Scare-first security awareness fails, say Cygenta's Dr. Jessica Barker, MBE and FC. They tell Sean Martin at ISC2 Security Congress why fear works only in the short term and how stories can make people feel able to use AI safely.
⬥EPISODE NOTES⬥
Telling people how frightening the threat is does not make them safer. Dr. Jessica Barker, MBE says that when people are scared, they either feel they cannot use the technology or decide the threat is being overblown. Both outcomes are bad.
Sean Martin talks with Dr. Jessica Barker, MBE and FC, her co-founder at Cygenta, live at ISC2 Security Congress in Denver, about how to communicate AI risk without frightening people away from it.
Jessica tells of a man who, after being told about cybersecurity, was so scared that he basically did not use the internet. He went to buy his son a Christmas gift from a shop in person in London and refused to buy it online. She says it summed it all up for her. FC says that when he and Jessica first met, he was very much trying to scare people. She pointed out that fear works only in the short term, and he says he instantly changed how he presented threats.
On AI, Jessica says you cannot talk about it without talking about the threat, and that it is important to honor the fact that it is real. Their focus is on empowering people through stories. The conversation also covers what happens when organizations ban AI, why people can use AI with no malicious intent and still end up with malicious results, and why fundamentals like patching still matter. FC compares AI to cars, which he says everyone once called the most dangerous thing ever, and says the net benefit of AI to the world is positive.
For security leaders, the point is practical: the way a risk is told shapes whether people use technology well, avoid it entirely, or work around the rules.
⬥HOST⬥
Sean Martin, Co-Founder and CTO at ITSPmagazine
⬥GUESTS⬥
Dr. Jessica Barker, MBE, Co-Founder and co-CEO at Cygenta
FC, Co-CEO and Co-Founder, Head of Ethical Hacking at Cygenta
⬥RESOURCES⬥
ISC2 Security Congress coverage: https://www.itspmagazine.com/blog?p=isc2-security-congress-2026-on-location
Malicious AI Assistant Extensions Harvest LLM Chat Histories: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2026/03/05/malicious-ai-assistant-extensions-harvest-llm-chat-histories/
Cygenta: https://www.cygenta.co.uk
ISC2 Security Congress: https://www.isc2.org/Congress
The Future of Cybersecurity Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7108625890296614912/
On Location: https://www.itspmagazine.com/on-location
⬥KEYWORDS⬥
sean martin, dr. jessica barker, fc, freakyclown, cygenta, isc2 security congress, ai risk communication, security awareness, security culture, empowerment through stories, ai browser extensions, patching, ethical hacking, on location, itspmagazine
For all of the content in this series, have a look at the main series post, Sean Martin is Live from ISC2 Security Congress 2026: https://www.itspmagazine.com/blog?p=isc2-security-congress-2026-on-location