People ask me all the time:

“Evan, what’s the single most important thing I can do to protect myself and my organization?”

They expect me to say MFA, patch your systems, buy the latest shiny tool, or maybe hire a great vCISO.

Nope. My answer is always the same, it never changes:

Learn, embrace, and master situational awareness.
Everything else evolves from there.

What I Mean by Situational Awareness

Situational awareness is simply knowing what’s going on around you and what it means for you — in real time and over time.

• What do you own? (systems, data, processes, devices)
• What’s changing? (new apps, new suppliers, new threats)
• Where are you exposed? (weak controls, outdated systems, bad assumptions)
• What’s coming your way? (attacks, failures, human mistakes, new risks)

You can’t defend what you don’t know. You can’t make good risk decisions if you’re blind to what’s happening.

Insecurity — personal or organizational — almost always comes down to a failure to see reality as it really is.

The Ugly Truth About Security Failure

We spend billions every year on security tech.
We adopt frameworks, chase compliance, and collect shiny dashboards.
And yet… breaches keep happening.

Why? Because we skip the hard, unsexy work of paying attention.

• Companies don’t know what assets they actually have.
• Leaders don’t track how their environment is changing.
• People click things, reuse passwords, and ignore red flags because they’re unaware.

A fancy security tool won’t save you if you don’t know your own landscape.

Situational Awareness in Real Life

Think about it:

• Driving: You can have airbags, lane assist, ABS — but if you’re not watching the road, you’re still going to crash.
• Scuba diving: (One of my favorite hobbies.) You monitor depth, air, currents, and surroundings. Lose awareness for 30 seconds, and it can cost you your life.
• Business: If you don’t know what’s changing — new vendors, shadow IT, layoffs, acquisitions — you’re exposed before you even realize it.

Situational awareness isn’t paranoia. It’s clarity.

How to Build It

You don’t need to be a CISO to master situational awareness. Start simple:

• Inventory what matters. Know your assets — devices, accounts, critical data.
• Pay attention to change. Every new app, vendor, or connection changes risk.
• Watch the environment. Stay aware of threats in your industry and community.
• Ask “What if?” Play out scenarios. How would this impact us?
• Talk to people. Awareness isn’t just tech; it’s culture and conversations.

If you lead a company, demand real visibility from your teams. If you’re an individual, take stock of your digital life and stay alert.

Everything Else Evolves From This

MFA, patching, backups, EDR, security policies — they’re all important.
But they’re second-order controls. They work only if you actually understand your environment.

Situational awareness is the first domino. Miss it, and every other security decision is just guessing.

Final Word

I’ve spent more than 30 years in this industry. I’ve seen the smartest people and the best-funded companies fall because they were blind to what was really happening around them.

If you take nothing else from me, take this:

Pay attention. See clearly. Stay aware.
Everything good in security — and in life — flows from that.

Situational Awareness Resources
Here are some good resources to help you learn, apply, and master situational awareness:

• National Protective Security Authority (UK) – Personal Situational Awareness
• Tactical Hyve – Situational Awareness Training: 14 Ways to Improve Your “SA”
• SafetyCulture – 10 Situational Awareness Training Courses
• AlertMedia – 10 Situational & Safety Awareness Tips for the Workplace
• Institute for Social and Emotional Intelligence – Strengthening Your Situational Awareness