2025-09-05 –, Workshops 1
In high-pressure cyber environments, technical skill alone is no longer enough. Emotional hijack, cognitive overload, and AI bias are reshaping the threat landscape, and our own responses to it. In this workshop, former intelligence officer and behavioral analyst An Gaiser takes you beyond the theory introduced in her main-track talk. You’ll step inside her GIN-method: a field-tested framework for reading behavior, managing interactional dynamics, and sharpening non-verbal intelligence.
Using real-world cases from NATO briefings, corporate breach investigations, and high-stakes security interviews, you’ll learn how to detect the earliest signs of cognitive drift in yourself and others, calibrate your response under pressure, and avoid the hidden traps in AI-assisted decision-making. This is an immersive, practical session for anyone in cybersecurity who wants to stay operationally sharp when the stakes and (the signal noise) are high.
Description:
This hands-on workshop expands on Flooding the Zone: Emotional Hijack, AI Bias & Critical Thinking in Cybersecurity by showing you exactly how to operationalize the concepts in your own work.
Through live demonstrations, structured exercises, and group analysis, you will:
* Deconstruct the GIN-method: Understand the three pillars (Behavioral Analysis, Interactional Awareness, Non-verbal Intelligence) and how they integrate into cyber operations.
* Recognize early behavioral cues: Spot fight/flight/freeze/affiliate patterns in team members, stakeholders, or sources before they derail decision-making.
* Navigate interaction under stress: Use targeted questioning and rapport strategies to cut through resistance, denial, or shutdown in high-risk conversations.
* Audit AI’s blind spots: Identify where outdated emotion models and algorithmic bias can mislead your analysis, and how to counter them with human sense-making.
* Apply cognitive self-checks: Implement quick, field-tested protocols to regulate your own response under pressure and maintain clarity in complex scenarios.
This is not a passive lecture. Expect to analyze real cases, work through short scenario challenges, and leave with practical tools you can use whether you’re red-teaming a social engineering exercise, blue-teaming in the heat of an incident, or leading a cyber crisis response.
Audience: Cybersecurity professionals, threat analysts, red/blue/purple teams, SOC leads, incident responders, and anyone interested in the human factor of security.
An Gaiser is a Forensic Behavioral expert, Investigative Interviewer and Author of “Verborgen Signalen" ("Hidden Signals"). Her GIN-method: a practice-based framework combining behavioral analysis, interactional awareness, and non-verbal intelligence.
With over 23 years of experience, she served with the Probation service, as well as the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD), and worked in forensic compliance at KPMG. She now trains, coaches and consults global security and compliance teams in high-stakes communication, resistance handling, and strategic interviewing.
An’s work bridges psychological insight with operational clarity, helping professionals stay cognitively sharp under pressure and decode what others miss, even before a word is spoken.