Our ancient ancestors never confronted malicious code updates or battled back pernicious malware infiltration. They never experienced the intensity of a simultaneous, worldwide zero-day supply chain compromise. But they were well acquainted with crafty subterfuge, actual brick-and-mortar firewall breaks, and attacks initiated by opportunistic enemies eager to plunder.
Unearthing timeless wisdom
For our forebears, a strong defensive posture, rigorous preparation, and a fail-safe backup plan were not just good ideas; they allowed defenders to survive and fight another day. In antiquity, winning the battle meant joining forces to beat back relentless threats to life, property, and legacy. In this modern age of disruption, join us in diving into humanity's past to unearth timeless wisdom to educate and inform. Because the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Introducing SecureWorld's theme for our 2026 season: Timeless Cybersecurity.
Wisdom for today
This is an era of incredible technological disruption and relentlessly evolving threats. We face challenges and attacks that would have been unimaginable to previous generations. At the same time, core human tendencies and motivations remain unchanged. That's why we are taking this year to zoom out from our current moment to see what we might be able to glean from humanity's shared past.
Here are 10 timeless ideas we invite you to explore with us this year. By reflecting on our shared past, we just might be able to glean timeless insights for a more secure future.
The Power of Calm, Non-Anxious Presence: Stoicism and Cybersecurity
Bad actors know that by getting inside your head, they unlock freedom to manipulate and exploit. As soon as we are provoked and react, rational thinking goes out the window and survival-oriented, lower-brain thinking takes control.
Forged in Athens in the third century BCE, Stoicism provides valuable lessons for a modern era. Greece of this time was a brutal environment where violence, exile, betrayal, and power struggles were all too common. It was an environment not unlike today's digital terrain—where attacks are inevitable, adversaries adaptive, and stable certainty remained an elusive luxury.
As emperor, Marcus Aurelius led an empire under siege—facing down plagues, invasions, and political intrigue—all while reminding himself daily not to panic. His superpower was a practiced ability to maintain equanimity, perspective, and a deep-seated recognition of what he could control and, perhaps more importantly, what he could not.
Marcus reminds us that firewalls and multi-factor authentication alone don't save companies from threats; disciplined habits and consistent focus are essential. From the Stoics, we learn that organizations and leadership that remain composed during a breach recover faster—and often emerge stronger.
The Original Trojan Horse: Lessons in Vigilance
This tale is legend and the concept embedded deep in our thinking and our lexicon. But what can we learn by looking beyond the surface of history's greatest exploit? The people of fortified coastal Troy weren't entirely foolish when they welcomed the gift that would prove to be their undoing. They were exhausted—emotionally and physically. They were more than willing to experience a welcome end to an agonizingly protracted siege by the opposing Greek forces.
What looked like an enemy retreat gave them an understandable cause to lower their guard. Ignoring caution, they saw themselves as victors able to gratefully claim victory in a stalled conflict.
The lesson for today is that a robust security posture collapses fast after a perceived success, not in the anxious, on-guard moments of active crisis. For the crafty Greeks, their horse ploy proved that innovation and psychological insight delivered through an adaptive, cunning plan can win the day.
Cryptography: Lessons in Behavioral Strategy
Through our modern lenses, early ciphers look laughably fragile. But simple substitutions, reversed alphabets, and symbolic variants introduced just enough friction to matter in a time of limited literacy.
In early systems, the delay was the defense. Whether it was consulting the right priest, finding the correct scytale diameter, or forging a passable signet ring, for early methods of encryption and crafty subterfuge, the cost and time required to decipher was the path toward secrecy.
In our modern times, the threat of looming, exponentially powerful quantum computing making short work of even the most complex encryption is on the horizon. The promise of a transformational shift in capacity shattering all known forms of secrecy is a top-of-mind concern. This cat-and-mouse game of hiding and uncovering is part of an age-old arms race dating back millennia. We find ourselves in good company. At the end of the day, it all comes down to time.
Impersonation Through the Ages
Phishing is nothing new. Those looking to do wrong throughout the ages have always relied on impersonation to assume false legitimacy. From the forged signet rings and seals of the ancients to uniforms and disguises designed to impersonate and grant improper authority. The common throughline here is borrowed legitimacy. By assuming a disguise, a malevolent actor can attain ill-gotten access to everything from treasuries to troops.
Today's phishing doesn't hack systems; it hacks human trust. (An ancient tale.) Borrowing logos, matching tone, and rushing the recipient past safety checks through manufactured urgency are timeless tactics. Counteracting tools today tap into the same beating heart of trusted authentication. They pull back the ruse, validating against a source of trust, and ultimately doing what humans have always done—verifying that things (and people) really are as they claim to be.
