Events Calendar

CS Colloquium: Tamara Denning (U of Washington)

Speaker: Tamara Denning, U of Washington

Talk Title: Human-Centered Computer Security: Beyond the Desktop

Series: CS Colloquium

Abstract: Modern technologies are increasingly capable, interconnected, and used in diverse aspects of our lives. Securing these devices is critical: attackers can leverage their properties to perform attacks with novel or amplified harms. It is critical to approach securing these devices from a human perspective in addition to a technical perspective in order to maximize the effectiveness and minimize the repercussions of deployed security systems. I outline a human-centered approach to designing security for these new classes of technologies and ground each step with an example study. First, I use my study on household robots to demonstrate how the properties and usage scenarios of a technology translate into particular threats to users and bystanders. Second, I present how researchers can investigate the characteristics of an application domain in order to inform the design of better security systems, using my work with implantable medical devices as an example. Third, I use my in-situ study investigating the impacts of augmented reality devices on bystander privacy to illustrate how researchers can obtain data on the risks associated with a technology. I conclude my talk with a call for the development of more toolkits to bootstrap the security process, and present one such toolkit: the Security Cards, a physical deck of brainstorming cards that I developed to help computer science students, technologists, and researchers explore the threats that might be posed by a technology system.

Biography: Tamara Denning is a senior PhD student at the University of Washington working with Tadayoshi Kohno in the Security and Privacy Research Lab. She received her B.S. in Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego in 2007. Tamara's interests are in the human aspects of computer security and privacy, with a focus on emerging technologies. Past areas of work include security for implantable medical devices, the security of consumer technologies in the home, security and privacy issues surrounding augmented reality, and security toolkits for awareness and education. Tamara's work is published in both HCI and computer security venues, and has been covered by new outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, NY Times, and Wired.


Host: Ramesh Govindan

Location: SAL 101

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Assistant to CS chair