SFB1119 CROSSING: Kryptographiebasierte Sicherheitslösungen als Grundlage für Vertrauen in heutigen und zukünftigen IT-Systemen (1.8.2018-30.06.2026, DFG)
Die TU Darmstadt kann im Rahmen des hessischen Forschungsförderungsprogramms LOEWE ein neues Zentrum etablieren – es trägt den Titel „Die Resiliente Digitale Stadt” und wird bis Ende 2023 mit insgesamt 17,4 Millionen Euro gefördert. Dies gab das Hessische Wissenschaftsministerium bekannt.
Kryptographie ist ein unverzichtbares Instrument für die sichere Gestaltung digitaler Prozesse, in dem sie Vertraulichkeit, Integrität, Authentisierung und Unabstreitbarkeit gewährleistet. Auf diese Weise können viele Dienste sicher über das Internet abgewickelt werden. Dennoch lassen sich nicht alle in der Praxis auftretenden Probleme mit den bereits existierenden kryptographischen Verfahren lösen. Diese Problemstellung motivierte CROSSING schon vor dessen Start im Jahre 2014, und ist auch heute noch aktuell. Dementsprechend war und ist das übergeordnete Ziel des Sonderforschungsbereichs CROSSING: Kryptographie-basierte Sicherheitslösungen zu entwickeln, die Vertrauen in heutigen und zukünftigen IT-Systemen ermöglichen. Die Lösungen werden die Effizienz- und Sicherheitsanforderungen dieser IT-Umgebungen erfüllen und werden sicher implementiert sein. Entwickler, Administratoren und Endanwender von IT werden diese Lösungen leicht nutzen können, auch wenn sie keine Kryptographie-Experten sind.
Teilprojekt: Transparenz als nutzerzentrierte Intervention für Privatsphäre und Sicherheit
Das Projekt zielt darauf ab, Nutzer angemessen zu informieren und aufzuklären, um eine bessere Entscheidungsfindung in Bezug auf das persönliche Sicherheits- und Privatheitsverhalten zu fördern. Das Projekt untersucht insbesondere, in welchen Kontexten und für welche Nutzer transparente, nachvollziehbare Indikatoren als Intervention zu solch verbesserten Ergebnissen führen. Ganz allgemein untersucht das Projekt, ob und wie nutzerzentrierte Sicherheits- und Privatheits-Interventionen von der Personalisierung und Kontrolle durch die Benutzer selbst profitieren können.
2025
[BibTeX]
@book{linsner_privacy_2025,
address = {Wiesbaden, Germany},
title = {Privacy {Preserving} {Data} {Management} – {Assisting} {Users} in {Data} {Disclosure} {Scenarios}},
publisher = {Springer Vieweg},
author = {Linsner, Sebastian},
year = {2025},
keywords = {DissPublisher, Security, UsableSec, Projekt-ATHENE-PriVis, Projekt-CROSSING},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract]
The global efforts to reduce armament after the end of the Cold War have been stalled due to rising nationalist ambitions. Within this dynamic, military technologies are evolving and contributing to the changing dynamics of arms races. These challenges posed by new and established arms technologies were discussed in the interdisciplinary conference „Science – Peace – Security ’23“ (SPS’23) held from September 20 to Friday, September 22, 2023, at the Technical University of Darmstadt. The conference brought together interdisciplinary scholars to discuss the role of these technologies in wars and conflicts, as well as approaches toward arms control and non-proliferation. Three of the contributions are part of this special section. Almuntaser Albalawi and Kristoffer provide an in-depth analysis of the four primary mechanisms investigating alleged chemical weapons use in Syria. Zenobia S. Homan and Saman Omar explore the influence of media coverage on chemical weapon attacks in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Bandarra et al. examine the critical role of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards in preventing nuclear weapons proliferation. All these contributions highlight the need to critically assess and update arms control regimes, mechanisms, and instruments to adapt to the transformation of political violence, e.g., providing access to information and improving trust in institutions and international cooperation.
@article{riebe_technology_2025,
title = {Technology and the {Transformation} of {Political} {Violence} - {Editorial} of the {ZeFKo} {Special} {Section}},
volume = {15},
abstract = {The global efforts to reduce armament after the end of the Cold War have been stalled due to rising nationalist ambitions. Within this dynamic, military technologies are evolving and contributing to the changing dynamics of arms races. These challenges posed by new and established arms technologies were discussed in the interdisciplinary conference "Science - Peace - Security '23" (SPS'23) held from September 20 to Friday, September 22, 2023, at the Technical University of Darmstadt. The conference brought together interdisciplinary scholars to discuss the role of these technologies in wars and conflicts, as well as approaches toward arms control and non-proliferation. Three of the contributions are part of this special section. Almuntaser Albalawi and Kristoffer provide an in-depth analysis of the four primary mechanisms investigating alleged chemical weapons use in Syria. Zenobia S. Homan and Saman Omar explore the influence of media coverage on chemical weapon attacks in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Bandarra et al. examine the critical role of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards in preventing nuclear weapons proliferation. All these contributions highlight the need to critically assess and update arms control regimes, mechanisms, and instruments to adapt to the transformation of political violence, e.g., providing access to information and improving trust in institutions and international cooperation.},
number = {1},
journal = {Zeitschrift für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung (ZeFKo)},
author = {Riebe, Thea and Reuter, Christian},
year = {2025},
keywords = {Peace, Projekt-TraCe, Security, Projekt-CROSSING},
}
2024
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
In many applications and websites people use in their everyday life, their privacy and data is threatened, e.g., by script tracking during browsing. Although researchers and companies have developed privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs), they are often difficult to use for lay users. In this paper, we conducted a literature review to classify users into different support personas based on their privacy competence and privacy concern. With developers of PETs in mind, support personas were envisioned to facilitate the customization of software according to the support needs of different users. In order to demonstrate the usefulness of support personas and based on workshop sessions with 15 participants, we designed a browser extension which supports users with the issue of script tracking by providing different user interfaces for different support personas. The following qualitative evaluation with 31 participants showed that the developed UI elements worked as intended for the different support personas. Therefore, we conclude the concept of support personas is useful in the development process of usable applications that enhance the privacy of the users while also educating them and thus potentially increasing their privacy literacy.
@article{demuth_support_2024,
title = {Support {Personas}: {A} {Concept} for {Tailored} {Support} of {Users} of {Privacy}-{Enhancing} {Technologies}},
issn = {2299-0984},
url = {https://petsymposium.org/popets/2024/popets-2024-0142.pdf},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.56553/popets-2024-0142},
abstract = {In many applications and websites people use in their everyday life, their privacy and data is threatened, e.g., by script tracking during browsing. Although researchers and companies have developed privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs), they are often difficult to use for lay users. In this paper, we conducted a literature review to classify users into different support personas based on their privacy competence and privacy concern. With developers of PETs in mind, support personas were envisioned to facilitate the customization of software according to the support needs of different users. In order to demonstrate the usefulness of support personas and based on workshop sessions with 15 participants, we designed a browser extension which supports users with the issue of script tracking by providing different user interfaces for different support personas. The following qualitative evaluation with 31 participants showed that the developed UI elements worked as intended for the different support personas. Therefore, we conclude the concept of support personas is useful in the development process of usable applications that enhance the privacy of the users while also educating them and thus potentially increasing their privacy literacy.},
number = {4},
journal = {Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PoPETs)},
author = {Demuth, Kilian and Linsner, Sebastian and Biselli, Tom and Kaufhold, Marc-André and Reuter, Christian},
year = {2024},
keywords = {HCI, A-Paper, Ranking-CORE-A, Security, UsableSec, Projekt-ATHENE-PriVis, Projekt-CROSSING},
pages = {797--817},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Internet of Things (IoT) devices have become increasingly important within the smart home domain, making the security of the devices a critical aspect. The majority of IoT devices are black-box systems running closed and pre-installed firmware. This raises concerns about the trustworthiness of these devices, especially considering that some of them are shipped with a microphone or a camera. Remote attestation aims at validating the trustworthiness of these devices by verifying the integrity of the software. However, users cannot validate whether the attestation has actually taken place and has not been manipulated by an attacker, raising the need for HCI research on trust and understandability. We conducted a qualitative study with 35 participants, investigating trust in the attestation process and whether this trust can be improved by additional explanations in the application. We developed an application that allows users to attest a smart speaker using their smartphone over an audio channel to identify the attested device and observe the attestation process. In order to observe the differences between the applications with and without explanations, we performed A/B testing. We discovered that trust increases when additional explanations of the technical process are provided, improving the understanding of the attestation process.
@article{linsner_building_2024,
title = {Building {Trust} in {Remote} {Attestation} {Through} {Transparency} – {A} {Qualitative} {User} {Study} on {Observable} {Attestation}},
issn = {0144-929X},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2024.2374889},
doi = {10.1080/0144929X.2024.2374889},
abstract = {Internet of Things (IoT) devices have become increasingly important within the smart home domain, making the security of the devices a critical aspect. The majority of IoT devices are black-box systems running closed and pre-installed firmware. This raises concerns about the trustworthiness of these devices, especially considering that some of them are shipped with a microphone or a camera. Remote attestation aims at validating the trustworthiness of these devices by verifying the integrity of the software. However, users cannot validate whether the attestation has actually taken place and has not been manipulated by an attacker, raising the need for HCI research on trust and understandability. We conducted a qualitative study with 35 participants, investigating trust in the attestation process and whether this trust can be improved by additional explanations in the application. We developed an application that allows users to attest a smart speaker using their smartphone over an audio channel to identify the attested device and observe the attestation process. In order to observe the differences between the applications with and without explanations, we performed A/B testing. We discovered that trust increases when additional explanations of the technical process are provided, improving the understanding of the attestation process.},
journal = {Behaviour \& Information Technology (BIT)},
author = {Linsner, Sebastian and Demuth, Kilian and Surminski, Sebastian and Davi, Lucas and Reuter, Christian},
year = {2024},
note = {Publisher: Taylor \& Francis},
keywords = {A-Paper, Ranking-ImpactFactor, Security, UsableSec, Projekt-ATHENE-PriVis, Projekt-CROSSING},
pages = {1--21},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
In many scenarios users have to communicate sensitive data with third parties such as doctors, lawyers, insurance companies, social workers or online shops. Handing over personal data is necessary to use those services but the delegation of tasks to increase efficiency still poses the risk that personal data might be leaked. To minimize this risk and further enhance the privacy of users, we propose an interaction concept that uses layered encryption of messages to provide a trade-off between privacy and usability. Users can choose which data is additionally encrypted in an inner layer, say, for the eyes of their doctor only, and which data is available in an outer (encrypted or unencrypted) layer for all staff members. Another benefit is the hiding of sensitive data from package inspection or crawling algorithms over emails, while less critical parts can still be processed by these systems via the partial access. To investigate this concept, we derive relevant use cases for form-based communication over email from a quantitative pre-study with 1011 participants, showing that general practitioners are the most suitable use case. We developed demonstrators for this use case and evaluated them in a qualitative study with 42 participants. Our results show that the possibility of minimizing the propagation of sensitive data through additional encryption is highly appreciated and the usage of form-based communication is a promising approach for the digital transformation.
