Are you a real monk?
No.
Are you religious?
No. I am unaware of a religion that would take me.
Why do you call yourself a cyber monk then?
I gave a presentation a few years ago promoting the need to develop an understanding of the cyber domain beyond ‘cyber hard’. I gave it the cheeky title of “Insights of a middling cyber monk” – and it, sort of stuck.
It is now a tongue-in-cheek allegory on how I approach the cyber domain. I have learned to embrace, rather than fight the chaos, complexity and paradoxical nature. And while I am using western inspired language and traditions, my approach has a strong mindful-Zen flavour to it.
So, who are you?
I am a cyber security practitioner of 25+ years. I have worked across the cyber spectrum from policy to pen-testing to crisis response.
I enjoy learning and sharing new ways of thinking about technology, human decision making and leadership. I am especially passionate about finding insights from non-technical fields that help us make sense of the cyber domain.
What is AMAWBSAU?
Pronounced Am-awe-b-saw, an acronym to remind the reader of the incomplete nature of knowledge: especially when applied to the mental models we create to make sense of the world.
The acronym is derived from (rockstar) statistician George Box’s famous statistical aphorism:
All models are wrong, but some are useful.
Cyber Monk 