{"id":88462,"date":"2025-09-27T08:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T08:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/88462\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T08:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T08:17:08","slug":"perspective-why-politics-in-the-workplace-is-a-cybersecurity-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/88462\/","title":{"rendered":"Perspective: Why Politics in the Workplace is a Cybersecurity Risk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When I first started working, politics was intentionally kept out of the workplace, regardless of how strongly different people may have felt about their own political beliefs.n Business was business, and one\u2019s personal beliefs were not particularly relevant to the tasks at hand. A person who performed their job duties well was valued for their contribution and was never asked about their own personal beliefs.\u00a0It may be hard to believe these days, but people just didn\u2019t talk about politics and\/or political ideologies, and in my opinion, the workplace was better for it.<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward to today. I often get frustrated looking for professional content on certain, supposedly professional, social media sites. The good content that I used to enjoy is all too often drowned out by political content. Sure, it is true that one can filter their feed on these sites, but my point is that we shouldn\u2019t need to.\u00a0It shouldn\u2019t be so difficult to engage with other professionals in a professional manner on a professional forum. Social media isn\u2019t alone in this regard, unfortunately.\u00a0 In a similar vein, many professional forums (whether in-person or on-line) have become oversaturated with politics.<\/p>\n<p>At this point, you may, rightfully, be asking yourself what my point is and what this has to do with security.\u00a0 Regarding what my point is, I\u2019d argue that politics in the workplace introduces risk. That introduction of risk, in turn, makes politics in the workplace a security issue.\u00a0 How so?\u00a0 Allow me to elaborate.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Decision Making:<\/strong> Making the right decisions on a consistent basis is definitely not easy.\u00a0One thing is certain though \u2013 doing so requires basing decisions on accurate data and facts. When ideology and belief become a factor in decision making, it introduces the potential for serious risk.\u00a0Decisions should be made in as objectively and scientifically a manner as possible.\u00a0 No human process is ever 100 percent objective, of course, but there are steps organizations can take to mitigate the introduction of ideology and belief.\u00a0The security team\u2019s job is already hard enough before the introduction of business decisions made subjectively and unscientifically.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Divisiveness:<\/strong> According to Wikipedia, \u201cthe term divide and conquer in politics refers to an entity gaining and maintaining political power by using divisive measures.\u201d\u00a0Similarly, Britannica defines \u201cdivide and rule\u201d as \u201ca strategy of governing colonial societies by systematically separating social and cultural groups, partly because those groups may otherwise unite and overpower the colonizing power.\u201d\u00a0I think you get the idea.\u00a0 It\u2019s no secret that politics is divisive.\u00a0 In security, success depends on a cohesive team working collaboratively together.\u00a0 Politics can only harm this cohesiveness, and in doing so, can introduce significant risk into the business.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Exclusion:<\/strong> For all the talk of inclusion these days, we sometimes forget that we can exclude those that don\u2019t share the prevailing political view if the business environment is full of politics.\u00a0 Diversity of thought and diversity of opinion are both important parts of a successful team.\u00a0 When we leave out those that see the world a bit differently than we might, we risk excluding valuable input that may benefit our team.\u00a0 This is especially the case in security.\u00a0 While we shouldn\u2019t introduce politics to any work environment, we need to make sure that team members from all parts of the political spectrum feel comfortable.\u00a0 After all, the way someone sees the world may very well give them a unique perspective to solve that difficult problem the team has been struggling with.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Groupthink:<\/strong> Wikipedia defines groupthink as \u201ca psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, people who have evidence that counters the prevailing narrative and\/or way of thinking may be afraid to speak up, which may lead to disastrous consequences.\u00a0 It is hard enough for security leaders to create environments where people feel comfortable raising issues that may be unpopular, may cause disagreement, and\/or may go against conventional wisdom.\u00a0 When politics is introduced, creating that type of environment is nearly impossible.\u00a0 Yet it is precisely that type of environment that consistently produces the best results when it comes to security.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Limited Resources:<\/strong> If you\u2019ve worked in the security field for a little while, you know that resources are often scarce.\u00a0 Sure, we routinely hear about recruiting and retention issues.\u00a0 But even if a security team is fully staffed with all the right people who have all the right training, resources are still stretched thin.\u00a0 Given this, how can a security team afford to waste any cycles on matters of politics or ideology?\u00a0 They can\u2019t, of course, and the most successful security teams know that.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It may be difficult to hear this if you are under a certain age and\/or haven\u2019t experienced it live, but the workplace is better without politics.\u00a0Everyone is entitled to their own political beliefs, of course, but those beliefs should be kept out of the workplace, professional forums, and professional social media sites.\u00a0Besides reducing unpleasantness, this practice can make security teams more effective and more productive, and that is good news for the organization\u2019s overall security posture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When I first started working, politics was intentionally kept out of the workplace, regardless of how strongly 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