Improve Security by Adopting Aviation's 'Just Culture'
upstart writes:
When admitting to an error isn't seen as a failure, improvement easy to achieve:
To improve security, the cybersecurity industry needs to follow the aviation industry's shift from a blame culture to a "just" culture, according to director of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association Serge Christiaans.
Speaking at Singapore's Smart Cybersecurity Summit this week, Christiaans explained that until around 1990, the number of fatal commercial jet accidents was growing alongside a steady increase of commercial flights. But around the turn of the decade, the number of flights continued to rise while the number of fatalities began to drop.
[...] While acknowledging that improved technology, more mature processes and improved leadership all helped to improve aviation safety, the former pilot and field CISO at tech consultancy Sopra Steria said the biggest improvements came from a change to a "just culture" that accepts people will make mistakes and by doing so makes it more likely errors will be reported.
In a just culture, errors are viewed as learning opportunities instead of moral failing, creating transparency and enabling constant improvement.
[...] Christiaans said he is yet to come across a company that had implemented open reporting without punishment in cybersecurity.
He attributed this to the industry working from the top down. The people at the top worked hard to get to leadership roles and become resistant to change. Shifting culture therefore needs to start with new recruits.
[...] Furthermore, not all of the aviation industry has been a beacon of transparent culture. For example, whistleblowers have alleged that culture at Boeing emphasized profit over safety, ultimately leading to engineering decisions that caused the crash of two 737 MAX airplanes.
[...] But Christiaan's analysis may be true at least when it comes to pilots and airlines, especially when culture is changed with small steps.
"So you plant the seeds, some airlines adapt, some don't," said Christiaans. "The ones who adapt, succeed."
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