@article{linsner_decision-based_2024,
title = {Decision-based {Data} {Distribution} ({D}³): {Enabling} {Users} to {Minimize} {Data} {Propagation} in {Privacy}-sensitive {Scenarios}},
issn = {2299-0984},
url = {https://petsymposium.org/popets/2024/popets-2024-0113.php},
doi = {10.56553/popets-2024-0113},
abstract = {In many scenarios users have to communicate sensitive data with third parties such as doctors, lawyers, insurance companies, social workers or online shops. Handing over personal data is necessary to use those services but the delegation of tasks to increase efficiency still poses the risk that personal data might be leaked. To minimize this risk and further enhance the privacy of users, we propose an interaction concept that uses layered encryption of messages to provide a trade-off between privacy and usability. Users can choose which data is additionally encrypted in an inner layer, say, for the eyes of their doctor only, and which data is available in an outer (encrypted or unencrypted) layer for all staff members. Another benefit is the hiding of sensitive data from package inspection or crawling algorithms over emails, while less critical parts can still be processed by these systems via the partial access. To investigate this concept, we derive relevant use cases for form-based communication over email from a quantitative pre-study with 1011 participants, showing that general practitioners are the most suitable use case. We developed demonstrators for this use case and evaluated them in a qualitative study with 42 participants. Our results show that the possibility of minimizing the propagation of sensitive data through additional encryption is highly appreciated and the usage of form-based communication is a promising approach for the digital transformation.},
number = {4},
journal = {Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PoPETs)},
author = {Linsner, Sebastian and Demuth, Kilian and Fischlin, Marc and Reuter, Christian},
year = {2024},
keywords = {HCI, A-Paper, Ranking-CORE-A, Security, UsableSec, Projekt-ATHENE-PriVis, Projekt-CROSSING, Selected},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Technological and scientific progress, especially the rapid development in information technology (IT) and artificial intelligence (AI), plays a crucial role regarding questions of peace and security. This textbook, extended and updated in its second edition, addresses the significance, potential of IT, as well as the challenges it poses, with regard to peace and security. It introduces the reader to the concepts of peace, conflict, and security research, especially focusing on natural, technical and computer science perspectives. In the following sections, it sheds light on cyber conflicts, war and peace, cyber arms control, cyber attribution, infrastructures, artificial intelligence, as well ICT in peace and conflict.
@book{reuter_information_2024,
address = {Wiesbaden, Germany},
edition = {2},
title = {Information {Technology} for {Peace} and {Security} - {IT} {Applications} and {Infrastructures} in {Conflicts}, {Crises}, {War}, and {Peace}},
isbn = {978-3-658-44809-7},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-44810-3},
abstract = {Technological and scientific progress, especially the rapid development in information technology (IT) and artificial intelligence (AI), plays a crucial role regarding questions of peace and security. This textbook, extended and updated in its second edition, addresses the significance, potential of IT, as well as the challenges it poses, with regard to peace and security.
It introduces the reader to the concepts of peace, conflict, and security research, especially focusing on natural, technical and computer science perspectives. In the following sections, it sheds light on cyber conflicts, war and peace, cyber arms control, cyber attribution, infrastructures, artificial intelligence, as well ICT in peace and conflict.},
publisher = {Springer Vieweg},
author = {Reuter, Christian},
year = {2024},
keywords = {Peace, Projekt-TraCe, AuswahlPeace, Security, Projekt-CROSSING, Selected, Infrastructure, Cyberwar},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Not only today, but also in the future information technology and the advances in the field of computer science will have a high relevance for peace and security. Naturally, a textbook like this can only cover a selective part of research and a certain point in time. Nonetheless, it can be attempted to identify trends, challenges and venture an outlook into the future. That is exactly what we want to achieve in this chapter: To predict fu-ture developments and try to classify them correctly. These considerations were made both by the editor and the authors involved alike. Therefore, an outlook based on fun-damentals, cyber conflicts and war, cyber peace, cyber arms control, infrastructures as well as social interaction is given.
@incollection{reuter_outlook_2024,
address = {Wiesbaden, Germany},
title = {Outlook: {The} {Future} of {IT} in {Peace} and {Security}},
url = {https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-658-44810-3_22},
abstract = {Not only today, but also in the future information technology and the advances in the field of computer science will have a high relevance for peace and security. Naturally, a textbook like this can only cover a selective part of research and a certain point in time. Nonetheless, it can be attempted to identify trends, challenges and venture an outlook into the future. That is exactly what we want to achieve in this chapter: To predict fu-ture developments and try to classify them correctly. These considerations were made both by the editor and the authors involved alike. Therefore, an outlook based on fun-damentals, cyber conflicts and war, cyber peace, cyber arms control, infrastructures as well as social interaction is given.},
booktitle = {Information {Technology} for {Peace} and {Security} - {IT} {Applications} and {Infrastructures} in {Conflicts}, {Crises}, {War}, and {Peace}},
publisher = {Springer Vieweg},
author = {Reuter, Christian and Aal, Konstantin and Altmann, Jürgen and Bernhardt, Ute and Denker, Kai and Franken, Jonas and Gonsior, Anja-Liisa and Guntrum, Laura and Herrmann, Dominik and Hollick, Matthias and Katzenbeisser, Stefan and Kaufhold, Marc-André and Reinhold, Thomas and Riebe, Thea and Ruhmann, Ingo and Saalbach, Klaus-Peter and Schirch, Lisa and Schmid, Stefka and Schörnig, Niklas and Sunyaev, Ali and Wulf, Volker},
editor = {Reuter, Christian},
year = {2024},
note = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-44810-3\_22},
keywords = {Peace, Security, Projekt-CROSSING},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
The encompassing trend of digitalisation and widespread dependencies on IT systems triggers adjustments also in the military forces. Besides necessary enhancements of IT security and defensive measures for cyberspace, a growing number of states are estab-lishing offensive military capabilities for this domain. Looking at historical develop-ments and transformations due to advancements in military technologies, the chapter discusses the political progress made and tools developed since. Both of these have con-tributed to handling challenges and confining threats to international security. With this background, the text assesses a possible application of these efforts to developments concerning cyberspace, as well as obstacles that need to be tackled for it to be success-ful. The chapter points out political advancements already in progress, the role of social initiatives, such as the cyber peace campaign of the Forum of Computer Scientists for Peace and Societal Responsibility (FifF), as well as potential consequences of the rising probability of cyber war as opposed to the prospects of cyber peace.
@incollection{reinhold_cyber_2024,
address = {Wiesbaden, Germany},
title = {From {Cyber} {War} to {Cyber} {Peace}},
url = {https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-658-44810-3_7},
abstract = {The encompassing trend of digitalisation and widespread dependencies on IT systems triggers adjustments also in the military forces. Besides necessary enhancements of IT security and defensive measures for cyberspace, a growing number of states are estab-lishing offensive military capabilities for this domain. Looking at historical develop-ments and transformations due to advancements in military technologies, the chapter discusses the political progress made and tools developed since. Both of these have con-tributed to handling challenges and confining threats to international security. With this background, the text assesses a possible application of these efforts to developments concerning cyberspace, as well as obstacles that need to be tackled for it to be success-ful. The chapter points out political advancements already in progress, the role of social initiatives, such as the cyber peace campaign of the Forum of Computer Scientists for Peace and Societal Responsibility (FifF), as well as potential consequences of the rising probability of cyber war as opposed to the prospects of cyber peace.},
booktitle = {Information {Technology} for {Peace} and {Security} - {IT} {Applications} and {Infrastructures} in {Conflicts}, {Crises}, {War}, and {Peace}},
publisher = {Springer Vieweg},
author = {Reinhold, Thomas and Reuter, Christian},
editor = {Reuter, Christian},
year = {2024},
note = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-44810-3\_7},
keywords = {Peace, Security, Projekt-CROSSING, Cyberwar, Projekt-CNTR},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Technological and scientific progress, especially the rapid development in information technology (IT), plays a crucial role regarding questions of peace and security. This textbook addresses the significance, potentials and challenges of IT for peace and securi-ty. For this purpose, the book offers an introduction to peace, conflict, and security research, thereby focusing on natural science, technical and computer science perspec-tives. In the following, it sheds light on fundamentals (e.g. IT in peace, conflict and security, natural-science/technical peace research), cyber conflicts and war (e.g. infor-mation warfare, cyber espionage, cyber defence, Darknet), cyber peace (e.g. dual-use, technology assessment, confidence and security building measures), cyber arms control (e.g. arms control in the cyberspace, unmanned systems, verification), cyber attribution and infrastructures (e.g. attribution of cyber attacks, resilient infrastructures, secure critical information infrastructures), culture and interaction (e.g. safety and security, cultural violence, social media), before an outlook is given. This chapter provides an overview of all chapters in this book.
@incollection{reuter_overview_2024,
address = {Wiesbaden, Germany},
title = {An {Overview} and {Introduction} to {Information} {Technology} for {Peace} and {Security}},
url = {https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-658-44810-3_1},
abstract = {Technological and scientific progress, especially the rapid development in information technology (IT), plays a crucial role regarding questions of peace and security. This textbook addresses the significance, potentials and challenges of IT for peace and securi-ty. For this purpose, the book offers an introduction to peace, conflict, and security research, thereby focusing on natural science, technical and computer science perspec-tives. In the following, it sheds light on fundamentals (e.g. IT in peace, conflict and security, natural-science/technical peace research), cyber conflicts and war (e.g. infor-mation warfare, cyber espionage, cyber defence, Darknet), cyber peace (e.g. dual-use, technology assessment, confidence and security building measures), cyber arms control (e.g. arms control in the cyberspace, unmanned systems, verification), cyber attribution and infrastructures (e.g. attribution of cyber attacks, resilient infrastructures, secure critical information infrastructures), culture and interaction (e.g. safety and security, cultural violence, social media), before an outlook is given. This chapter provides an overview of all chapters in this book.},
booktitle = {Information {Technology} for {Peace} and {Security} - {IT} {Applications} and {Infrastructures} in {Conflicts}, {Crises}, {War}, and {Peace}},
publisher = {Springer Vieweg},
author = {Reuter, Christian and Franken, Jonas and Gonsior, Anja-Liisa and Guntrum, Laura and Schmid, Stefka},
editor = {Reuter, Christian},
year = {2024},
note = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-44810-3\_1},
keywords = {Peace, Security, Projekt-CROSSING},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Cyberspace, already a few decades old, has become a matter of course for most of us, part of our everyday life. At the same time, this space and the global infrastructure behind it are essential for our civilizations, the economy and administration, and thus an essential expression and lifeline of a globalized world. However, these developments also create vulnerabilities and thus, cyberspace is increasingly developing into an intelligence and military operational area – for the defense and security of states but also as a component of offensive military planning, visible in the creation of military cyber-departments and the integration of cyberspace into states‘ security and defense strategies. In order to contain and regulate the conflict and escalation potential of technology used by military forces, over the last decades, a complex tool set of transparency, de-escalation and arms control measures has been developed and proof-tested. Unfortunately, many of these established measures do not work for cyberspace due to its specific technical characteristics. Even more, the concept of what constitutes a weapon – an essential requirement for regulation – starts to blur for this domain. Against this background, this thesis aims to answer how measures for the de-escalation of state-led conflicts in cyberspace and arms control of cyberweapons can be developed. In order to answer this question, the dissertation takes a specifically technical perspective on these problems and the underlying political challenges of state behavior and international humanitarian law in cyberspace to identify starting points for technical measures of transparency, arms control and verification. Based on this approach of adopting already existing technical measures from other fields of computer science, the thesis will provide proof of concepts approaches for some mentioned challenges like a classification system for cyberweapons that is based on technical measurable features, an approach for the mutual reduction of vulnerability stockpiles and an approach to plausibly assure the non-involvement in a cyberconflict as a measure for de-escalation. All these initial approaches and the questions of how and by which measures arms control and conflict reduction can work for cyberspace are still quite new and subject to not too many debates. Indeed, the approach of deliberately self-restricting the capabilities of technology in order to serve a bigger goal, like the reduction of its destructive usage, is yet not very common for the engineering thinking of computer science. Therefore, this dissertation also aims to provide some impulses regarding the responsibility and creative options of computer science with a view to the peaceful development and use of cyberspace.
