Who is Shira Rubinoff? We look at the cybersecurity author

Shira Rubinoff is a recognised cybersecurity executive, cybersecurity and blockchain advisor, global keynote speaker and influencer, who has built two cybersecurity product companies and led multiple women-in-technology efforts. She currently serves as President of the NYC-based technology incubator, Prime Tech Partners and the social-media-security firm, SecureMySocial. She also serves on the Boards of Pace University Cybersecurity Programme, The Executive Women’s Forum for Information Security, Leading Women in Technology, the blockchain company, Mainframe, and the artificial intelligence (AI) companies, TrueConnect & Pypestream.

An expert in the human factors of information technology and security, Rubinoff was named one of New Jersey’s Best 50 Women in Business, was named by CSO Magazine as a Woman of Influence, was honoured by CSO and the EWF with their “One to Watch” award and was honoured as the 2017 "Outstanding Woman in Infosec" by the CyberHub Summit. She has also been calculated by analysts to be the top female cybersecurity influencer globally on social media. Rubinoff also created numerous video series including a series of interviews with the top executives of the most prominent cybersecurity and technology companies.

Rubinoff provides guidance to numerous Fortune 100 companies in areas related to cybersecurity and company thought leadership, and consults to various organisations in areas of business development and organisational dynamics. She has published many articles, and lectures, on topics related to the human factors of cybersecurity, blockchain, and related topics and holds several patents/patents-pending in areas related to the application of psychology to improve information technology and Cybersecurity.

In an excerpt from her book Cyber Minds, Rubinoff says: 

“Human factors and cybersecurity go hand-in-hand. First, to be cyber-secure, the elements of security technology must be addressed. While you're executing this monumental task, remember that human factors ought to be a fundamental consideration when creating your security protocols. How humans are approached when implementing security compliance will ultimately determine the level of security within a given organisation.

“The human is the weakest link in the cybersecurity chain; make them part of the solution, not the problem. In my experience, this is the most powerful sentence to consider when thinking about the overall cybersecurity of an organization. I repeat, the human is always the weakest link in the security chain; and that's true on both sides of security. Security is built to protect humans, but it's built by humans and the bad actors attempting to break down security are human too. Humans are the common thread, always the centerpiece of both the security problem and the solution.

“Given that there are humans involved in every step of the way, an organization can decide to take the view that humans are the problem and govern from that perspective. Alternatively, they can flip their vantage point and take the position that humans are the solution.

With that in mind, they can implement proper cyber hygiene in the organization, while simultaneously unifying their team, as humans take centre-stage as the solution. Needless to say, the latter is a much more compelling and effective way to tackle your greatest security challenges.

“Making humans the linchpin of your organisation's security solutions empowers your employees. It also helps to lay the groundwork for a loyal and cohesive workforce, bound together and working in concert, ensuring your company is secure from the inside out.

“Following this philosophy, you'll be much more likely to create an environment with proper cyber hygiene, which is crucial in today's ever-more-dangerous world. Cyber hygiene is pivotal in curtailing both malicious insider threats from disgruntled or opportunistic employees, and non-malicious insider threats from oblivious or negligent employees.

“Organisational culture is the tie that binds people together, and that inevitably determines the efficacy of entire organizations. It's important to step back and review how the culture around cybersecurity has evolved substantially in recent times, and how it's become an entirely different process over the years.”