Keynotes
Keynote 1 - Professor Ross Anderson
Professor of Security Engineering, University of Cambridge
The psychology of security
Abstract: A fascinating dialogue is developing between psychologists and
security engineers. At the macro scale, societal overreactions to
terrorism are founded on the misperception of risk and uncertainty,
which has deep psychological roots. At the micro scale, more and more
crimes involve deception; as security engineering gets better, it's
easier to mislead people than to hack computers or hack through walls.
Many frauds can be explained in terms of the heuristics and biases
that we have retained from our ancestral evolutionary environment. At
an even deeper level, the psychology of security touches on
fundamental scientific and philosophical problems. The `Machiavellian
Brain' hypothesis states that we evolved high intelligence not to make
better tools, but to use other monkeys better as tools: primates who
were better at deception, or at detecting deception in others, left
more descendants. Yet the move online is changing the parameters of
deception, and robbing us of many of the signals we use to make trust
judgments in the "real" world; it's a lot easier to copy a bank
website than it is to copy a bank. Many systems fail because the
security usability has not been though through: the designers have
different mental models of threats and protection mechanisms from
users. And misperceptions cause security markets to fail: many users
buy snake oil, while others distrust quite serviceable mechanisms.
Security is both a feeling and a reality, and they're different. The
gap gets ever wider, and ever more important.
Bio: Ross John Anderson, FRS is a researcher, writer, and industry
consultant in security engineering. He is Professor in Security Engineering at
the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory,[3] where he is engaged in
the Security Group. Anderson is the author of Security Engineering,
published by Wiley in 2001, ISBN 0-471-38922-6. He was the founder and
editor of Computer and Communications Security Reviews
Keynote 2 - Professor Angela Sasse:
Head of Information Security Research
Director of the Science of Cyber Security Research Institute
Director of the Academic Centre of Excellence for Cyber Security
Research University College London
Want Effective Security Solutions? Let's Re-Think The
Design Approach
Abstract: In this talk, I will examine the most common reasons why users
shortcut security measures. Contrary to the thinking of many security
professionals - expressed in statements such as the 'Users are the
Weakest Link' and 'Given a choice between security and Dancing Pigs,
users chose Dancing Pigs every time' - users make rational choices about
the cost and benefit of security measures. The lesson for designers is
that they need to take more responsiblity - rather than just passing the
buck by presenting users with time-and-effort consuming, impossible
choices), and improve accuracy of detecting threats and communicate
risks and consequences more precisely. But most importantly, designers
need to accept that, to make security low-effort and meaningful,
different tasks and contexts need different security solutions, which
support individual goals and organisation processes, rather than
fighting them.
Bio: M. Angela Sasse is the Professor of Human-Centred Technology and
Head of Information Security Research in the Department of Computer
Science at University College London (UCL), UK. A usability researcher
by training, she started investigating the causes and effects of
usability issues with security mechanisms in 1996. In addition to
studying specific mechanisms such as passwords, biometrics, and
access
control, her research group has developed human-centred frameworks
that
explain the role of security, privacy, identity and trust in human
interactions with technology. A list of projects and publications can be
found at http://sec.cs.ucl.ac.uk/people/m_angela_sasse/