@book{reinhold_towards_2024,
address = {Wiesbaden, Germany},
title = {Towards a {Peaceful} {Development} of {Cyberspace}: {Challenges} and {Technical} {Measures} for the {De}-{Escalation} of {State}-{Led} {Cyberconflicts} and {Arms} {Control} of {Cyberweapons}},
isbn = {978-3-658-43950-7},
url = {https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-43951-4},
abstract = {Cyberspace, already a few decades old, has become a matter of course for most of us, part of our everyday life. At the same time, this space and the global infrastructure behind it are essential for our civilizations, the economy and administration, and thus an essential expression and lifeline of a globalized world. However, these developments also create vulnerabilities and thus, cyberspace is increasingly developing into an intelligence and military operational area – for the defense and security of states but also as a component of offensive military planning, visible in the creation of military cyber-departments and the integration of cyberspace into states' security and defense strategies. In order to contain and regulate the conflict and escalation potential of technology used by military forces, over the last decades, a complex tool set of transparency, de-escalation and arms control measures has been developed and proof-tested. Unfortunately, many of these established measures do not work for cyberspace due to its specific technical characteristics. Even more, the concept of what constitutes a weapon – an essential requirement for regulation – starts to blur for this domain. Against this background, this thesis aims to answer how measures for the de-escalation of state-led conflicts in cyberspace and arms control of cyberweapons can be developed. In order to answer this question, the dissertation takes a specifically technical perspective on these problems and the underlying political challenges of state behavior and international humanitarian law in cyberspace to identify starting points for technical measures of transparency, arms control and verification. Based on this approach of adopting already existing technical measures from other fields of computer science, the thesis will provide proof of concepts approaches for some mentioned challenges like a classification system for cyberweapons that is based on technical measurable features, an approach for the mutual reduction of vulnerability stockpiles and an approach to plausibly assure the non-involvement in a cyberconflict as a measure for de-escalation. All these initial approaches and the questions of how and by which measures arms control and conflict reduction can work for cyberspace are still quite new and subject to not too many debates. Indeed, the approach of deliberately self-restricting the capabilities of technology in order to serve a bigger goal, like the reduction of its destructive usage, is yet not very common for the engineering thinking of computer science. Therefore, this dissertation also aims to provide some impulses regarding the responsibility and creative options of computer science with a view to the peaceful development and use of cyberspace.},
publisher = {Springer Vieweg},
author = {Reinhold, Thomas},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-658-43951-4},
keywords = {DissPublisher, Peace, Security, Projekt-ATHENE, Projekt-CROSSING},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Browser cookies, especially those from third parties, pose a threat to individual privacy. While it is possible in principle to control the number of cookies accepted, this choice is often neither usable nor truly informed. To address this issue, this study used semi-structured interviews (N=19) to identify attitudes and user requirements to develop an alternative personalised cookie banner, which was evaluated in an online experiment (N=157). The cookie banner explanations were tailored to the privacy knowledge of three groups of users: low, medium and high. The online experiment measured cookie choices and perceived usability of the cookie banner across three groups: an experimental group that viewed the novel cookie banner with personalisation (personalised privacy assistant), a control group that viewed the novel cookie banner without personalisation (privacy assistant) and a control group that viewed the standard cookie banner provided by the website. The results indicate that the novel cookie banner (with or without personalisation) generally resulted in significantly fewer accepted cookies and increased usability compared to the standard cookie window. In addition, the personalised cookie banner resulted in significantly fewer accepted cookies and higher usability than the non-personalised cookie banner. These results suggest that tailoring cookie banners to users‘ privacy knowledge can be an effective approach to empowering users to make informed choices and better protect their privacy.
@article{biselli_supporting_2024,
title = {Supporting {Informed} {Choices} about {Browser} {Cookies}: {The} {Impact} of {Personalised} {Cookie} {Banners}},
url = {https://petsymposium.org/popets/2024/popets-2024-0011.pdf},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.56553/popets-2024-0011},
abstract = {Browser cookies, especially those from third parties, pose a threat to individual privacy. While it is possible in principle to control the number of cookies accepted, this choice is often neither usable nor truly informed. To address this issue, this study used semi-structured interviews (N=19) to identify attitudes and user requirements to develop an alternative personalised cookie banner, which was evaluated in an online experiment (N=157). The cookie banner explanations were tailored to the privacy knowledge of three groups of users: low, medium and high. The online experiment measured cookie choices and perceived usability of the cookie banner across three groups: an experimental group that viewed the novel cookie banner with personalisation (personalised privacy assistant), a control group that viewed the novel cookie banner without personalisation (privacy assistant) and a control group that viewed the standard cookie banner provided by the website. The results indicate that the novel cookie banner (with or without personalisation) generally resulted in significantly fewer accepted cookies and increased usability compared to the standard cookie window. In addition, the personalised cookie banner resulted in significantly fewer accepted cookies and higher usability than the non-personalised cookie banner. These results suggest that tailoring cookie banners to users' privacy knowledge can be an effective approach to empowering users to make informed choices and better protect their privacy.},
number = {1},
journal = {Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PoPETs)},
author = {Biselli, Tom and Utz, Laura and Reuter, Christian},
year = {2024},
keywords = {HCI, A-Paper, Ranking-CORE-A, Student, Security, UsableSec, Projekt-CROSSING, Selected, AuswahlUsableSec},
pages = {171--191},
}
[BibTeX]
@book{linsner_privacy_2024,
address = {Darmstadt, Germany},
title = {Privacy {Preserving} {Data} {Management} – {Assisting} {Users} in {Data} {Disclosure} {Scenarios}},
publisher = {Dissertation (Dr.-Ing.), Department of Computer Science, Technische Universität Darmstadt},
author = {Linsner, Sebastian},
year = {2024},
keywords = {Security, UsableSec, Projekt-ATHENE-PriVis, Projekt-CROSSING, Dissertation},
}
2023
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
The militarization of cyberspace has been a topic in international fora and scientific debates for several years. However, the development of applicable, and verifiable arms control measures that can effectively reduce the risk of military escalations in cyberspace is still hindered by the characteristics of this domain. The article analyses challenges and obstacles of dual-use, proliferation, constant technological progress, the importance of the private sector, difficulties in defining and verifying weapons and difficulties in attributing attacks.
@article{reinhold_challenges_2023,
title = {Challenges for {Cyber} {Arms} {Control}: {A} {Qualitative} {Expert} {Interview} {Study}},
volume = {16},
issn = {1866-2196},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s12399-023-00960-w},
doi = {10.1007/s12399-023-00960-w},
abstract = {The militarization of cyberspace has been a topic in international fora and scientific debates for several years. However, the development of applicable, and verifiable arms control measures that can effectively reduce the risk of military escalations in cyberspace is still hindered by the characteristics of this domain. The article analyses challenges and obstacles of dual-use, proliferation, constant technological progress, the importance of the private sector, difficulties in defining and verifying weapons and difficulties in attributing attacks.},
number = {3},
journal = {Zeitschrift für Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik (ZfAS)},
author = {Reinhold, Thomas and Pleil, Helene and Reuter, Christian},
month = aug,
year = {2023},
keywords = {Peace, Security, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-ATHENE-SecUrban},
pages = {289--310},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
While cyberspace has evolved into a commonly shared space vital to our individual lives and societies, malicious cyber activities by state actors as part of espionage operations, regarding defense strategies, or as part of traditional conflicts have strongly increased. In contrast, attributing the origin of such activities remains problematic. The ambiguity of digital data raises the problem of misinterpreting available information, increasing the risk of misinformed reactions and conflict escalation. In order to reduce this risk, this paper proposes a transparency system based on technologies which usually already exist for IT security measures that an accused actor in a specific incident can use to provide credible information which plausibly assures his non-involvement. The paper analyses the technical requirements, presents the technical concept and discusses the necessary adjustments to existing IT networks for its implementation. Intended as a measure for conflict de-escalation, the paper further discusses the limitations of this approach, especially with regard to technical limits as well as the political motivation and behavior of states.
@article{reinhold_preventing_2023,
title = {Preventing the escalation of cyber conflicts: towards an approach to plausibly assure the non-involvement in a cyberattack},
volume = {12},
issn = {2524-6976},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s42597-023-00099-7},
doi = {10.1007/s42597-023-00099-7},
abstract = {While cyberspace has evolved into a commonly shared space vital to our individual lives and societies, malicious cyber activities by state actors as part of espionage operations, regarding defense strategies, or as part of traditional conflicts have strongly increased. In contrast, attributing the origin of such activities remains problematic. The ambiguity of digital data raises the problem of misinterpreting available information, increasing the risk of misinformed reactions and conflict escalation. In order to reduce this risk, this paper proposes a transparency system based on technologies which usually already exist for IT security measures that an accused actor in a specific incident can use to provide credible information which plausibly assures his non-involvement. The paper analyses the technical requirements, presents the technical concept and discusses the necessary adjustments to existing IT networks for its implementation. Intended as a measure for conflict de-escalation, the paper further discusses the limitations of this approach, especially with regard to technical limits as well as the political motivation and behavior of states.},
number = {1},
journal = {Zeitschrift für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung (ZeFKo)},
author = {Reinhold, Thomas and Reuter, Christian},
month = apr,
year = {2023},
keywords = {Peace, Security, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-ATHENE-SecUrban},
pages = {31--58},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
A Design Science Artefact for Cyber Threat Detection and Actor Specific Communication
@article{bayer_multi-level_2023,
title = {Multi-{Level} {Fine}-{Tuning}, {Data} {Augmentation}, and {Few}-{Shot} {Learning} for {Specialized} {Cyber} {Threat} {Intelligence}},
issn = {0167-4048},
url = {https://peasec.de/paper/2023/2023_BayerFreyReuter_MultiLevelFineTuningForCyberThreatIntelligence_CS.pdf},
doi = {10.1016/j.cose.2023.103430},
abstract = {A Design Science Artefact for Cyber Threat Detection and Actor Specific Communication},
journal = {Computers \& Security},
author = {Bayer, Markus and Frey, Tobias and Reuter, Christian},
year = {2023},
keywords = {A-Paper, Ranking-ImpactFactor, Student, Security, Projekt-ATHENE, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-CYWARN},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
The conference Science · Peace · Security ’23 took place from September 20 to 22, 2023, at the Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg-Haus of the Technical University of Darmstadt. It focused on the transformation of technologies, their role in wars and conflicts, and issues related to arms control. The three-day scientific conference welcomed over 110 participants from Germany and speakers from the United Kingdom, Sweden, the USA, Colombia, India, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, the Czech Republic, Iraq, Austria, and the Netherlands. More than 50 different organizations were represented, ensuring interdisciplinary exchange. The program covered a wide range of topics reflecting societal discourses in light of a changing global security landscape. In total, the conference featured 40 presentations, workshops, discussions, and panels that discussed current and future challenges in the field of technical peace and conflict research. Particularly relevant topics included: Artificial Intelligence, Unmanned Weapons Systems, Rocket and Space Technologies (Nuclear) Arms Control, Regulation of Biological and Chemical Weapons, Information Technologies for Surveillance and Oppression of Civilians, (Civilian) Critical Infrastructures, Digital Peacebuilding, Human-Machine Interaction, Dual-Used, Cyber Attacks and Relevant Technology and Security Policies.
@incollection{reuter_science_2023,
address = {Darmstadt, Germany},
title = {Science {Peace} {Security} ’23: {Editorial} of the {Proceedings} of the {Interdisciplinary} {Conference} on {Technical} {Peace} and {Security} {Research}},
url = {https://tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/id/eprint/24777},
abstract = {The conference Science · Peace · Security '23 took place from September 20 to 22, 2023, at the Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg-Haus of the Technical University of Darmstadt. It focused on the transformation of technologies, their role in wars and conflicts, and issues related to arms control. The three-day scientific conference welcomed over 110 participants from Germany and speakers from the United Kingdom, Sweden, the USA, Colombia, India, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, the Czech Republic, Iraq, Austria, and the Netherlands. More than 50 different organizations were represented, ensuring interdisciplinary exchange. The program covered a wide range of topics reflecting societal discourses in light of a changing global security landscape. In total, the conference featured 40 presentations, workshops, discussions, and panels that discussed current and future challenges in the field of technical peace and conflict research. Particularly relevant topics included: Artificial Intelligence, Unmanned Weapons Systems, Rocket and Space Technologies (Nuclear) Arms Control, Regulation of Biological and Chemical Weapons, Information Technologies for Surveillance and Oppression of Civilians, (Civilian) Critical Infrastructures, Digital Peacebuilding, Human-Machine Interaction, Dual-Used, Cyber Attacks and Relevant Technology and Security Policies.},
booktitle = {Science {Peace} {Security} ’23: {Proceedings} of the {Interdisciplinary} {Conference} on {Technical} {Peace} and {Security} {Research}},
publisher = {TUprints},
author = {Reuter, Christian and Riebe, Thea and Guntrum, Laura},
editor = {Reuter, Christian and Riebe, Thea and Guntrum, Laura},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.26083/tuprints-00024777},
keywords = {Peace, Projekt-TraCe, Security, Projekt-CROSSING},
pages = {9--13},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
In this paper we provide an overview of XAI by introducing fundamental terminology and the goals of XAI, as well as recent research findings. Whilst doing this, we pay special attention to strategies for non-expert stakeholders. This leads us to our first research question: “What are the trends in explainable AI strategies for non-experts?”. In order to illustrate the current state of these trends, we further want to study an exemplary and very relevant application domain. According to Abdul et al. (2018), one of the first domains where researchers pursued XAI is the medical domain. This leads to our second research question: “What are the approaches of XAI in the medical domain for non-expert stakeholders?” These research questions will provide an overview of current topics in XAI and show possible research extensions for specific domains.
