Cybersecurity Theater: The Show Must (Not) Go On

Security theater refers to actions that make people and organizations feel safer without actually improving their safety. It is a tendency to focus on appearance rather than substance in cybersecurity measures, often expending time, money, and effort for minimal return. Some popular items in the security theater toolbox include security awareness training, "strong" password policies, and checkbox compliance. To move beyond security theater, organizations should assess their own environment and workflows, identify the biggest risks and their likelihood, and design their security strategy accordingly. One effective way to strengthen data security is by mitigating the risk of privilege abuse through data discovery, visibility, and classification, consolidated data access controls, and regular entitlement reviews.