How Delta Airlines Reimagined Cybersecurity Awareness for 100,000+ Employees, with CISO Deborah Wheeler

What if security awareness training was something your employees looked forward to?

In this episode of Vigilance, Delta Airlines CISO Deborah Wheeler joins Pam Brodt to share how she turned one of the most overlooked areas of cybersecurity—employee awareness—into a cultural movement inside a global enterprise.

With a workforce of over 100,000, Deborah had to ditch fear-based training, design for a diverse range of roles (including flight crews), and build a program that empowers people at home and at work.

What she and her team built is remarkable:

• A gamified phishing derby with 50,000+ entries and company-wide excitement
• Security training that starts with personal safety, not corporate policy
• Tailored, role-specific delivery formats to meet people where they are
• A measurable drop in phishing click-through rates and a surge in reporting
• Awareness campaigns run by a team of just three people

Whether you’re a CISO, awareness program owner, or enterprise leader—this conversation is a masterclass in human-first security strategy.

🎧 Watch the full episode to learn:

• How to scale employee engagement across a massive enterprise
• Why storytelling and incentives work better than fear
• How to measure behavior change beyond compliance checkboxes
• Why your awareness team shouldn’t come from cybersecurity

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