@incollection{ozalp_trends_2023,
address = {Bielefeld},
title = {Trends in {Explainable} {Artificial} {Intelligence} for {Non}-{Experts}},
url = {https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-5732-6/ai-limits-and-prospects-of-artificial-intelligence/?c=313000019},
abstract = {In this paper we provide an overview of XAI by introducing fundamental terminology and the goals of XAI, as well as recent research findings. Whilst doing this, we pay special attention to strategies for non-expert stakeholders. This leads us to our first research question: “What are the trends in explainable AI strategies for non-experts?”. In order to illustrate the current state of these trends, we further want to study an exemplary and very relevant application domain. According to Abdul et al. (2018), one of the first domains where researchers pursued XAI is the medical domain. This leads to our second research question: “What are the approaches of XAI in the medical domain for non-expert stakeholders?” These research questions will provide an overview of current topics in XAI and show possible research extensions for specific domains.},
booktitle = {{AI} - {Limits} and {Prospects} of {Artificial} {Intelligence}},
publisher = {Transcript Verlag},
author = {Özalp, Elise and Hartwig, Katrin and Reuter, Christian},
editor = {Klimczak, Peter and Petersen, Christer},
year = {2023},
keywords = {HCI, Student, UsableSec, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-ATHENE-SecUrban, Projekt-CYWARN},
pages = {223--243},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
The importance of dealing with fake newsfake news has increased in both political and social contexts: While existing studies mainly focus on how to detect and label fake news, approaches to help users make their own assessments are largely lacking. This article presents existing black-boxblack box and white-boxwhite box approaches and compares advantages and disadvantages. In particular, white-box approaches show promise in counteracting reactance, while black-box approaches detect fake news with much greater accuracy. We also present the browser plugin TrustyTweetTrustyTweet, which we developed to help users evaluate tweets on Twitter by displaying politically neutral and intuitive warnings without generating reactance.
@incollection{hartwig_countering_2023,
address = {Wiesbaden},
title = {Countering {Fake} {News} {Technically} – {Detection} and {Countermeasure} {Approaches} to {Support} {Users}},
isbn = {978-3-658-40406-2},
url = {https://peasec.de/paper/2023/2023_HartwigReuter_CounteringFakeNews_TruthFakePostTruth.pdf},
abstract = {The importance of dealing with fake newsfake news has increased in both political and social contexts: While existing studies mainly focus on how to detect and label fake news, approaches to help users make their own assessments are largely lacking. This article presents existing black-boxblack box and white-boxwhite box approaches and compares advantages and disadvantages. In particular, white-box approaches show promise in counteracting reactance, while black-box approaches detect fake news with much greater accuracy. We also present the browser plugin TrustyTweetTrustyTweet, which we developed to help users evaluate tweets on Twitter by displaying politically neutral and intuitive warnings without generating reactance.},
booktitle = {Truth and {Fake} in the {Post}-{Factual} {Digital} {Age}: {Distinctions} in the {Humanities} and {IT} {Sciences}},
publisher = {Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden},
author = {Hartwig, Katrin and Reuter, Christian},
editor = {Klimczak, Peter and Zoglauer, Thomas},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-658-40406-2_7},
keywords = {Crisis, HCI, SocialMedia, Projekt-ATHENE, Projekt-CROSSING},
pages = {131--147},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
The conference Science · Peace · Security ’23 took place from September 20 to 22, 2023, at the Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg-Haus of the Technical University of Darmstadt. It focused on the transformation of technologies, their role in wars and conflicts, and issues related to arms control. The three-day scientific conference welcomed over 110 participants from Germany and speakers from the United Kingdom, Sweden, the USA, Colombia, India, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, the Czech Republic, Iraq, Austria, and the Netherlands. More than 50 different organizations were represented, ensuring interdisciplinary exchange. The program covered a wide range of topics reflecting societal discourses in light of a changing global security landscape. In total, the conference featured 40 presentations, workshops, discussions, and panels that discussed current and future challenges in the field of technical peace and conflict research. Particularly relevant topics included: Artificial Intelligence, Unmanned Weapons Systems, Rocket and Space Technologies (Nuclear) Arms Control, Regulation of Biological and Chemical Weapons, Information Technologies for Surveillance and Oppression of Civilians, (Civilian) Critical Infrastructures, Digital Peacebuilding, Human-Machine Interaction, Dual-Used, Cyber Attacks and Relevant Technology and Security Policies.
@book{reuter_science_2023-1,
address = {Darmstadt, Germany},
title = {Science {Peace} {Security} ‘23 - {Proceedings} of the {Interdisciplinary} {Conference} on {Technical} {Peace} and {Security} {Research}},
url = {https://tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/id/eprint/24777},
abstract = {The conference Science · Peace · Security '23 took place from September 20 to 22, 2023, at the Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg-Haus of the Technical University of Darmstadt. It focused on the transformation of technologies, their role in wars and conflicts, and issues related to arms control. The three-day scientific conference welcomed over 110 participants from Germany and speakers from the United Kingdom, Sweden, the USA, Colombia, India, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, the Czech Republic, Iraq, Austria, and the Netherlands. More than 50 different organizations were represented, ensuring interdisciplinary exchange. The program covered a wide range of topics reflecting societal discourses in light of a changing global security landscape. In total, the conference featured 40 presentations, workshops, discussions, and panels that discussed current and future challenges in the field of technical peace and conflict research. Particularly relevant topics included: Artificial Intelligence, Unmanned Weapons Systems, Rocket and Space Technologies (Nuclear) Arms Control, Regulation of Biological and Chemical Weapons, Information Technologies for Surveillance and Oppression of Civilians, (Civilian) Critical Infrastructures, Digital Peacebuilding, Human-Machine Interaction, Dual-Used, Cyber Attacks and Relevant Technology and Security Policies.},
publisher = {TUprints},
author = {Reuter, Christian and Riebe, Thea and Guntrum, Laura},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.26083/tuprints-00024777},
keywords = {Peace, Projekt-TraCe, Security, Projekt-CROSSING},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Cyberspace, already a few decades old, has become a matter of course for most of us, part of our everyday life. At the same time, this space and the global infrastructure behind it are essential for our civilizations, the economy and administration, and thus an essential expression and lifeline of a globalized world. However, these developments also create vulnerabilities and thus, cyberspace is increasingly developing into an intelligence and military operational area – for the defense and security of states but also as a component of offensive military planning, visible in the creation of military cyber-departments and the integration of cyberspace into states‘ security and defense strategies. In order to contain and regulate the conflict and escalation potential of technology used by military forces, over the last decades, a complex tool set of transparency, de-escalation and arms control measures has been developed and proof-tested. Unfortunately, many of these established measures do not work for cyberspace due to its specific technical characteristics. Even more, the concept of what constitutes a weapon – an essential requirement for regulation – starts to blur for this domain. Against this background, this thesis aims to answer how measures for the de-escalation of state-led conflicts in cyberspace and arms control of cyberweapons can be developed. In order to answer this question, the dissertation takes a specifically technical perspective on these problems and the underlying political challenges of state behavior and international humanitarian law in cyberspace to identify starting points for technical measures of transparency, arms control and verification. Based on this approach of adopting already existing technical measures from other fields of computer science, the thesis will provide proof of concepts approaches for some mentioned challenges like a classification system for cyberweapons that is based on technical measurable features, an approach for the mutual reduction of vulnerability stockpiles and an approach to plausibly assure the non-involvement in a cyberconflict as a measure for de-escalation. All these initial approaches and the questions of how and by which measures arms control and conflict reduction can work for cyberspace are still quite new and subject to not too many debates. Indeed, the approach of deliberately self-restricting the capabilities of technology in order to serve a bigger goal, like the reduction of its destructive usage, is yet not very common for the engineering thinking of computer science. Therefore, this dissertation also aims to provide some impulses regarding the responsibility and creative options of computer science with a view to the peaceful development and use of cyberspace.
@book{reinhold_towards_2023,
address = {Darmstadt, Germany},
title = {Towards a {Peaceful} {Development} of {Cyberspace}: {Challenges} and {Technical} {Measures} for the {De}-{Escalation} of {State}-{Led} {Cyberconflicts} and {Arms} {Control} of {Cyberweapons}},
url = {https://tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/24559/},
abstract = {Cyberspace, already a few decades old, has become a matter of course for most of us, part of our everyday life. At the same time, this space and the global infrastructure behind it are essential for our civilizations, the economy and administration, and thus an essential expression and lifeline of a globalized world. However, these developments also create vulnerabilities and thus, cyberspace is increasingly developing into an intelligence and military operational area – for the defense and security of states but also as a component of offensive military planning, visible in the creation of military cyber-departments and the integration of cyberspace into states' security and defense strategies. In order to contain and regulate the conflict and escalation potential of technology used by military forces, over the last decades, a complex tool set of transparency, de-escalation and arms control measures has been developed and proof-tested. Unfortunately, many of these established measures do not work for cyberspace due to its specific technical characteristics. Even more, the concept of what constitutes a weapon – an essential requirement for regulation – starts to blur for this domain. Against this background, this thesis aims to answer how measures for the de-escalation of state-led conflicts in cyberspace and arms control of cyberweapons can be developed. In order to answer this question, the dissertation takes a specifically technical perspective on these problems and the underlying political challenges of state behavior and international humanitarian law in cyberspace to identify starting points for technical measures of transparency, arms control and verification. Based on this approach of adopting already existing technical measures from other fields of computer science, the thesis will provide proof of concepts approaches for some mentioned challenges like a classification system for cyberweapons that is based on technical measurable features, an approach for the mutual reduction of vulnerability stockpiles and an approach to plausibly assure the non-involvement in a cyberconflict as a measure for de-escalation. All these initial approaches and the questions of how and by which measures arms control and conflict reduction can work for cyberspace are still quite new and subject to not too many debates. Indeed, the approach of deliberately self-restricting the capabilities of technology in order to serve a bigger goal, like the reduction of its destructive usage, is yet not very common for the engineering thinking of computer science. Therefore, this dissertation also aims to provide some impulses regarding the responsibility and creative options of computer science with a view to the peaceful development and use of cyberspace.},
publisher = {Dissertation (Dr. rer. nat.), Department of Computer Science, Technische Universität Darmstadt},
author = {Reinhold, Thomas},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.26083/tuprints-00024559},
keywords = {Peace, Security, Projekt-ATHENE, Projekt-CROSSING, Dissertation},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Cyberspace is a fragile construct threatened by malicious cyber operations of different actors, with vulnerabilities in IT hardware and software forming the basis for such activities, thus also posing a threat to global IT security. Advancements in the field of artificial intelligence accelerate this development, either with artificial intelligence enabled cyber weapons, automated cyber defense measures, or artificial intelligence-based threat and vulnerability detection. Especially state actors, with their long-term strategic security interests, often stockpile such knowledge of vulnerabilities and exploits to enable their military or intelligence service cyberspace operations. While treaties and regulations to limit these developments and to enhance global IT security by disclosing vulnerabilities are currently being discussed on the international level, these efforts are hindered by state concerns about the disclosure of unique knowledge and about giving up tactical advantages. This leads to a situation where multiple states are likely to stockpile at least some identical exploits, with technical measures to enable a depletion process for these stockpiles that preserve state secrecy interests and consider the special constraints of interacting states as well as the requirements within such environments being non-existent. This paper proposes such a privacy-preserving approach that allows multiple state parties to privately compare their stock of vulnerabilities and exploits to check for items that occur in multiple stockpiles without revealing them so that their disclosure can be considered. We call our system ExTRUST and show that it is scalable and can withstand several attack scenarios. Beyond the intergovernmental setting, ExTRUST can also be used for other zero-trust use cases, such as bug-bounty programs.
