Janie Slaven: LEFT TO MY OWN DEVICES: DEI a mindset needed for security and privacy

Sep. 28—Not all that long ago if you would have challenged me to a trivia question, truly being trivial in nature, about what the initialism "DEI" stood for I would've quickly and proudly answered "Dale Earnhardt Industries"(more formally, "Dale Earnhardt, Inc."). That's Dale, Sr., and his widow Teresa's business that framed the icon of NASCAR's racing operations. Back in that DEI heyday, in addition to Dale, Sr., DEI employed Junior, as well as Michael and Darrell Waltrip, Kenny Wallace, Robby Gordon, and many other extreme talents of motorsports. None of them being of the fairer gender, which is unsurprising since NASCAR's more noteworthy racer of that demo, and likely the one, if any, whose name you know, was Danica Patrick who ended her NASCAR career in 2018.

Likewise, that DEI never harnessed an African American racer in its drivers' seats. African American drivers are nearly as sparsely represented in NASCAR as are women. Bubba Wallace is the one who gets ink these days. Then we go back 40 years when Wendell Scott raced. He'd even won a race in 1964. The track announced its "winner" not by enthusiastically sharing the diversity feat but rather blared the second-place driver's name. In 2021, NASCAR finally presented the trophy to Scott's family. Scott had passed away in 1990.

DEI, the racing company, is no longer. Dale, Sr., met his fate at Daytona in 2001. Dale, Jr., has moved to the broadcast booth. Nowadays, "DEI" stands for something at quite another entire level of society's progress: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. In the workplace, this version of DEI has and will continue to gain traction.

Many literature entries of business publications narrow the scope of DEI to that of a training regimen. Every year that the U.S. population becomes more richly diverse, and also as we find more ways to give opportunities to underserved population, we've experienced a place of work populated by those whom we may not look, sound (or work) like. Realize that while women are the dominant gender in terms of population, few professions reflect said dominance. In order to help gain a sense of community through understanding, DEI training became a thing. As one early DEI adopting organization—i.e., early compared to other organizations, but late, to be frank—explained, they invested in the training to help staff "become more culturally competent, empathetic, and self-aware."

A DEI mindset transcends training or its named benefits, or it should. It truly is a way-of-life ideal that should permeate the corporate cultures. Yet, we need the training. It has become more functional than its limited beginnings. If training programs spawned that expanse, great.

Diversity in the DEI realm helps to even be aware of humanity's diversity. As I've couched it to everyone from my own father, to work mates, or even a newly met colleague at some conference, I'm in the lottery-winning sect of today's employees. I am an American, Caucasian male born into the internet age. Not too much more of a head start can be described. Because of my upbringing, I've been fortunate throughout life to have at least some awareness of our culture's diversity. We had family friends who were Black, Indian, Jewish, and plenty more, most of whom, however, looked and sounded very familiar. I attended schools with even more diversity than my family's connections. I will forever need to actively be aware, nonetheless. The Diversity tine of the DEI fork helps in that, and in some cases will be revelatory to those without having been privileged to learn about fellow humanity in my incremental way over time.

Equity in DEI is, as its etymological root implies, all about equality. It's one thing to embrace and be aware of those who are different, often better, than us. It's another thing to ensure that despite or because of those differences, we must actively treat everyone equally. You may be Christian. Maybe not. You may be Hindu, Muslim ... heck, even Wiccans have within their belief systems something akin to equitable treatment of fellow humans. However, just like with Diversity, we need something more than a religious or spiritual tenet to drive our treatment of others more toward equity and fairness. If Diversity is about awareness, then Equity complements that with its tone of applicability. I'm aware of one's unique characteristics, and celebrate them, and I also apply a sense of a equality.

Inclusion follows, then, by more naturally welcoming in those diverse people eventually without needing to so intentionally treat them fairly. This is the outcome in a DEI environment. When DE and I are all in place, the Eden-esque version would have no one even flinch or think twice about personal characteristics. We'd focus on merit. We'd look for results. We'd see differences, sure, but not such that any special care is needed because everyone already gets our special care.

The Senate last week confirmed Dr. Arati Prabhakar to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She is the first woman at that post. She's the first immigrant and the first person of color to serve as leader. In STEM fields, especially in cybersecurity, there is a dearth of diverse talent. Why? The minds occupying diversely appearing or sounding people who are knowledgeable about security and privacy are no less suited than mine. Much, much more suited in many, many cases. The hackers benefit. The criminals prosper because of the severe lack of DEI. And, when those factions are doing quite well, you can bet that your security and mine suffer.

Ask your human resources folks, your supervisor, or anyone who might prove to be a thought leader whether your workplace can provide some DEI training. You don't need to ask whether you need it. You do. Just look around and realize what you may be missing out on.

Ed Zuger is a professor of cybersecurity, an attorney, and a trained ethicist. Reach him at edzugeresq@gmail.com.