Michael Madon has sat for a considerable amount of time in cybersecurity and privacy compliance training.
Seriously. The former Peace Corps volunteer has served as a U.S. Army Officer and Department of the Treasury employee, and he's seen many, many trainings attempt to make cybersecurity and intelligence information palatable for employees and volunteers.
They have often failed.
“It’s grueling, long, and even with gamification, can get really corny," Madon said.
As a result, he went on to form Bethesda-based Ataata in 2016, a cybersecurity education platform that instructs the intelligence community in interesting ways.
"Adults have to be in on the learning moment as well."
It looks to solve the two main problems Madon identified in previous trainings: Lack of listener interest due to poor curricula, and the perspective from trainees that their instruction wasn't crucial, but instead a mere compliance tool.
The latter issue was (and is) a huge problem. Madon said a big lesson learned during his time as an Army intelligence officer was that risk indicators can come from anywhere. Its critical employees understand how to mitigate that risk.
“I wanted to change the culture from one of compliance to one of commitment,” he said.
The Ataata platform does this by delivering cybersecurity and privacy training through short, educational videos. But don’t think these videos are all business; the people who script them are actual comedy writers (Chief Creative Officer Jann Yogman wrote for Michael J. Fox’s show "Spin City.") who develop characters that are funny and memorable. “Human Error,” for example, has become a cult-like figure among Ataata clients.
In keeping up with current events, the team is also developing a General Data Protection Regulation training — with a twist. The team just finished shooting a music video to help educate companies on what GDPR is and what their rights are. Madon says these videos are all part of changing the culture around security education, while also meeting the compliance requirement.
“It's a hysterical video, but it also informs [clients] and makes them aware."
Madon added that the top-flight humor used in these tools is key to capturing people’s imagination.
“Adults have to be in on the learning moment as well,” he said.
And so far, Ataata is helping that happen. Its clientele spans the gamut in terms of industry, from aerospace and defense companies, to video game organizations and NFL teams.
The appeal?
“It’s like an “easy” button for chief security officers,” he said.
Maintaining that growth will be Ataata's biggest challenge, Madon added. In the meantime, the company is continuing to expand its internal team and figuring out ways to increase its offerings, like a backend solution that delivers actionable security metrics for clients.
Regardless of what the future brings, Madon added the core of Ataata is and will be focused on "cybersecurity for humans."
“We understand the cybersecurity issues from a 'science human' perspective,” he said. “We get the seriousness, but know the old way isn’t working.”