@article{reinhold_extrust_2023,
title = {{ExTRUST}: {Reducing} {Exploit} {Stockpiles} {With} a {Privacy}-{Preserving} {Depletion} {Systems} for {Inter}-{State} {Relationships}},
volume = {4},
url = {https://peasec.de/paper/2023/2023_ReinholdKuehnGuentherSchneiderReuter_ExTrust-ehem-BlockED_TTaS.pdf},
doi = {10.1109/TTS.2023.3280356},
abstract = {Cyberspace is a fragile construct threatened by malicious cyber operations of different actors, with vulnerabilities in IT hardware and software forming the basis for such activities, thus also posing a threat to global IT security. Advancements in the field of artificial intelligence accelerate this development, either with artificial intelligence enabled cyber weapons, automated cyber defense measures, or artificial intelligence-based threat and vulnerability detection. Especially state actors, with their long-term strategic security interests, often stockpile such knowledge of vulnerabilities and exploits to enable their military or intelligence service cyberspace operations. While treaties and regulations to limit these developments and to enhance global IT security by disclosing vulnerabilities are currently being discussed on the international level, these efforts are hindered by state concerns about the disclosure of unique knowledge and about giving up tactical advantages. This leads to a situation where multiple states are likely to stockpile at least some identical exploits, with technical measures to enable a depletion process for these stockpiles that preserve state secrecy interests and consider the special constraints of interacting states as well as the requirements within such environments being non-existent. This paper proposes such a privacy-preserving approach that allows multiple state parties to privately compare their stock of vulnerabilities and exploits to check for items that occur in multiple stockpiles without revealing them so that their disclosure can be considered. We call our system ExTRUST and show that it is scalable and can withstand several attack scenarios. Beyond the intergovernmental setting, ExTRUST can also be used for other zero-trust use cases, such as bug-bounty programs.},
number = {2},
journal = {IEEE Transactions on Technology and Society},
author = {Reinhold, Thomas and Kuehn, Philipp and Günther, Daniel and Schneider, Thomas and Reuter, Christian},
year = {2023},
keywords = {Peace, A-Paper, AuswahlPeace, Student, Projekt-GRKPrivacy, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-ATHENE-SecUrban, Selected, Cyberwar},
pages = {158--170},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
The negotiation of stakeholder values as a collaborative process throughout technology development has been studied extensively within the fields of Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Human-Computer Interaction. Despite their increasing significance for cybersecurity incident response, there is a gap in research on values of importance to the design of open-source intelligence (OSINT) technologies for this purpose. In this paper, we investigate which values and value conflicts emerge due to the application and development of machine learning (ML) based OSINT technologies to assist cyber security incident response operators. For this purpose, we employ a triangulation of methods, consisting of a systematic survey of the technical literature on the development of OSINT artefacts for cybersecurity (N = 73) and an empirical value sensitive design case study, comprising semi-structured interviews with stakeholders (N = 9) as well as a focus group (N = 7) with developers. Based on our results, we identify implications relevant to the research on and design of OSINT artefacts for cybersecurity incident response.
@article{riebe_values_2023,
title = {Values and {Value} {Conflicts} in the {Context} of {OSINT} {Technologies} for {Cybersecurity} {Incident} {Response}: {A} {Value} {Sensitive} {Design} {Perspective}},
url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10606-022-09453-4},
doi = {10.1007/s10606-022-09453-4},
abstract = {The negotiation of stakeholder values as a collaborative process throughout technology development has been studied extensively within the fields of Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Human-Computer Interaction. Despite their increasing significance for cybersecurity incident response, there is a gap in research on values of importance to the design of open-source intelligence (OSINT) technologies for this purpose. In this paper, we investigate which values and value conflicts emerge due to the application and development of machine learning (ML) based OSINT technologies to assist cyber security incident response operators. For this purpose, we employ a triangulation of methods, consisting of a systematic survey of the technical literature on the development of OSINT artefacts for cybersecurity (N = 73) and an empirical value sensitive design case study, comprising semi-structured interviews with stakeholders (N = 9) as well as a focus group (N = 7) with developers. Based on our results, we identify implications relevant to the research on and design of OSINT artefacts for cybersecurity incident response.},
journal = {Computer Supported Cooperative Work: The Journal of Collaborative Computing (JCSCW)},
author = {Riebe, Thea and Bäumler, Julian and Kaufhold, Marc-André and Reuter, Christian},
year = {2023},
keywords = {HCI, A-Paper, Ranking-ImpactFactor, Student, Security, UsableSec, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-ATHENE-SecUrban, Projekt-CYWARN, Ranking-CORE-B},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
When considering privacy, context, and environmental circumstances can have a strong influence on individual decisions and user behavior. Especially in crises or threatening situations, privacy may conflict with other values, such as personal safety and health. In other cases, personal or public safety can also be dependent on privacy: the context of flight shows how, for those affected, the value of data protection can increase as a result of an increased threat situation. Thus, when individual sovereignty—the autonomous development of one’s own will—or safety is highly dependent on information flows, people tend to be more protective of their privacy in order to maintain their information sovereignty. But also, the context of agriculture, as part of the critical infrastructure, shows how privacy concerns can affect the adoption of digital tools. With these two examples, flight and migration as well as agriculture, this chapter presents some exemplary results that illustrate the importance of the influence of situational factors on perceived information sovereignty and the evaluation of privacy.
@incollection{steinbrink_privacy_2023,
address = {Cham},
title = {Privacy {Perception} and {Behaviour} in {Safety}-{Critical} {Environments}},
isbn = {978-3-031-28643-8},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28643-8_12},
abstract = {When considering privacy, context, and environmental circumstances can have a strong influence on individual decisions and user behavior. Especially in crises or threatening situations, privacy may conflict with other values, such as personal safety and health. In other cases, personal or public safety can also be dependent on privacy: the context of flight shows how, for those affected, the value of data protection can increase as a result of an increased threat situation. Thus, when individual sovereignty—the autonomous development of one’s own will—or safety is highly dependent on information flows, people tend to be more protective of their privacy in order to maintain their information sovereignty. But also, the context of agriculture, as part of the critical infrastructure, shows how privacy concerns can affect the adoption of digital tools. With these two examples, flight and migration as well as agriculture, this chapter presents some exemplary results that illustrate the importance of the influence of situational factors on perceived information sovereignty and the evaluation of privacy.},
booktitle = {Human {Factors} in {Privacy} {Research}},
publisher = {Springer International Publishing},
author = {Steinbrink, Enno and Biselli, Tom and Linsner, Sebastian and Herbert, Franziska and Reuter, Christian},
editor = {Gerber, Nina and Stöver, Alina and Marky, Karola},
year = {2023},
keywords = {HCI, Security, UsableSec, Projekt-GRKPrivacy, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-ATHENE-FANCY},
pages = {237--251},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
From the perspective of end-users, IoT devices behave like a black box: As long as they work as intended, users will not detect any compromise. Users have minimal control over the software. Hence, it is very likely that the user misses that illegal recordings and transmissions occur if a security camera or a smart speaker is hacked. In this paper, we present SCAtt-man, the first remote attestation scheme that is specifically designed with the user in mind. SCAtt-man deploys software-based attestation to check the integrity of remote devices, allowing users to verify the integrity of IoT devices with their smartphones. The key novelty of SCAtt-man resides in the utilization of user-observable side-channels such as light or sound in the attestation protocol. Our proof-of-concept implementation targets a smart speaker and an attestation protocol that is based on a data-over-sound protocol. Our evaluation demonstrates the effectiveness of toolname against a variety of attacks and its usability based on a user study with 20 participants.
@inproceedings{surminski_scatt-man_2023,
address = {New York, NY, USA},
series = {{CODASPY} '23},
title = {{SCAtt}-man: {Side}-{Channel}-{Based} {Remote} {Attestation} for {Embedded} {Devices} that {Users} {Understand}},
isbn = {979-8-4007-0067-5},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3577923.3583652},
doi = {10.1145/3577923.3583652},
abstract = {From the perspective of end-users, IoT devices behave like a black box: As long as they work as intended, users will not detect any compromise. Users have minimal control over the software. Hence, it is very likely that the user misses that illegal recordings and transmissions occur if a security camera or a smart speaker is hacked. In this paper, we present SCAtt-man, the first remote attestation scheme that is specifically designed with the user in mind. SCAtt-man deploys software-based attestation to check the integrity of remote devices, allowing users to verify the integrity of IoT devices with their smartphones. The key novelty of SCAtt-man resides in the utilization of user-observable side-channels such as light or sound in the attestation protocol. Our proof-of-concept implementation targets a smart speaker and an attestation protocol that is based on a data-over-sound protocol. Our evaluation demonstrates the effectiveness of toolname against a variety of attacks and its usability based on a user study with 20 participants.},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the {Thirteenth} {ACM} {Conference} on {Data} and {Application} {Security} and {Privacy}},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
author = {Surminski, Sebastian and Niesler, Christian and Linsner, Sebastian and Davi, Lucas and Reuter, Christian},
year = {2023},
keywords = {HCI, Security, UsableSec, Projekt-CROSSING, Ranking-CORE-B},
pages = {225--236},
}
2022
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Concise instruments to determine privacy personas – typical privacy-related user groups – are not available at present. Consequently, we aimed to identify them on a privacy knowledge–privacy behavior ratio based on a self-developed instrument. To achieve this, we conducted an item analysis (N = 820) and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (N = 656) of data based on an online study with German participants. Starting with 81 items, we reduced those to an eleven-item questionnaire with the two scales privacy knowledge and privacy behavior. A subsequent cluster analysis (N = 656) revealed three distinct user groups: (1) Fundamentalists scoring high in privacy knowledge and behavior, (2) Pragmatists scoring average in privacy knowledge and behavior and (3) Unconcerned scoring low in privacy knowledge and behavior. In a closer inspection of the questionnaire, the CFAs supported the model with a close global fit based on RMSEA in a training and to a lesser extent in a cross-validation sample. Deficient local fit as well as validity and reliability coefficients well below generally accepted thresholds, however, revealed that the questionnaire in its current form cannot be considered a suitable measurement instrument for determining privacy personas. The results are discussed in terms of related persona conceptualizations, the importance of a methodologically sound investigation of corresponding privacy dimensions and our lessons learned.
@article{biselli_challenges_2022,
title = {On the {Challenges} of {Developing} a {Concise} {Questionnaire} to {Identify} {Privacy} {Personas}},
url = {https://petsymposium.org/2022/files/papers/issue4/popets-2022-0126.pdf},
doi = {10.56553/popets-2022-0126},
abstract = {Concise instruments to determine privacy personas – typical privacy-related user groups – are not available at present. Consequently, we aimed to identify them on a privacy knowledge–privacy behavior ratio based on a self-developed instrument. To achieve this, we conducted an item analysis (N = 820) and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (N = 656) of data based on an online study with German participants. Starting with 81 items, we reduced those to an eleven-item questionnaire with the two scales privacy knowledge and privacy behavior. A subsequent cluster analysis (N = 656) revealed three distinct user groups: (1) Fundamentalists scoring high in privacy knowledge and behavior, (2) Pragmatists scoring average in privacy knowledge and behavior and (3) Unconcerned scoring low in privacy knowledge and behavior. In a closer inspection of the questionnaire, the CFAs supported the model with a close global fit based on RMSEA in a training and to a lesser extent in a cross-validation sample. Deficient local fit as well as validity and reliability coefficients well below generally accepted thresholds, however, revealed that the questionnaire in its current form cannot be considered a suitable measurement instrument for determining privacy personas. The results are discussed in terms of related persona conceptualizations, the importance of a methodologically sound investigation of corresponding privacy dimensions and our lessons learned.},
number = {4},
journal = {Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PoPETs)},
author = {Biselli, Tom and Steinbrink, Enno and Herbert, Franziska and Schmidbauer-Wolf, Gina Maria and Reuter, Christian},
year = {2022},
keywords = {HCI, A-Paper, Ranking-CORE-A, Security, UsableSec, Projekt-GRKPrivacy, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-ATHENE-FANCY, AuswahlUsableSec},
pages = {645--669},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
User Experience ist von zunehmender Relevanz für die Entwicklung digitaler Designentscheidungen und hat somit weitgehende Auswirkungen auf das Nutzerverhalten. Dass dies besonders für die Sicherheit und Vertraulichkeit nicht nur von Vorteil sein kann, sondern Nutzer*innen negativ beeinflussen kann, wird in dieser Arbeit ersichtlich. Betrachtetwerden dafür die Themengebiete Anti-Patterns, Grey Patterns und Dark-Patterns. Anti-Patterns bezeichnen wiederkehrende Lösungen für ein Konzept eines User Interfaces, die trotz guter Intention ungewünschte Nebeneffekte oder Konsequenzen haben. Dark-Patterns dagegen stellen Designentscheidungen dar, die durch Täuschung oder Ausnutzung psychischen Drucks versuchen Nutzer*innen zu Handlungen zu verleiten, von denen die Ersteller*innen des Dark-Patterns mehr profitieren als die Anwender* innen. Der Begriff Grey Patterns wird in dieser Arbeit für alle Design Patterns genutzt, die sich nicht direkt zuordnen lassen. Da es bisher kaum vergleichendeWerke und keinen Konsens zu diesen Themengebieten gibt, ist das Ziel dieser Arbeit ein grundlegendes Modell aufzustellen. Dabei wird durch die Untersuchung bestehender Literatur eine zusammenfassende Taxonomie und ein Vorgehen zur Unterscheidung von Anti-Patterns und Dark-Patterns erarbeitet, die als Grundlage für weitere Arbeiten und zur Entwicklung von Gegenmaßnahmen genutzt werden können.
