Program Mechanics

Every October, Security Awareness Month presents a golden opportunity for Security Champion program owners to energize their communities. Running creative, motivating events not only boosts awareness but also reinforces your champions’ role as advocates for secure practices across the organization. We’ve come up with a set of event ideas, complete with how to run them and tips for tying them into your program’s gamified structure.

At Katilyst, we’ve found that the biggest barrier to strong threat modeling isn’t technical knowledge—it’s engagement. Even with the best frameworks (STRIDE, PASTA, etc.), teams tune out if threat modeling becomes a rote checklist. That’s why we set out to transform it into an epic quest. Inspired by tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, our approach gives security champions the tools to lead fun, collaborative, and genuinely productive threat modeling sessions.

Points aren’t about gamification. They’re about giving visibility to the invisible, and tracking the impact of security champions in a way that celebrates their contributions - without adding overhead. A good points system should reflect your culture and drive the behaviors you actually want to see.

Security Champions play a crucial role in fostering a culture of security within organizations. While "stuff"—like swag and gift cards—is a common way to reward them, there's an opportunity to think bigger and leverage other powerful motivators.

Enter Security Champion programs: your secret weapon for fostering a security-conscious culture. They arm employees with the knowledge and tools to combat these biases head-on.