​In the digital age, the importance of information security cannot be overstated. As we navigate the complex landscape of cybersecurity, one factor often stands out as both a potential risk and a line of defense: the human factor. This was the focus of my recent doctoral dissertation, where I explored the behavioral and cross-cultural factors that influence an individual's intention to comply with information security policies.

​It is well known that humans are the weakest link in the information security chain, but specifically, who are them? Well, you may guess, “they” are everyone. I have been in both sides, as a user and as a system admin; and in both sceneries humans tend to make mistakes. It’s human nature.

A lot have been investigated, written and said about how to better protect companies against the unstoppable proliferation of advanced and sophisticated cyber-threats/attacks. By default, and by common sense, we tend to think that by adopting and implementing cutting-edge security technologies, companies will be on a better position to stop, prevent, and reduce security threats from cyber-criminals. This is not so far from reality. Lots of technologies have emerged and being adopted to reach that goal. Among these technologies are: Intrusion Detection System (IDS), Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), Firewalls, Antivirus, Network Access Control (NAC), Proxies, Gateways, Advance Threat Analytics (ATA), Sandboxes, Multi-factor Authentication (MFA), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) solutions to mention a few.  However, security and data breaches still happen and are on the news all around the world, every day.