@inproceedings{buhleier_klassifikation_2022,
address = {Darmstadt},
series = {Mensch und {Computer} 2022 - {Workshopband}},
title = {Eine {Klassifikation} sicherheitskritischer {UX}-{Design}-{Patterns}},
url = {https://dl.gi.de/handle/20.500.12116/39087},
doi = {10.18420/muc2022-mci-ws10-275},
abstract = {User Experience ist von zunehmender Relevanz für die Entwicklung digitaler Designentscheidungen und hat somit weitgehende Auswirkungen auf das Nutzerverhalten. Dass dies besonders für die Sicherheit und Vertraulichkeit nicht nur von Vorteil sein kann, sondern Nutzer*innen negativ beeinflussen kann, wird in dieser Arbeit ersichtlich. Betrachtetwerden dafür die Themengebiete Anti-Patterns, Grey Patterns und Dark-Patterns. Anti-Patterns bezeichnen wiederkehrende Lösungen für ein Konzept eines User Interfaces, die trotz guter Intention ungewünschte Nebeneffekte oder Konsequenzen haben. Dark-Patterns dagegen stellen Designentscheidungen dar, die durch Täuschung oder Ausnutzung psychischen Drucks versuchen Nutzer*innen zu Handlungen zu verleiten, von denen die Ersteller*innen des Dark-Patterns mehr profitieren als die Anwender* innen. Der Begriff Grey Patterns wird in dieser Arbeit für alle Design Patterns genutzt, die sich nicht direkt zuordnen lassen. Da es bisher kaum vergleichendeWerke und keinen Konsens zu diesen Themengebieten gibt, ist das Ziel dieser Arbeit ein grundlegendes Modell aufzustellen. Dabei wird durch die Untersuchung bestehender Literatur eine zusammenfassende Taxonomie und ein Vorgehen zur Unterscheidung von Anti-Patterns und Dark-Patterns erarbeitet, die als Grundlage für weitere Arbeiten und zur Entwicklung von Gegenmaßnahmen genutzt werden können.},
language = {de},
booktitle = {Mensch und {Computer} 2022 - {Workshopband}},
publisher = {Gesellschaft für Informatik},
author = {Buhleier, Laura and Linsner, Sebastian and Steinbrink, Enno and Reuter, Christian},
year = {2022},
keywords = {HCI, Student, Security, UsableSec, Projekt-GRKPrivacy, Projekt-CROSSING},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
In the last decades, research has shown that both technical solutions and user perceptions are important to improve security and privacy in the digital realm. The field of ‘usable security’ already started to emerge in the mid-90s, primarily focussed on password and email security. Later on, the research field of ”usable security and privacy” evolved and broadened the aim to design concepts and tools to assist users in enhancing their behaviour with regard to both privacy and security. Nevertheless, many user interventions are not as effective as desired. Because of highly diverse usage contexts, leading to different privacy and security requirements and not always to one-size-fits-all approaches, tailorability is necessary to address this issue. Furthermore, transparency is a crucial requirement, as providing comprehensible information may counter reactance towards security interventions. This article first provides a brief history of the research field in its first quarter-century and then highlights research on the transparency and tailorability of user interventions. Based on this, this article then presents six contributions with regard to (1) privacy concerns in times of COVID-19, (2) authentication on mobile devices, (3) GDPR-compliant data management, (4) privacy notices on websites, (5) data disclosure scenarios in agriculture, as well as (6) rights under data protection law and the concrete process should data subjects want to claim those rights. This article concludes with several research directions on user-centred transparency and tailorability.
@article{reuter_quarter_2022,
title = {A {Quarter} {Century} of {Usable} {Security} and {Privacy} {Research}: {Transparency}, {Tailorability}, and the {Road} {Ahead}},
volume = {41},
issn = {0144-929X},
url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tbit20/41/10},
doi = {10.1080/0144929X.2022.2080908},
abstract = {In the last decades, research has shown that both technical solutions and user perceptions are important to improve security and privacy in the digital realm. The field of ‘usable security’ already started to emerge in the mid-90s, primarily focussed on password and email security. Later on, the research field of ”usable security and privacy” evolved and broadened the aim to design concepts and tools to assist users in enhancing their behaviour with regard to both privacy and security. Nevertheless, many user interventions are not as effective as desired. Because of highly diverse usage contexts, leading to different privacy and security requirements and not always to one-size-fits-all approaches, tailorability is necessary to address this issue. Furthermore, transparency is a crucial requirement, as providing comprehensible information may counter reactance towards security interventions. This article first provides a brief history of the research field in its first quarter-century and then highlights research on the transparency and tailorability of user interventions. Based on this, this article then presents six contributions with regard to (1) privacy concerns in times of COVID-19, (2) authentication on mobile devices, (3) GDPR-compliant data management, (4) privacy notices on websites, (5) data disclosure scenarios in agriculture, as well as (6) rights under data protection law and the concrete process should data subjects want to claim those rights. This article concludes with several research directions on user-centred transparency and tailorability.},
number = {10},
journal = {Behaviour \& Information Technology (BIT)},
author = {Reuter, Christian and Lo Iacono, Luigi and Benlian, Alexander},
year = {2022},
keywords = {Crisis, HCI, A-Paper, Ranking-CORE-A, Ranking-ImpactFactor, SocialMedia, Security, UsableSec, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-ATHENE-SecUrban},
pages = {2035--2048},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Nudging users to keep them secure online has become a growing research field in cybersecurity. While existing approaches are mainly blackbox based, showing aggregated visualisations as one-size-fits-all nudges, personalisation turned out promising to enhance the efficacy of nudges within the high variance of users and contexts. This article presents a disaggregated whitebox-based visualisation of critical information as a novel nudge. By segmenting users according to their decision-making and information processing styles, we investigate if the novel nudge is more effective for specific users than a common black-box nudge. Based on existing literature about critical factors in password security, we designed a dynamic radar chart and parallel coordinates as disaggregated visualisations. We evaluated the short-term effectiveness and users‘ perception of the nudges in a think-aloud prestudy and a representative online evaluation (N=1.012). Our findings suggest that dynamic radar charts present a moderately effective nudge towards stronger passwords regarding short-term efficacy and are appreciated particularly by players of role-playing games.
@article{hartwig_nudging_2022,
title = {Nudging {Users} {Towards} {Better} {Security} {Decisions} in {Password} {Creation} {Using} {Whitebox}-based {Multidimensional} {Visualizations}},
volume = {41},
url = {https://peasec.de/paper/2022/2022_HartwigReuter_WhiteboxMultidimensionalNudges_BIT.pdf},
doi = {10.1080/0144929X.2021.1876167},
abstract = {Nudging users to keep them secure online has become a growing research field in cybersecurity. While existing approaches are mainly blackbox based, showing aggregated visualisations as one-size-fits-all nudges, personalisation turned out promising to enhance the efficacy of nudges within the high variance of users and contexts. This article presents a disaggregated whitebox-based visualisation of critical information as a novel nudge. By segmenting users according to their decision-making and information processing styles, we investigate if the novel nudge is more effective for specific users than a common black-box nudge. Based on existing literature about critical factors in password security, we designed a dynamic radar chart and parallel coordinates as disaggregated visualisations. We evaluated the short-term effectiveness and users' perception of the nudges in a think-aloud prestudy and a representative online evaluation (N=1.012). Our findings suggest that dynamic radar charts present a moderately effective nudge towards stronger passwords regarding short-term efficacy and are appreciated particularly by players of role-playing games.},
number = {7},
journal = {Behaviour \& Information Technology (BIT)},
author = {Hartwig, Katrin and Reuter, Christian},
year = {2022},
keywords = {HCI, A-Paper, Ranking-CORE-A, Ranking-ImpactFactor, Security, UsableSec, Projekt-CROSSING, Selected, Projekt-ATHENE-FANCY, AuswahlUsableSec},
pages = {1357--1380},
}
2021
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Phishing is a prevalent cyber threat, targeting individuals and organizations alike. Previous approaches on anti-phishing measures have started to recognize the role of the user, who, at the center of the target, builds the last line of defense. However, user-oriented phishing interventions are fragmented across a diverse research landscape, which has not been systematized to date. This makes it challenging to gain an overview of the various approaches taken by prior works. In this paper, we present a taxonomy of phishing interventions based on a systematic literature analysis. We shed light on the diversity of existing approaches by analyzing them with respect to the intervention type, the addressed phishing attack vector, the time at which the intervention takes place, and the required user interaction. Furthermore, we highlight shortcomings and challenges emerging from both our literature sample and prior meta-analyses, and discuss them in the light of current movements in the field of usable security. With this article, we hope to provide useful directions for future works on phishing interventions.
@inproceedings{franz_sok_2021,
title = {{SoK}: {Still} {Plenty} of {Phish} in the {Sea} — {A} {Review} of {User}-{Oriented} {Phishing} {Interventions} and {Avenues} for {Future} {Research}},
isbn = {978-1-939133-25-0},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/system/files/soups2021-franz.pdf},
abstract = {Phishing is a prevalent cyber threat, targeting individuals and
organizations alike. Previous approaches on anti-phishing
measures have started to recognize the role of the user, who,
at the center of the target, builds the last line of defense.
However, user-oriented phishing interventions are fragmented
across a diverse research landscape, which has not been
systematized to date. This makes it challenging to gain an
overview of the various approaches taken by prior works.
In this paper, we present a taxonomy of phishing interventions
based on a systematic literature analysis. We shed light
on the diversity of existing approaches by analyzing them
with respect to the intervention type, the addressed phishing
attack vector, the time at which the intervention takes place,
and the required user interaction. Furthermore, we highlight
shortcomings and challenges emerging from both our literature
sample and prior meta-analyses, and discuss them in
the light of current movements in the field of usable security.
With this article, we hope to provide useful directions for
future works on phishing interventions.},
booktitle = {{USENIX} {Symposium} on {Usable} {Privacy} and {Security} ({SOUPS})},
author = {Franz, Anjuli and Albrecht, Gregor and Zimmermann, Verena and Hartwig, Katrin and Reuter, Christian and Benlian, Alexander and Vogt, Joachim},
year = {2021},
keywords = {Security, UsableSec, Projekt-CROSSING, AuswahlUsableSec, Ranking-CORE-B},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
While nudging is a long-established instrument in many contexts, it has more recently emerged to be relevant in cybersecurity as well. For instance, existing research suggests nudges for stronger passwords or safe WiFi connections. However, those nudges are often not as effective as desired. To improve their effectiveness, it is crucial to understand how people assess nudges in cybersecurity, to address potential fears and resulting reactance and to facilitate voluntary compliance. In other contexts, such as the health sector, studies have already thoroughly explored the attitude towards nudging. To address that matter in cybersecurity, we conducted a representative study in Germany (𝑁 = 1, 012), asking people about their attitude towards nudging in that specific context. Our findings reveal that 64\% rated nudging in cybersecurity as helpful, however several participants expected risks such as intentional misguidance, manipulation and data exposure as well.
