Session Abstract: What does putting "Password123" in a password manager and 2020-era sanitizing of groceries have in common? Over the last three years we've seen how faulty risk perception has led to unnecessary harm in addressing the coronavirus pandemic. Likewise, we see organizations and individuals not effectively evaluating their cybersecurity risk, resulting in persistent (and escalating) compromises of identity security. New advances in underlying technology to bolster identity security won’t succeed until we address the pandemic of risk perception. In this session, we will enumerate the barriers to accurate risk perception, including challenges in mass communication of complex information (“fomite transmission” and “FIDO” are equally incomprehended by the average American) and the social predictors of perceived risk. Once we understand the parallels between the coronavirus pandemic and cybersecurity risk perception, we will discuss what steps we can take as an industry and within enterprises to build and deploy more effective identity security features.