As the theme of TNC26 Helsinki invites us to explore “Digital Sisu”, resilience, courage, and determination in the face of adversity, Samuli Könönen asks us to consider a different kind of threat: one that is not seen, but felt in the way we think, decide, and trust. Könönen works at the intersection of technology, information, and society. His focus is not only on securing systems, but on understanding how influence operates in the current complex information environment. The challenge today is broader. Information shapes perception, behaviour, and ultimately decision-making. In this context, cognitive security becomes essential: the ability to recognise, resist, and respond to attempts to influence how we think. Ahead of his closing keynote at TNC26, I spoke with Samuli about the evolution of information influence, the vulnerabilities we all share, and why protecting our thinking may be one of the most critical skills of the digital age. For Könönen, the idea of Digital Sisu is something deeply human.
“Our systems and technologies don’t have much sisu built into them, we generate it, and we must protect it.”
Rethinking the human role in security
The idea that humans sit at the centre of security is not new. What has changed is how we understand that role. Cognitive security reframes people not as a weakness, but as the critical interface through which all information flows. Könönen traces this back to this: humans have always influenced one another through information, stories, images, persuasion. What feels new is, in many ways, an acceleration of something very old.
“We are animals who use information to influence other animals, through speech, text, images, and videos.”
From phishing emails to advertising to political messaging, influence operates across a wide spectrum. It is constant, and often invisible. Focusing only on whether influence is “good” or “bad” risks missing the bigger picture.
“Awareness is the more useful starting point: recognising that our thinking is always being shaped by the environments we inhabit.”
An overwhelmed information environment
That environment has changed dramatically in recent years. The rise of the internet, social media, and generative AI have transformed not just how we communicate, but how much information we are expected to process. The human mind, however, has not kept pace. Könönen points to a widening gap between the sophistication of the technologies we use and our understanding of how they work. That gap makes it increasingly difficult to assess what is true, what is manipulated, and what is simply noise. Social media exemplifies this tension. What began as a way to connect with friends and communities has evolved into something far more complex: a continuous stream where news, advertising, and entertainment blur together, competing for attention. Generative AI, like social media, has been accelerating the information flood that is overwhelming us, it democratises the production of information content while concentrating power on opaque AI platforms. The result is not just distraction but fatigue, a kind of cognitive overload that makes critical thinking harder to sustain. We all agree there is no returning to a pre– AI world. Adaptation is the only path forward.
Vulnerability, a human trait
Inspired by Daniel Kahneman’s concept of thinking fast and slow, Könönen points to the dual processes, intuitive and deliberate that shape how we interpret the world. Part of adapting to today’s information environment means understanding these patterns. Cognitive biases are built into how we process information and have helped us survive. And crucially, awareness of them does not remove their influence. Our minds rely on predictive processing, a continuous effort to anticipate the world, and we hold tightly to the internal models created by that effort. We are drawn to what feels familiar. We trust coherence over complexity. We anchor to first impressions and struggle to revise them even when faced with new evidence. Social cues matter just as much. We look to others, what they believe, what they value to guide our own thinking, a phenomenon often described as mimetic desire. In this sense, vulnerability is not a flaw in the system; it is part of being human.
Small habits, real control
If the challenge is systemic, the response can still begin with individual habits. Könönen’s suggestions are deliberately simple interventions that create space for reflection in an otherwise reactive environment.Reducing notifications, being more intentional about when and why we engage with our devices, and paying attention to emotional responses are all ways of regaining a degree of control. At the heart of these practices is a shift from automatic reaction to conscious awareness.
“If something triggers a strong emotional reaction, don’t respond immediately. Apply the 24-hour rule. Sleep on it.”
In systems designed to reward immediacy, even a pause can be a powerful act.
Cognitive security and democracy
The implications extend beyond individuals to society as a whole. Open societies depend on freedom of thought and expression, but those same freedoms create space for influence, manipulation, and competing narratives. The challenge is not to eliminate this tension, but to navigate it without losing the qualities that define democratic systems. Cognitive security, in this context, becomes part of a broader question of autonomy: how individuals and societies maintain the ability to think, decide, and act independently in complex information environments.
A question for us all
In the end, Könönen returns to a single, enduring question: “cui bono?” who benefits? It is a simple yet powerful tool for critical thinking. By asking who stands to gain, we move beyond the surface of information and begin to examine intent, incentives, and the structures beneath. When truth is obscured by noise, it becomes essential to consider whose agenda is served by a constantly distracted public. In a reality saturated with information, judgement, rather than access, becomes the real challenge.
About Samuli Könönen
Samuli Könönen is an information security specialist at the Finnish National Cyber Security Centre, where he works at the frontlines of national security. He advises decision makers, organisations, and the public on navigating the modern threat landscape. Samuli has studied leadership and strategy at the National Defence University and cybersecurity technologies at the University of Turku. Through his diverse background he has developed a deep expertise in how information technologies can be weaponised. Underlying his work is a conviction that security is inseparable from the human element; information environments don’t just change around us, but also transform the way we think, believe, and decide.