@inproceedings{hartwig_nudge_2021,
address = {Karlsruhe, Germany},
title = {Nudge or {Restraint}: {How} do {People} {Assess} {Nudging} in {Cybersecurity} - {A} {Representative} {Study} in {Germany}},
url = {https://peasec.de/paper/2021/2021_HartwigReuter_NudgingCybersecurityRepresentativeStudy_EuroUSEC.pdf},
doi = {10.1145/3481357.3481514},
abstract = {While nudging is a long-established instrument in many contexts, it has more recently emerged to be relevant in cybersecurity as well. For instance, existing research suggests nudges for stronger passwords or safe WiFi connections. However, those nudges are often not as effective as desired. To improve their effectiveness, it is crucial to understand how people assess nudges in cybersecurity, to address potential fears and resulting reactance and to facilitate voluntary compliance. In other contexts, such as the health sector, studies have already thoroughly explored the attitude towards nudging. To address that matter in cybersecurity, we conducted a representative study in Germany (𝑁 = 1, 012), asking people about their attitude towards nudging in that specific context. Our findings reveal that 64\% rated nudging in cybersecurity as helpful, however several participants expected risks such as intentional misguidance, manipulation and data exposure as well.},
booktitle = {European {Symposium} on {Usable} {Security} ({EuroUSEC})},
publisher = {ACM},
author = {Hartwig, Katrin and Reuter, Christian},
year = {2021},
keywords = {Security, UsableSec, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-ATHENE-SecUrban},
pages = {141--150},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Users tend to bypass systems that are designed to increase their personal security and privacy while limiting their perceived freedom. Nudges present a possible solution to this problem, offering security benefits without taking away perceived freedom. We have identified a lack of research comparing concrete implementations of nudging concepts in an emulated real-world scenario to assess their relative value as a nudge. Comparing multiple nudging implementations in an emulated real-world scenario including a novel avatar nudge with gamification elements, this publication discusses the advantages of nudging for stronger user-created passwords regarding efficacy, usability, and memorability.We investigated the effect of gamification in nudges, performing two studies (𝑁1 = 16, 𝑁2 = 1, 000) to refine and evaluate implementations of current and novel nudging concepts. Our research found a gamified nudge, which integrates a personalizable avatar guide into the registration process, to perform less effectively than state-of-the-art nudges, independently of participants’ gaming frequency.
@inproceedings{hartwig_finding_2021,
address = {Karlsruhe, Germany},
title = {Finding {Secret} {Treasure}? {Improving} {Memorized} {Secrets} {Through} {Gamification}},
url = {https://peasec.de/paper/2021/2021_HartwigEnglischThomsonReuter_MemorizedSecretsThroughGamification_EuroUSEC.pdf},
doi = {10.1145/3481357.3481509},
abstract = {Users tend to bypass systems that are designed to increase their personal security and privacy while limiting their perceived freedom.
Nudges present a possible solution to this problem, offering security benefits without taking away perceived freedom. We have
identified a lack of research comparing concrete implementations of nudging concepts in an emulated real-world scenario to assess their
relative value as a nudge. Comparing multiple nudging implementations in an emulated real-world scenario including a novel avatar
nudge with gamification elements, this publication discusses the advantages of nudging for stronger user-created passwords regarding
efficacy, usability, and memorability.We investigated the effect of gamification in nudges, performing two studies (𝑁1 = 16, 𝑁2 = 1, 000)
to refine and evaluate implementations of current and novel nudging concepts. Our research found a gamified nudge, which integrates
a personalizable avatar guide into the registration process, to perform less effectively than state-of-the-art nudges, independently of
participants’ gaming frequency.},
booktitle = {European {Symposium} on {Usable} {Security} ({EuroUSEC})},
publisher = {ACM},
author = {Hartwig, Katrin and Englisch, Atlas and Thomson, Jan Pelle and Reuter, Christian},
year = {2021},
keywords = {Student, Security, UsableSec, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-ATHENE-SecUrban},
pages = {105--117},
}
2020
[BibTeX] [Download PDF]
@techreport{imperatori_verschlusselungspolitik_2020,
title = {Verschlüsselungspolitik der {USA}: {Vom} {Clipper}-{Chip} zu {Edward} {Snowden}},
url = {https://tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/20060/1/fk-1-20-p77.pdf},
author = {Imperatori, Philipp and Riebe, Thea and Reuter, Christian},
year = {2020},
keywords = {Peace, Student, Security, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-DualUse},
pages = {77--80},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
ie besorgniserregende Aufkündigung des INF-Vertrags, der wiederholte Einsatz von Chemiewaffen in Syrien, kontroverse Diskussionen über die Einführung autonomer Waffensysteme oder zunehmende Cyber-Bedrohungen prägen das aktuelle politische Weltgeschehen. Besonders in einer Zeit, in der nukleare, biologische und chemische Abrüstung- und Rüstungskontrollmaßnahmen vor großen Herausforderungen stehen und gleichzeitig neue Technologien veränderte Anforderungen an diese Kontrollmechanismen mit sich bringen, gewinnt die naturwissenschaftlich-technische Friedensforschung enorm an Bedeutung. Sie beschäftigt sich auf der Grundlage von Erkenntnissen aus verschiedenen Naturwissenschaften und technischen Fachrichtungen (z. B. Physik, Chemie, Biologie, Informatik) mit der Rolle naturwissenschaftlicher und technischer Möglichkeiten im Kontext von Krieg und Frieden sowie Rüstung und Abrüstung. Sie unterstützt die politischen Prozesse der Kriegsprävention, der Abrüstung und der Vertrauensbildung mit Analysen der Eigenschaften und Folgen neuer Waffenarten und Technologien. Aus dieser Forschung werden Vorschläge für die Begrenzung neuer Waffenentwicklungen ebenso entwickelt wie technische Lösungen für eine verbesserte Rüstungskontrolle. Dieser Artikel benennt aktuelle Herausforderungen der naturwissenschaftlich-technischen Friedensforschung und geht dabei auch auf die aktuellen Empfehlungen des Wissenschaftsrats zur Weiterentwicklung der Friedens- und Konfliktforschung aus dem Jahr 2019 ein.
@article{reuter_zur_2020,
title = {Zur naturwissenschaftlich-technischen {Friedens}- und {Konfliktforschung} – {Aktuelle} {Herausforderungen} und {Bewertung} der {Empfehlungen} des {Wissenschaftsrats}},
volume = {9},
url = {https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s42597-020-00035-z.pdf},
doi = {10.1007/s42597-020-00035-z},
abstract = {ie besorgniserregende Aufkündigung des INF-Vertrags, der wiederholte Einsatz von Chemiewaffen in Syrien, kontroverse Diskussionen über die Einführung autonomer Waffensysteme oder zunehmende Cyber-Bedrohungen prägen das aktuelle politische Weltgeschehen. Besonders in einer Zeit, in der nukleare, biologische und chemische Abrüstung- und Rüstungskontrollmaßnahmen vor großen Herausforderungen stehen und gleichzeitig neue Technologien veränderte Anforderungen an diese Kontrollmechanismen mit sich bringen, gewinnt die naturwissenschaftlich-technische Friedensforschung enorm an Bedeutung. Sie beschäftigt sich auf der Grundlage von Erkenntnissen aus verschiedenen Naturwissenschaften und technischen Fachrichtungen (z. B. Physik, Chemie, Biologie, Informatik) mit der Rolle naturwissenschaftlicher und technischer Möglichkeiten im Kontext von Krieg und Frieden sowie Rüstung und Abrüstung. Sie unterstützt die politischen Prozesse der Kriegsprävention, der Abrüstung und der Vertrauensbildung mit Analysen der Eigenschaften und Folgen neuer Waffenarten und Technologien. Aus dieser Forschung werden Vorschläge für die Begrenzung neuer Waffenentwicklungen ebenso entwickelt wie technische Lösungen für eine verbesserte Rüstungskontrolle. Dieser Artikel benennt aktuelle Herausforderungen der naturwissenschaftlich-technischen Friedensforschung und geht dabei auch auf die aktuellen Empfehlungen des Wissenschaftsrats zur Weiterentwicklung der Friedens- und Konfliktforschung aus dem Jahr 2019 ein.},
number = {1},
journal = {Zeitschrift für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung (ZeFKo)},
author = {Reuter, Christian and Altmann, Jürgen and Göttsche, Malte and Himmel, Mirko},
year = {2020},
keywords = {Peace, Security, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-ATHENE-SecUrban, Cyberwar},
pages = {143--154},
}
2019
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
The Internet of Things (IoT) has a significant impact on agriculture. So-called Smart Farming uses drones and a variety of sensors to measure climate, irrigation, soil moisture or GPS position. With this rapid influx of technology increases the threat that vulnerabilities in those technologies are being exploited for malicious intent. To show the impact of cyberattacks on agriculture, we present a simulation of several attacks on a ZigBee-based wireless sensor network. We conduct a delay attack, an interference attack and three different routing attacks (sinkhole, blackhole and selective forwarding attack). Those attacks are simulated using NETA with the OMNET++ framework. We will show that the security of WSN is influenced by factors like energy consumption or computation power, which can conflict with other interests like low per-unit costs.
@inproceedings{linsner_vulnerability_2019,
address = {Wien, Austria},
title = {Vulnerability {Assessment} in the {Smart} {Farming} {Infrastructure} through {Cyberattacks}},
url = {http://gil-net.de/Publikationen/139_119.pdf},
abstract = {The Internet of Things (IoT) has a significant impact on agriculture. So-called Smart Farming uses drones and a variety of sensors to measure climate, irrigation, soil moisture or GPS position. With this rapid influx of technology increases the threat that vulnerabilities in those technologies are being exploited for malicious intent. To show the impact of cyberattacks on agriculture, we present a simulation of several attacks on a ZigBee-based wireless sensor network. We conduct a delay attack, an interference attack and three different routing attacks (sinkhole, blackhole and selective forwarding attack). Those attacks are simulated using NETA with the OMNET++ framework. We will show that the security of WSN is influenced by factors like energy consumption or computation power, which can conflict with other interests like low per-unit costs.},
booktitle = {39. {GIL}-{Jahrestagung}: {Informatik} in der {Land}-, {Forst}- und {Ernährungswirtschaft} {Fokus}; {Digitalisierung} für landwirtschaftliche {Betriebe} in kleinstrukturierten {Regionen} – ein {Widerspruch} in sich?, {Lecture} {Notes} in {Informatics} ({LNI})},
publisher = {Gesellschaft für Informatik},
author = {Linsner, Sebastian and Varma, Rashmi and Reuter, Christian},
editor = {Meyer-Aurich, A.},
year = {2019},
keywords = {Student, Security, Projekt-GeoBox, RSF, Projekt-CROSSING, Infrastructure, Ranking-CORE-C, Projekt-HyServ, Ranking-VHB-C},
pages = {119--124},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Social media is used during crises and disasters by state authorities and citizens to communicate and provide, gain and analyze information. Monitoring of platforms in such cases is both a well-established practice and a research area. The question, whether people are willing to renounce privacy in social media during critical incidents, or even allow surveillance in order to contribute to public security, remains unanswered. Our survey of 1,024 German inhabitants is the first empirical study on people’s views on social media monitoring and surveillance in crisis management. We find the willingness to share data during an imminent threat depends mostly on the type of data: a majority (63\% and 67\%, respectively) would give access to addresses and telephone numbers, whereas the willingness to share content of chats or telephone calls is significantly lower (27\%). Our analysis reveals diverging opinions among participants and some effects of sociodemographic variables on the acceptance of invasions into privacy.
