About the Research
Most cybersecurity thinking has treated people as the problem; as the "weakest link" who clicks the wrong thing. After twenty-plus years in the industry, I've come to see it differently: people aren't the weakest link, they're the most targeted one. Attackers, scammers, dark-pattern designers and disinformation networks all exploit the same underlying thing: the way human attention works under pressure, distraction and emotional load.
My research asks what actually drives that susceptibility, and whether it can be reduced at the root. Not with more fear or more rules, but by training the psychological capacities that manipulation bypasses: attention, awareness, emotional regulation, and the ability to pause.
About me
I'm Anna Collard: a cybersecurity professional and entrepreneur, cyberpsychologist (MSc, FH Vienna), SVP Content Strategy & Evangelist at KnowBe4 Africa, co-founder of MiDO Cyber academy, a member of the WEF Global Future Council on Cybersecurity, and a certified Yoga and Yoga Nidra teacher.
For a long time the security work and the contemplative work felt like separate lives, this research is where they meet. More about my speaking and advisory work at annacollard.com and the physical practice space lives at the Zense in Cape Town.
*Disclosure line:* Digital Mindfulness documents independent academic research. Views are my own and do not represent affiliated organisations.
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