our cyber security teams and actually look at it from a risk management perspective for our wider organizations or understanding as we're going through our cyber security careers in understanding managing human risk there are other people who may be more susceptible to social engineering and the social side of cyber security attacks because of their differences in terms of neuronormative

Standards I'm going to talk about sales teams now right if we look at how humans are with our how uh how we act and behave um our ad HD profiles are our hunters and we've had hunters for for years years and years you know when we used to chase BS right now till we chase a sales lead probably the same characteristics if you want any information out of someone go to the sales team they'll give you anything sometimes but that can be considered as a vulnerability and how are you supporting people through that or how are you except or how are you widening your security awareness particularly if you're looking at Behavior change in addressing

that the needs for accommodation and support when we talk about neurod Divergence a lot of it is focused on learning if your security awareness is still focusing on check the spelling of a link I still can't I still spell neurodiversity wrong wow and generally there probably is a neurodiversity he spelled wrong somewhere in this presentation how are we supporting people in needs and accommodations and The Wider expectation of people understanding the language we're talking which to a lot of people is Goble deg anyway how do we measure that they are fully supporting an understanding that are we giving them the right tools if your crisis management plan is a lovely document that you've got to

read how are people going to make sure that they're going to sit there and read that how is it delivered I haven't got long I'd love to talk I'll be here all day come and talk to me more about this because I've got to flip through these slides go click the link and you try telling that to somebody who is either ADHD or has impulsivity which can be a result of other Behavior factors but also stress stress and mindfulness play a huge part in cyber security aware in cyber SEC what the word am I looking for risk management when we just click links we get something really quick and we just oh yes of course I've got one of

those bloody anniversaries that's popped up on my LinkedIn today and I'm getting about 4,000 people saying congratulations for a year at doing the something with the BCS it's doing my heading what am I doing this constantly what if accidentally click and open something you can't so can we double it um you can't just rely on people not clicking something you can't just rely on that just only being the support you're going to give someone particularly if you are going to have higher impulsivity rates both emotional as then quick quick and why does this matter so much because we love it we love a notification now generation Alpha who's my children if they get a piece of information

conflicting information one from a parent one from a one from a device like Alexa or Google information retrieved from the internet they're going to believe the internet Alexa or Echo more than the parent or teacher our dopamine harvesting actually is coming from the over notification hits it's not something that's going to harm us we don't go and see a stinging nettle and think oh I'm gonna squeeze it well that's actually not true um has anyone ever walked across a bridge and thought I just wonder what it would feel like if I jumped off right now impulsivity let's go back one slide impulsive thoughts intrusive thoughts but dopamine hits and we are a um a society now that is also plagued with

technology addiction I'm also the cyber security lead for the Portsmouth education partnership and I'm leading all of Portsmouth School colleges through uh digital transformation with me running behind all of the teachers going cyber security you're not making them safe and my big one is dis and misinformation and digital citizenship understanding what those harms are but you try doing that with a load of addicts because we are addicted to technology so um here are some of the um I just listed three here but again come come and find me and pick my brain cuz I love chat about how this can actually affect your cyber security posture now here's a real big elephant in the room not every neurode Divergent

person's a good person sometimes we can be our soul I said it I said it uh just because a person has a label of autism or ADHD doesn't mean that they are excluded from not being a bit of a um I can be that sometimes uh mainly when I'm over stimulated or if I have an opinion about something and I struggle to then understand why someone may have conflicting information H now imagine being a manager imagine being my manager cuz I am horrific to manage I never do paperwork it's always late and I'm I run over sorry this is going to run over just by a couple of minutes um now that's not fair when you're

neurod Divergent individual for not being managed but who's training the manager who's training and supporting the manager so again elephant in the room neurod Divergence doesn't just then warrant that people are good people and we also need to support our managers and our leaders in managing neurodiverse neurodiverse teams how does that look how are you going to get the best out of neurodiverse um employees your training and awareness it's more than just me standing up here giving you a lovely chat it's implementing how neurod diversity impacts um organizations and I have got such a keen interest in how it affects security um sub security posture um again training really is key finding out where those

loopholes are where are you falling short within organizations where are you not supporting people and there's 65% of people that feel discriminated against training and awareness supports them coming soon future way I talked about the past talked about the present now the future Future's not ready yet um future is me crying every single night into uh Portsmouth University Library website writing tearing up and then WR rewriting at the moment because I'm a handwriter so I actually want to I am measuring um and getting some um some data into how that impacts you know impulsivity internet addiction actually um affects cyber security posture and I'm measuring it against quite some quite large corporations and I'm implementing some practices to put proof

in the pudding in that we need to we need to consider how neurod Divergence affects cyber security posture in how it's delivered so yeah coming soon to a screen near you probably and just remember when I asked you earlier about neurod Divergence we're all neurodiverse all of us some of us are neurod Divergent all the time we were just born that way um and some of us will actually experience neurod Divergence at different parts in our lives and here's some examples and this is hopefully just going to bring home of why we need to be more empathetic so the first one is grief I actually posted about this not long ago on LinkedIn if you geve for longer than

6 months when you're a Divergent guys because you're not supposed to once your six months is up and you miss that person or pet or thing I don't know what else do you grieve that's about it isn't it um if you're still grieving get yourself down to the doctor get yourself some SSRI upt takers which are your anti-depressants because you're not allowed to grieve after 6 months it's it's deemed as um a what was it persistent complex Bri disorder just grief there is no one who should tell you how to grief again is a societal expectation that we move on to contribute back into our society of working and capitalism another one menopause menopause can also be

considered as neurode Divergence brain fog heightened anxiety remember when I went back to that clicking of the links if you're really really stressed don't do that cuz now I'm stressed oh 52 seconds o um acts of neurod Divergence I actually had an act of neurod Divergence last year I had a really bad case of sepsis was in hospital was absolutely way with the fairies I couldn't remember my own name for a good week but it's how we accept that neurod Divergence in everyday life and having more empathy for people that experience it every single day CU at one stage we we're all going to be neurode Divergent so remember just do the best that you can and in the place that you

are and just be kind oh my thank you didn't come up NE did my email address scan that is safe how many how many seconds oh way past that 3 2 one this is the first time I've ever been on time for anything

oh can I say one more thing well one last thing I'm not really on time um I forgot um if anyone is neurod Divergent and they want to disclose if they've recently received that diagnosis and they just don't know what to do talk to me because I have pre-written letters emails and a and a passport which will help you articulate the support you need I offer free coaching calls to people who want that support but just don't know how to ask for it so contact me even if you don't feel comfortable today you can't drop my email address because it's not there but you can scan that or just search me on LinkedIn and I'll

arrange that call with you because it's scary that was it that was it