Compromising Positions - A Technology Podcast

In this episode, we launch our new mini-series, How Technology Ruined Your Life, with the first chapter: The Persuasion Machine. AI has crossed an important threshold. Large Language Models are no longer just generating text, they are demonstrating the ability to influence, persuade, and even deceive humans at a level comparable to, and in some cases exceeding, other people. Drawing on a growing body of research into AI-mediated persuasion, we explore how conversational AI can adapt its arguments in real time, profile users psychologically, exploit emotional vulnerabilities, and personalise influence campaigns at unprecedented scale. What happens when propaganda learns to listen, respond, and optimise itself for every individual it encounters? We examine the emerging cybersecurity implications of AI-powered persuasion, from hyper-personalised phishing campaigns and deepfake executives to romance scams, insider threats, and influence operations. The discussion covers deceptive persuasion taxonomies, personality-based targeting, OSINT-driven psychological profiling, cognitive reflection as a defence mechanism, and why traditional security awareness approaches may be unprepared for a future where attackers can continuously learn how to manipulate their victims.

This episode we are joined by Marcy Charollois. Marcy is a social tech writer, content strategist, and the founder of Merci Marcy and The Safe Place. Her mission is to enable teams to embody a culture of genuine inclusion beyond superficial measures. This week we explore the complex, important, and under-discussed topic of diversity, equity and inclusion in cybersecurity. As an industry, we do an alright job talking about hiring diversity in cyber, but that is not where the topic should end. With more and more people from a wide range of backgrounds and abilities interacting with our security controls, we need to think about whether the security measures we put in place are accessible. We explore how can make a more accessible cybersecurity user journey, design inclusive password patterns, how to be an ally in this space and make sure that we always act ethically when we think about security. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in creating a more equitable and effective cybersecurity landscape.

In this Episode we are joined by Dr. Rebekka Reinhard. Dr Reinhard is a philosopher and the founder and editor-in-chief of Human magazine, which aims to holistically address the impact of AI beyond the technical to include the cultural and the human. In this episode, Hacking Our Capacity to Think - The Philosophy of Trust, Cybersecurity and AI, we explore these topics and more within the lens of philosophy. We discuss the importance of an interdisciplinary dialogue between tech experts and humanities experts. How AI is Impacting democracy and our concept of trust and safety within the context of cybersecurity, and new threats like deepfakes and misinformation.

This episode we are joined by the awesome Steve Trapps. Steve is the co-owner of Scrum Facilitators, an experienced Scrum Master, and a Professional Scrum Trainer with 20 years plus of experience in delivering complex products in many different business sectors. This week we answer that age old question, Can Cybersecurity Teams Actually Do Scrum? To answer that, we do a deep dive into when you should and shouldn’t use scrum in your cybersecurity teams and of course, we will learn exactly what a scrum master does! Together we will explore how scrum can be used to foster better conversations, create transparency and help you achieve your goal; what it takes to be an A1 facilitator, like Steve, as well as how not to get caught up in the dogma of ‘the scrum guide’!

This episode we are joined by the wonderful Jamie Sherman, a cultural anthropologist and principal UX researcher at ESRI. We explore how words like ‘security and privacy’ are slippery and that can lead to a lot of confusion and misunderstanding. How to ask better questions to really understand how to protect the people and our customers in an organisation and how to create the perfect ‘sniff test’ in our organisations so people feel more able to trust their intuition rather than relying on crap passwords. And Finally we unpack the importance of hiring more anthropologists in cybersecurity because not everybody does it like us.

We’re still on a summer break but in the meantime we are delighted to share with you an episode from friend of the show, Cyber Empathy which Lianne appeared on earlier this year. In this episode Lianne discussed how she hates the term ‘weakest link’ when talking about our colleagues, how the language that we use in cybersecurity can be incredibly harmful to our cybersecurity posture, and how she applies her skills as an anthropologist to her organisation. Thank you kindly to Cyber Empathy for giving us permission to share this episode!

Welcome to Compromising Positions! The award-winning tech podcast that asks non-cybersecurity professionals what we in the industry can do to make their lives easier and help make our organisations more prepared to face ever-changing human-centric cyber threats! This Episode we’re heading back into the vaults to bring you the unabridged version of our fantastic and extremely popular interview with Christian Hunt, the founder of Human Risk. He's a Behavioural Science expert and author of the award-winning book 'Humanizing Rules'.