Compromising the Source: Hacking the Tools of the Trade
Poison something at the source and it inevitably corrupts everything that follows. For the ancients, it might have been a dead, diseased animal carcass covertly dropped into a drinking water well. In more recent times, a saboteur might very literally "put a wrench in the gears" or quietly weaken a critical machine component, resulting in catastrophe at a critical juncture.
Malware introduced at a critical point of weakness relies upon trojans, worms, and supply chain hacks—all modern variations on a timeless tactic. If a malicious actor can sneak in and disrupt the process, the corrupted results can trigger a negative cascade of effects that span the globe.
Multi-Front Defense
Fortifications of old were rarely protected by a single, vulnerable wall. By strategically combining an infrastructure of moats, ramparts, inner keeps, and fallback positions, builders of yore found that fortifications were better able to absorb failures, buying critical moments when under attack.
When deployed well, today's cybersecurity works in much the same way. No single point of control offers absolute protection. Rather, layered defenses work together to limit the total damage of an attack, buying critical time to recognize and then respond. Effective, in-depth defense doesn't strive to eliminate breaches; rather, it ensures that when they come, they are survivable through a series of defensive elements.
Redundancy translates into resilience, refined through centuries of hard-earned experience, and forged across ages of conflict.
The Power of Human Intuition
Throughout history, defense has relied first on human intuition. There is an innate human sensibility that allows us to detect anomalies, question assumptions, and act decisively under pressure. Call it instinct. Call it thinking from the gut. Whatever you call it, it is honed by years of focused effort and applied practice. While today's tools amplify these unique human abilities, they do not replace them.
Security programs work best when placed in the hands of trained, trusted, and empowered individuals. In every era, it is human judgment—not automation alone—that determines outcomes. Investing and cultivating these uniquely human capacities isn't just wise; it's essential for today's teams.
While technology is undeniably transformative, seasoned humans remain a vital component of a robust defensive cybersecurity posture.
Follow the Incentives
From ancient raiders to modern cybercriminals, attackers have always sought to achieve great rewards at low cost. While tools and tactics continue to evolve at an ever-accelerating pace, base incentives remain stable and dependable.
Factors like financial gain, desire for disruption, espionage, and prestige combine to shape adversary behavior. Motivation and why attacks occur are as important as how they occur.
Effective security strategies seek out, understand, and anticipate motivation, look ahead to predict targets, and proactively intercept these timeless incentives. Looking down the road enables teams to assume an initiative-taking posture. Looking ahead and considering where incentives lie provides a far better alternative than blindly reacting to new techniques and approaches. When it comes to understanding incentives, there is nothing new under the sun.
What are your incentives?
Discover Lasting Resilience
No civilization survived by preventing every attack. Endurance meant absorbing disruption, adapting quickly, taking lessons, and then rebuilding stronger—and smarter. Cybersecurity is no different. Across a sufficiently long timeline, breaches become inevitable, but total collapse is not. In today's connected world where community is close at hand, we can learn both from our own shortcomings and from seeing where others fall short, as well.
Organizations that plan for failure, regularly rehearse responses, and learn from inevitable disruption will emerge more resilient. Security will never be the total absence of incidents; rather, it is the ability to endure them and move forward, wiser.
How might we learn from others, cultivate resilience, and gain wisdom from humility?
Cross Pollination: Gaining Inspiration from Outside the Lane
The Renaissance didn't happen simply because painters suddenly decided to paint better. It happened in large part because boundaries collapsed. Art began to inform anatomical study. Engineering borrowed from sculpture. Writings in philosophy spilled over into politics. Merchants funded scientific research. Knowledge moved laterally, not vertically—and the resulting explosion of insights, capabilities, and flexibility of thought was unlike anything the world had seen.
Consider Leonardo da Vinci's full spectrum of thinking. He wasn't exceptional because he mastered painting. He was exceptional because he refused lanes. Da Vinci's understanding of anatomy improved his art. His observant artistic eye improved his engineering diagrams. His curiosity made him dangerous—in the best possible way.
Cybersecurity professionals today face a similar inflection point. Emerging threats refuse to respect organizational charts, vendor categories, or job titles. They shatter boundaries across:
• Human behavior
• Economic incentives
• Geopolitical tensions
• Supply chains
• Software abstractions
• Physical infrastructure
A purely "cyber" lens risks seeing only fragments of a larger, holistically interconnected system. Today's best thinkers and security experts break free from narrow disciplinary lanes—forging novel connections that others may miss.
Where might we broaden our lenses and expand our perspectives?
You are invited
This year, join us in uncovering timeless lessons and exploring the insights they reveal in our modern world. While a strong defensive posture and fail-safe backup plan are no longer a matter of life and death, human flourishing in the age of automated intelligence delves into the archives of humanity for timeless wisdom. Because the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Check out our full slate of in-person and virtual conferences for 2026.
