Prevention Bias

Over the decades spent researching and advising people on how to create and manage various workgroups, we have identified ways in which managers can counter bias without wasting a lot of time or political capital. The authors identified several techniques that managers can use to counter bias (and avoid its negative consequences) without spending a lot of time or political capital. Establishing opportunities and protocols to address all levels of bias can help reduce the impact of micro-aggression, those seemingly lesser manifestations of bias that accumulate over time and can have a deterrent or hostile effect on members (Sue et al., 2007) [cf. Guidelines for Equity and Engagement in Professional Development and Fellowships]. [Sources: 7, 10]

An appropriate balance is needed between warning, detection and response. Prevention is important, but detection helps identify security incidents. Therefore, it is vital that security programs are prepared in the event of a breach. In this blog, we highlight how this preemptive bias hinders the ability of organizations to respond effectively to cyber events and how the community can move to proactively defensively to improve the overall health of cybersecurity. [Sources: 0, 6]

Prevention bias is about wasting time, effort and money on preventive measures through detection and response. While most of them openly admit that we cannot prevent violation – if an actor or group of threats wants to hack and persists enough for a long enough period of time, they are likely to succeed – companies in the United States exhibit inherent bias against prevention costs. Statistics from the 2016 Ponemon Institutes Hacking Costs report show that we are not only prone to prevention, but also cost us money. [Sources: 0]

This bias in standards offers a plausible explanation for the key findings of our 2020 survey, which show that the OT / ICS industry is not sufficiently prepared for basic functions such as detection or response. The analysis showed that each standard focused on preventive functions rather than proactive cybersecurity response functions. This bias has led to their underdeveloped cyberattack detection, response and recovery capabilities, as documented in our reports over the past four years. [Sources: 6]

However, all preventive and proactive countermeasures must be periodically evaluated for effectiveness in order to remain in effect. When bias occurs, it often transcends policy and law. Even when perpetrators are unaware of bias or have no intention of offending, bias can be exposed by action that deserves a response and can serve as an educational opportunity. [Sources: 6, 10, 13]

While incidents of prejudice and hate crimes involve bias-motivated behavior, there is an important difference between the two. A case of bias can occur if the action is intentional or unintentional. Unconscious biases can affect the workplace and contribute to stereotyping, harassment and discrimination. One of the benefits of being aware of the potential impact of hidden social biases is that you can play a more active role in overcoming social stereotypes, discrimination, and prejudice. [Sources: 1, 8, 9, 13]

Hidden biases can affect your behavior towards members of social groups. Researchers have found that this prejudice can have an impact on a variety of environments, including schools, work, and lawsuits. Implicit bias can lead to a phenomenon known as the threat of stereotypes, in which people internalize negative stereotypes about themselves based on group connections. Research also shows that implicit attitudes can also affect teachers’ responses to student behavior, which shows that implicit biases have a great impact on education and academic performance. [Sources: 8]

Individuals may score high on one type of bias in the IAT, but these results may not accurately predict how they will feel about members of a particular social group. An implied bias is an unconscious association, belief, or attitude toward a social group. Because of an implicit bias, people are often able to attribute certain qualities or characteristics to all members of a particular group – a phenomenon known as stereotypes. [Sources: 8]

A bias is a bias based on beliefs or feelings rather than facts. While the bias itself is damn hard to eliminate, it isn’t that hard to stop. While prejudices are damn hard to change, they’re not that hard to break. [Sources: 0, 7]

The second step is to understand when and where these forms of prejudice arise day after day. In the absence of an organizational directive, it is easy to leave them without an address. When it comes to promotions, there may be limitations on what you can do as an individual manager, but you should be transparent about the criteria used. The aforementioned mandate of humility prevents many outside groups from writing effective self-reports or defending themselves during review. [Sources: 7]

This may or may not be a violation of university codes of conduct or non-discrimination policies, because not all behaviors perceived as biased or hateful are achieved at these administrative levels. In many cases, the decision as to whether a trauma incident will be considered by the Prejudice and Support Team or another college office or official will be based on the severity and / or prevalence of the reported behavior, as determined by a reasonable person. … After a bias incident has been reported, the incident will be reviewed and assessed by the appropriate campus offices. [Sources: 12, 13]

Any response to a trauma incident must be developed collaboratively based on the specific details of the incident in question (Washington, 2007). The response should not be limited to addressing the immediate impact, but should also encourage reflection on the root causes of the accident; adapting association policies and practices to avoid repetition; and education for full members in relation to the reaction of associations. [Sources: 10]

You will come out of this workshop with a set of goals designed to motivate you to put bias reduction strategies into practice. This toolkit serves to prevent and combat manifestations of hatred, and to coordinate responses to manifestations of hatred through community support. The Prejudice Prevention and Education Unit is a group of university staff and faculty who support and guide students seeking help in determining how to deal with suspected trauma. [Sources: 2, 4, 9]

Since 1992, the Prejudice Prevention Committee has been monitoring prejudice-related incidents on the New Brunswick/Piscataway campus and has provided prejudice prevention training to faculty, students, and educators. The Bias Prevention and Learning Team (BPET) enables WPUNJ to support community members who report, document trauma, provide training, and analyze trends to continuously improve the campus community in terms of equity, inclusion, and well-being. …Its mission is to work with students and all campus and university members to prevent, predict, and respond to prejudice and cross-cultural conflicts, and to rebuild communities from accidents and prejudice conflicts. We track diversity and inclusion by regularly reporting on campus efforts, campus climate, and campus progress. [Sources: 3, 9, 14]

ACPA is committed to offering an inclusive experience for all of our members and visitors. As an individual leader, you can work with the same organizations or recruit from similar organizations in your industry or local community. [Sources: 7, 10]

The direction and method of bias prevention within each category in the framework are discussed. Overall, the series is 75% prevention oriented, with only 25% remaining detection, response and recovery. [Sources: 5, 6]

 

— Slimane Zouggari

 

##### Sources #####

[0]: https://cipher.com/blog/we-have-prevention-bias/

[1]: https://workplacesforall.vermont.gov/employers/training-materials/unconscious-bias-prevention-training

[2]: https://www.eugene-or.gov/4061/Hate-Bias-Prevention-and-Response-Toolki

[3]: https://studentaffairs.rutgers.edu/resources/bias-prevention

[4]: https://diversity.uic.edu/diversity-education/bias-reporting-and-prevention/

[5]: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1545278/

[6]: https://www.dragos.com/blog/correcting-prevention-bias-in-your-ot-cyber-incident-response/

[7]: https://hbr.org/2019/11/how-the-best-bosses-interrupt-bias-on-their-teams

[8]: https://www.verywellmind.com/implicit-bias-overview-4178401

[9]: https://www.wpunj.edu/diversity-and-inclusion/biaspreventioneducationteam

[10]: https://myacpa.org/bias/

[11]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recall_bias

[12]: https://www.smcm.edu/inclusive-diversity-equity-access-accountability/bias-prevention-and-support-team/

[13]: https://stockton.edu/bias/

[14]: https://diversity.ucsf.edu/resources/strategies-address-unconscious-bias