It’s endemic in the tech security industry - they’ve been mentally colonised by ex-mil and ex-law enforcement (wannabe mil) folks for a long time.
I try to use social work terms and principles in professional settings, which blows these people’s minds.
Advocacy, capacity evaluation, community engagement, cultural competencies, duty of care, ethics, evidence-based intervention, incentives, macro-, mezzo- and micro-practice, minimisation of harm, respect, self concept, self control etc etc
It means that my teams aren’t focussed on “nuking the bad guys from orbit” or whatever, but building defence in depth and indeed our own communities of practice (hah!), and using psychological and social lenses as well as tech and adversarial ones to predict, prevent and address disruptive and dangerous actors.
Even computer security itself is a metaphor (at least in its inception). I often wonder what if instead of using terms like access, key, illegal operation, firewall, etc. we'd instead chosen metaphors from a different domain, for example plumbing. I'm sure a plumbing metaphor could also be found for every computer security concern. Would be so quick to romanticize as well as militarize a field dealing with "leaks," "blockages," "illegal taps," and "water quality"?
I try to use social work terms and principles in professional settings, which blows these people’s minds.
Advocacy, capacity evaluation, community engagement, cultural competencies, duty of care, ethics, evidence-based intervention, incentives, macro-, mezzo- and micro-practice, minimisation of harm, respect, self concept, self control etc etc
It means that my teams aren’t focussed on “nuking the bad guys from orbit” or whatever, but building defence in depth and indeed our own communities of practice (hah!), and using psychological and social lenses as well as tech and adversarial ones to predict, prevent and address disruptive and dangerous actors.
YMMV though.