TABLE OF CONTENTS Within this chapter, we will be looking at the various objectives of security awareness and the impediments to an effective awareness program. We will explore the elements of the planning process, defining the audience, determining audience needs, articulating specific performance objectives, identifying your research support, and getting management on your side, and we'll take a look at selecting delivery systems or media that can go with a security presentation. Finally, we will present an overview of the planning process.
Security awareness, as the term is commonly used in government and industry, is essential security education for members of employee populations that has immediate or practical application to the workplace and beyond. It suggests an awareness of possible risk, danger, or real threats to life, safety, or valued assets that will be translated into action or behaviors that address those risks and threats. Another dimension of security education is professional-level training for employees who perform specific security functions (full- or part-time) as members of a security workforce. When we admit, however, that everyone needs security awareness as well as a dose of how-to training tailored to incorporate sound security practices into their specific job, the distinction between awareness and training becomes blurred.
Security awareness usually, but not always, implies the existence of an adversary such as a foreign intelligence service, a terrorist organization, or a criminal agent. Thus, one task for a security educator is to instill "awareness" of the credibility of threat or of adversarial...
