CS881 - Advanced Human Centred Security

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the module, 

1. Students will understand, analyse and minimise the security and privacy risks arising from human activities
2. Students will explore the intricacies of digital footprints, analyse how online and offline activities contribute to digital presence and further impact real lives
3. Students will understand the role of psychosocial factors contributing to awareness, perceptions and behaviours of individual users
4. Students will develop an understanding of socio-technical systems users interact with and how to leverage human capabilities as a solution to cybersecurity challenges
5. Student will expand their understanding of human factors in cybersecurity beyond traditional user-centric approaches

In addition, students will learn soft skills such as:

1. team building, team dynamics and working in heterogeneous teams
2.  develop social learning, and learning by doing skills
3. academic writing skills and should be able to prepare well-structured reports
4. public speaking and presentation skills

Syllabus

The course opens with an understanding of the socio-technical systems and how humans interact with these systems, for example, social media and smart homes. We will look at the individual use of the internet, the digital footprint humans leave and how online life can affect offline life. We will also understand different types of surveillance, users’ perceptions about private and state-run surveillance, and individual rights as per the laws (GDPR as an example). We will also look at the dark patterns of service providers trespassing on the privacy of individual users. 

We will understand the threat landscape by looking at the intersection of threat, vulnerability, and risk. We will understand the origin of threats and the motivation to tackle the threats better. We will also walk through the economics of cybercrimes and what leverage cybercriminals have. You will assume the security manager role and perform threat modelling by analysing risks and suggesting mitigation techniques.

We will also delve into the complexities of human psychology to understand their perceptions and behaviours and the factors affecting security and privacy. We will also see how different person-specific issues affect S&P behaviours. We will look at the security practices of different user groups, and you will assume the role of security champion and design security advice for different user groups. We will look beyond users as a “human factor in cybersecurity” and examine the security manager’s role in human-centred security.

Recommended Reading

This list is indicative only – the class lecturer may recommend alternative reading material. Please do not purchase any of the reading material listed below until you have confirmed with the class lecturer that it will be used for this class.

The course will be based on the lecturer's tutorial notes and references provided therein. It uses a learning-by-doing, sharing experiences and knowledge, and social learning approach and does not require any specific book.

Last updated: 2024-09-03 16:14:12