Workplace Cyber Security

Macquarie University via Coursera

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Details

Go to class

Provider

Coursera
Pricing

Paid Course
Languages

English
Certificate

Paid Certificate Available
Duration & workload

8 hours 17 minutes
Sessions

On-Demand
Subtitles

English

Found in

Overview

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Workplace Cyber Security | Shaping Behaviours. Securing Systems. Cyber security doesn’t just live in firewalls and algorithms, it lives in people. Human error remains one of the biggest vulnerabilities in any organisation, and yet most security programs focus almost entirely on technical controls. This course turns that model on its head, empowering professionals to build a strong, secure, and sustainable cyber culture by putting people at the centre of the strategy. Secure Systems Start with Secure Minds Developed by the Cyber Skills Academy at Macquarie University, ranked in the top 1% of universities globally and home to Australia’s leading cyber school, this course explores the behavioural, psychological, cultural, and ethical dimensions of cyber risk. Co-designed with global experts, it equips managers, IT leaders, and cyber teams with the tools to turn security awareness into secure action. You’ll learn how to: • Build a security-conscious culture and embed behavioural change across teams. • Understand user decision-making, compliance failure, and the psychology behind risky behaviours. • Rethink traditional awareness training and design engaging, human-focused programs that drive results. • Navigate ethical, legal, and privacy challenges from a people-first lens. • Leverage user experience (UX) and interface design to guide secure behaviours naturally. • Integrate cyber security into workplace norms, leadership KPIs, and life beyond the office. Beyond Awareness. Toward Action. With six immersive modules covering culture, design, training, psychology, ethics, and strategy, this course provides a powerful toolkit for security practitioners, team leaders, risk professionals, and organisational change-makers. It offers a new way to think about cyber security, one where people are the solution, not the problem. Whether you’re driving enterprise-wide culture change, leading a security team, or looking to embed privacy and security into your organisational DNA, this course will transform the way you think about people and protection. Secure your workplace. Empower your people. Humanise your cyber strategy.

Syllabus

Security Culture

Strong cyber security starts with people, not just policies or firewalls. In this topic, we explore how an organisation’s culture directly impacts its ability to prevent, detect, and respond to threats. Security isn’t just a technical challenge, it’s a human one. You’ll examine the core components that shape an organisation’s information security culture: leadership, shared values, norms, and employee behaviour. By understanding these dynamics, you’ll be able to assess how security culture can either strengthen or weaken overall defences. Whether you’re managing risk at the board level or guiding team behaviours on the ground, this topic gives you the tools to drive a people-first, security-aware culture. Because in cyber, culture isn’t just important, it’s the frontline.

How Users Make Decisions & Reasons for Lack of Compliance

Why do well-meaning employees still ignore security rules? In this topic, we explore the psychology and usability challenges that explain why users make the decisions they do when it comes to cyber security. Despite training, policies, and best intentions, compliance isn’t always guaranteed, especially when security measures clash with productivity or convenience. You’ll uncover the subtle forces that shape behaviour in the workplace, from poorly communicated policies to systems that are too cumbersome to follow. We'll examine how usability, clarity, and motivation influence whether people comply, or consciously cut corners. Drawing on real-world examples, you'll gain insight into the push-and-pull between security and usability, and how to design better strategies that drive the right behaviours. By the end of this module, you’ll be able to identify why people don’t comply, and how to reframe your organisation’s approach to turn compliance into a shared goal, not a forced obligation.

Changing Your Approach to Security Awareness Training

Traditional security awareness training often falls short, overloaded with rules, poorly contextualised, and quickly forgotten. In this topic, we challenge the status quo and explore how to reimagine cyber training to genuinely influence behaviour and embed a culture of security across the workforce. You’ll examine how engaging content, meaningful delivery, and psychologically informed strategies can transform passive awareness into active vigilance. We'll explore how to shift mindsets, shape perceptions, and create organisational narratives where every employee understands their role in defending against threats. Whether you're refreshing a legacy program or building one from scratch, this topic will give you the frameworks and ideas needed to drive real change, from compliance to culture.

Complexities of Risk in Ethical and Legal Perspectives for Privacy and Security

Cyber security decisions are never made in a vacuum. They are shaped by complex ethical and legal obligations that require us to balance innovation, privacy, and accountability. In this topic, we explore the layered risks that emerge when human judgement intersects with data protection, regulatory frameworks, and moral responsibility. You’ll examine how biases, assumptions, and workplace cultures can skew risk assessments, sometimes unintentionally exposing organisations to breaches of trust, law, and reputation. We’ll unpack what ethical data use really looks like, and how to build systems and cultures that hold people and organisations accountable. By the end of this module, you’ll be able to navigate the grey areas of cyber decision-making with greater clarity and confidence, essential for shaping secure, compliant, and ethically sound environments.

User Centric Experience and Interface Design for Security

Security doesn’t have to come at the expense of usability. In fact, when systems are hard to navigate, people find workarounds, introducing risk. In this topic, we explore how user-centric design can transform security from a barrier into a seamless part of the user experience. You’ll learn to view interfaces through a human lens, rethinking how authentication, permissions, and alerts are presented to end-users. By applying UX principles to security design, we can build systems that not only protect but also support and guide user behaviour. This module will challenge you to put people first in your security strategy, crafting experiences that are intuitive, accessible, and aligned with how users actually think and behave.

A New Way to Deal With Security and Privacy in the Workplace

As the lines between work and home continue to blur, organisations need a fresh, people-first approach to managing security and privacy. In this topic, we’ll explore how to embed security and privacy into the DNA of everyday business practice, not just as technical controls, but as cultural imperatives. You’ll examine what it takes to build a privacy-first culture, where individuals are empowered, not burdened, by secure practices. We’ll look at how organisations can align KPIs and performance incentives to security outcomes, making accountability tangible. And, we’ll consider how to support employees in managing cyber risks across both professional and personal environments. Cyber security is no longer a workplace add-on, it’s a core life skill. This topic will help you lead that shift, from policy to practice.