Chris Golden uses humor to inform students about cybersecurity
Photo by Taylor Baker.
With students still falling victim to email phishing attempts, Director of Information Technology Operations Chris Golden has taken an amusing approach to reinforce the basics of cybersecurity.
Golden regularly sends campus-wide emails, using Lee references and Biblical humor to highlight common scams. “Did you know that Phishing is the #1 way hackers break in to systems? That’s why I spend so much time warning people about the Phishers of Men,” he wrote in an email earlier this month.
Golden reminds students to “make sure your spirit of discernment is cranked up to 11.” Instead of simple passwords, he recommends using complex passphrases, offering the example, “N0t2Day$atan!”
In previous emails, Golden has directed his warnings toward students who “feel that blue hyperlink or shiny PDF attachment is putting off some Jezebelic vibes.”
“Clicking on those links brings nothing but bitterness, shame, disappointment, and possibly a loss of money and time,” he wrote. “People on campus will have trouble looking you in the eye. They will start crossing the street so they don’t have to walk past you on the sidewalk. Some might even start shouting ‘UNCLEAN’ when you get near them. I see it happen every day.”
Though Golden has fun crafting witty emails, his ultimate goal is to keep students vigilant and aware of phishing attacks.
“When you are about to click on that email, I want to be a mental pop-up ad that flashes up in your brain saying ‘DON’T DO IT, SALLY! THEY’LL SIFT YOU AS WHEAT!’ in big blinking red letters,” Golden said. “I want to give you the tools to look for red flags in these scams, to trigger that spirit of discernment in people so their gut reaction is to hit that delete button. You can’t do that without making your presentation entertaining.”
Golden says his sense of humor came from hearing his grandfather tell stories from a young age.
“I can honestly say that most successes in my life have been due, in some way or fashion, to my ability to make people laugh and feel good,” Golden said.
Rather than sending a standard email telling students to avoid phishing attempts, Golden employs his humor in a way that prompts students to learn how to stay secure.
“Cybersecurity itself is not a very sexy topic, is it? I can go on and on about botnets, SQL injections, worms, malware, buffer overflows and rainbow tables — but no one wants to read about that stuff except for us nerds,” Golden said. “The goal of my emails is to make people think about cybersecurity in their everyday use.”
Senior healthcare administration major Mandy Dermott admires Golden’s approach to a seemingly mundane task.
“I think people genuinely want to read what he has to say, and it’s not just this black and white email of things we know not to do,” Dermott said.
okay, I’m gonna say it, if chris golden lead a gateway class this campus would be a different place
— mandeeze twitta (@dermottttolo) October 2, 2019
Beyond reaching students in a creative way, Golden believes his sense of humor also makes his work easier for those around him.
“Listen, work needs to get done. No doubt,” Golden said. “But there is nothing in our Community Covenant that says we can’t have fun doing it.”
Ujjwal Bhattarai, an information systems major who works in the IT department, described Golden as a funny person and a good teacher.
“I think Chris is a very likeable person — he's a fantastic instructor,” said Bhattarai. “I think he has really good humor — I enjoy it, I love it. He's a good person inside and out.”
Golden said students send him an array of responses, from not understanding his humor to acting out a sermon he once mentioned in his emails.
“I may not respond to them all, but I do enjoy them,” Golden said. “What I like the most is when people start forwarding the scams to me along with some funny message. It shows that the emails are working.”
