• Speaker: Dwayne McDaniel
• Room: CC 235
• Time: Sat 11:25 am – 11:55 am

• Format: Lecture (30 Min + Q&A)
• Difficulty: Introductory
• Track: Security / Privacy
• Presenter Location: Remote
• Experience: umpteenth time speaking
• At: anywhere

Organizations spend millions protecting servers and data. They run threat‑modeling exercises and employ red teams to test defenses. But in the process, it’s easy to lose sight of who we are actually protecting: the humans who rely on these systems and entrust them with their identities and personal information.

When security becomes the “Department of No,” it’s a sign that the focus has drifted away from people and toward purely technical concerns. This talk argues that sustainable, effective security requires understanding human needs, eliminating blame, and building alignment with users and colleagues.

Attendees will explore:

• Why technology alone cannot solve security
• How biases and assumptions undermine security programs
• Why blaming users is counterproductive
• How to build real relationships with developers, operators, and stakeholders
• How security teams can shift from bottlenecks to enablers
• What it means to make the secure way also the easiest and most sustainable way

This is a call to action: step away from the keyboard, have real conversations, and build security programs that protect people first.

Target Audience:

• Security professionals
• Developers
• DevOps engineers
• Anyone seeking to build more human‑centered security practices