@inproceedings{aldehoff_renouncing_2019,
address = {València, Spain},
title = {Renouncing {Privacy} in {Crisis} {Management}? {People}'s {View} on {Social} {Media} {Monitoring} and {Surveillance}},
url = {http://www.peasec.de/paper/2019/2019_AldehoffDankenbringReuter_RenouncingPrivacyCrisisManagement_ISCRAM.pdf},
abstract = {Social media is used during crises and disasters by state authorities and citizens to communicate and provide, gain and analyze information. Monitoring of platforms in such cases is both a well-established practice and a research area. The question, whether people are willing to renounce privacy in social media during critical incidents, or even allow surveillance in order to contribute to public security, remains unanswered. Our survey of 1,024 German inhabitants is the first empirical study on people's views on social media monitoring and surveillance in crisis management. We find the willingness to share data during an imminent threat depends mostly on the type of data: a majority (63\% and 67\%, respectively) would give access to addresses and telephone numbers, whereas the willingness to share content of chats or telephone calls is significantly lower (27\%). Our analysis reveals diverging opinions among participants and some effects of sociodemographic variables on the acceptance of invasions into privacy.},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the {Information} {Systems} for {Crisis} {Response} and {Management} ({ISCRAM})},
publisher = {ISCRAM Association},
author = {Aldehoff, Larissa and Dankenbring, Meri and Reuter, Christian},
editor = {Franco, Zeno and González, José J. and Canós, José H.},
year = {2019},
keywords = {Crisis, Peace, SocialMedia, Student, Security, UsableSec, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-ATHENE-FANCY, Projekt-DualUse, Projekt-CRISP},
pages = {1184--1197},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Not only today, but also in the future information technology and the advances in the field of computer science will have a high relevance for peace and security. Naturally, a textbook like this can only cover a selective part of research and a certain point in time. Nonetheless, it can be attempted to identify trends, challenges and venture an outlook into the future. That is exactly what we want to achieve in this chapter: To predict fu-ture developments and try to classify them correctly. These considerations were made both by the editor and the authors involved alike. Therefore, an outlook based on fun-damentals, cyber conflicts and war, cyber peace, cyber arms control, infrastructures as well as social interaction is given.
@incollection{reuter_future_2019,
address = {Wiesbaden, Germany},
title = {The {Future} of {IT} in {Peace} and {Security}},
isbn = {978-3-658-25652-4},
url = {https://www.springer.com/de/book/9783658256517},
abstract = {Not only today, but also in the future information technology and the advances in the field of computer science will have a high relevance for peace and security. Naturally, a textbook like this can only cover a selective part of research and a certain point in time. Nonetheless, it can be attempted to identify trends, challenges and venture an outlook into the future. That is exactly what we want to achieve in this chapter: To predict fu-ture developments and try to classify them correctly. These considerations were made both by the editor and the authors involved alike. Therefore, an outlook based on fun-damentals, cyber conflicts and war, cyber peace, cyber arms control, infrastructures as well as social interaction is given.},
booktitle = {Information {Technology} for {Peace} and {Security} - {IT} {Applications} and {Infrastructures} in {Conflicts}, {Crises}, {War}, and {Peace}},
publisher = {Springer Vieweg},
author = {Reuter, Christian and Aal, Konstantin and Aldehoff, Larissa and Altmann, Jürgen and Buchmann, Johannes and Bernhardt, Ute and Denker, Kai and Herrmann, Dominik and Hollick, Matthias and Katzenbeisser, Stefan and Kaufhold, Marc-André and Nordmann, Alfred and Reinhold, Thomas and Riebe, Thea and Ripper, Annette and Ruhmann, Ingo and Saalbach, Klaus-Peter and Schörnig, Niklas and Sunyaev, Ali and Wulf, Volker},
editor = {Reuter, Christian},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-658-25652-4_19},
keywords = {HCI, Peace, Security, UsableSec, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-CRISP},
pages = {405--413},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Technological and scientific progress, especially the rapid development in information technology (IT), plays a crucial role regarding questions of peace and security. This textbook addresses the significance, potentials and challenges of IT for peace and securi-ty. For this purpose, the book offers an introduction to peace, conflict, and security research, thereby focusing on natural science, technical and computer science perspec-tives. In the following, it sheds light on fundamentals (e.g. IT in peace, conflict and security, natural-science/technical peace research), cyber conflicts and war (e.g. infor-mation warfare, cyber espionage, cyber defence, Darknet), cyber peace (e.g. dual-use, technology assessment, confidence and security building measures), cyber arms control (e.g. arms control in the cyberspace, unmanned systems, verification), cyber attribution and infrastructures (e.g. attribution of cyber attacks, resilient infrastructures, secure critical information infrastructures), culture and interaction (e.g. safety and security, cultural violence, social media), before an outlook is given. This chapter provides an overview of all chapters in this book.
@incollection{reuter_information_2019-1,
address = {Wiesbaden, Germany},
title = {Information {Technology} for {Peace} and {Security} - {Introduction} and {Overview}},
isbn = {978-3-658-25652-4},
url = {https://www.springer.com/de/book/9783658256517},
abstract = {Technological and scientific progress, especially the rapid development in information technology (IT), plays a crucial role regarding questions of peace and security. This textbook addresses the significance, potentials and challenges of IT for peace and securi-ty. For this purpose, the book offers an introduction to peace, conflict, and security research, thereby focusing on natural science, technical and computer science perspec-tives. In the following, it sheds light on fundamentals (e.g. IT in peace, conflict and security, natural-science/technical peace research), cyber conflicts and war (e.g. infor-mation warfare, cyber espionage, cyber defence, Darknet), cyber peace (e.g. dual-use, technology assessment, confidence and security building measures), cyber arms control (e.g. arms control in the cyberspace, unmanned systems, verification), cyber attribution and infrastructures (e.g. attribution of cyber attacks, resilient infrastructures, secure critical information infrastructures), culture and interaction (e.g. safety and security, cultural violence, social media), before an outlook is given. This chapter provides an overview of all chapters in this book.},
booktitle = {Information {Technology} for {Peace} and {Security} - {IT} {Applications} and {Infrastructures} in {Conflicts}, {Crises}, {War}, and {Peace}},
publisher = {Springer Vieweg},
author = {Reuter, Christian},
editor = {Reuter, Christian},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-658-25652-4_1},
keywords = {Crisis, Peace, Security, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-CRISP},
pages = {3--9},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
The encompassing trend of digitalisation and widespread dependencies on IT systems triggers adjustments also in the military forces. Besides necessary enhancements of IT security and defensive measures for cyberspace, a growing number of states are estab-lishing offensive military capabilities for this domain. Looking at historical develop-ments and transformations due to advancements in military technologies, the chapter discusses the political progress made and tools developed since. Both of these have con-tributed to handling challenges and confining threats to international security. With this background, the text assesses a possible application of these efforts to developments concerning cyberspace, as well as obstacles that need to be tackled for it to be success-ful. The chapter points out political advancements already in progress, the role of social initiatives, such as the cyber peace campaign of the Forum of Computer Scientists for Peace and Societal Responsibility (FifF), as well as potential consequences of the rising probability of cyber war as opposed to the prospects of cyber peace.
@incollection{reinhold_cyber_2019,
address = {Wiesbaden, Germany},
title = {From {Cyber} {War} to {Cyber} {Peace}},
isbn = {978-3-658-25652-4},
url = {https://www.springer.com/de/book/9783658256517},
abstract = {The encompassing trend of digitalisation and widespread dependencies on IT systems triggers adjustments also in the military forces. Besides necessary enhancements of IT security and defensive measures for cyberspace, a growing number of states are estab-lishing offensive military capabilities for this domain. Looking at historical develop-ments and transformations due to advancements in military technologies, the chapter discusses the political progress made and tools developed since. Both of these have con-tributed to handling challenges and confining threats to international security. With this background, the text assesses a possible application of these efforts to developments concerning cyberspace, as well as obstacles that need to be tackled for it to be success-ful. The chapter points out political advancements already in progress, the role of social initiatives, such as the cyber peace campaign of the Forum of Computer Scientists for Peace and Societal Responsibility (FifF), as well as potential consequences of the rising probability of cyber war as opposed to the prospects of cyber peace.},
booktitle = {Information {Technology} for {Peace} and {Security} - {IT} {Applications} and {Infrastructures} in {Conflicts}, {Crises}, {War}, and {Peace}},
publisher = {Springer Vieweg},
author = {Reinhold, Thomas and Reuter, Christian},
editor = {Reuter, Christian},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-658-25652-4_7},
keywords = {Peace, Security, Projekt-CROSSING, Cyberwar, Projekt-DualUse, Projekt-CRISP},
pages = {139--164},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Technological and scientific progress, especially the rapid development in information technology (IT), plays a crucial role regarding questions of peace and security. This textbook addresses the significance, potentials and challenges of IT for peace and securi-ty. For this purpose, the book offers an introduction to peace, conflict, and security research, thereby focusing on natural-science, technical and computer science perspec-tives. In the following, it sheds light on cyber conflicts, war and peace, cyber arms con-trol, cyber attribution and infrastructures as well as culture and interaction before an outlook is given.
@book{reuter_information_2019-2,
address = {Wiesbaden, Germany},
title = {Information {Technology} for {Peace} and {Security} - {IT} {Applications} and {Infrastructures} in {Conflicts}, {Crises}, {War}, and {Peace}},
isbn = {978-3-658-25652-4},
url = {https://www.springer.com/de/book/9783658256517},
abstract = {Technological and scientific progress, especially the rapid development in information technology (IT), plays a crucial role regarding questions of peace and security. This textbook addresses the significance, potentials and challenges of IT for peace and securi-ty. For this purpose, the book offers an introduction to peace, conflict, and security research, thereby focusing on natural-science, technical and computer science perspec-tives. In the following, it sheds light on cyber conflicts, war and peace, cyber arms con-trol, cyber attribution and infrastructures as well as culture and interaction before an outlook is given.},
publisher = {Springer Vieweg},
author = {Reuter, Christian},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-658-25652-4},
keywords = {Crisis, Peace, AuswahlPeace, Security, RSF, Projekt-CROSSING, Selected, Infrastructure, Cyberwar, Projekt-DualUse, Projekt-MAKI, Projekt-CRISP},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Digitalization, which proceeds in all branches, as well in agriculture, by using new technology, sensors and networking, requires responsible usage of data. One possibility to manage data and use them to create value is the blockchain-technology. It is primary enforced by the food industries and consumers to ensure traceability and transparency. To put blockchain-technology into beneficial use in agriculture, this domain has to be analyzed regarding social and business aspects. This paper presents the results of a qualitative study where 41 actors from the agricultural do-main participated in focus groups and delivered a written statement. It was found that farmers are interested in adapting new markets and technologies early to get an economic advantage. On the other hand, the fear of losing traditional local business partners and the social surroundings of the farmers must be considered
@inproceedings{linsner_blockchain_2019,
address = {Hamburg, Germany},
title = {Blockchain in der {Landwirtschaft} 4.0 - {Empirische} {Studie} zu {Erwartungen} von {Landwirt}\_innen gegenüber dezentralen {Services} auf {Basis} von {Distributed} {Ledger} {Technology}},
url = {https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3340799},
doi = {10.1145/3340764.3340799},
abstract = {Digitalization, which proceeds in all branches, as well in agriculture, by using new technology, sensors and networking, requires responsible usage of data. One possibility to manage data and use them to create value is the blockchain-technology. It is primary enforced by the food industries and consumers to ensure traceability and transparency. To put blockchain-technology into beneficial use in agriculture, this domain has to be analyzed regarding social and business aspects. This paper presents the results of a qualitative study where 41 actors from the agricultural do-main participated in focus groups and delivered a written statement. It was found that farmers are interested in adapting new markets and technologies early to get an economic advantage. On the other hand, the fear of losing traditional local business partners and the social surroundings of the farmers must be considered},
booktitle = {Mensch und {Computer} - {Tagungsband}},
publisher = {ACM},
author = {Linsner, Sebastian and Kuntke, Franz and Schmidbauer-Wolf, Gina Maria and Reuter, Christian},
editor = {Alt, Florian and Bulling, Andreas and Döring, Tanja},
year = {2019},
keywords = {HCI, Projekt-GeoBox, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-HyServ, Projekt-MAKI, Cooperation, Projekt-CRISP},
pages = {103--113},
}
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
With the increasing popularity of the smartphone, the number of people using it for financial transactions such as online shopping, online banking or mobile payment is also growing. Apps used in these contexts store sensitive and valuable data, creating a need for security measures. It has not yet been researched to what extent certain authentication mechanisms, which can be information-, biometric- as well as token-based, are suitable for individual apps and the respective data. The goal of this work is to assess how perceived security and estimated effort of using such mechanisms, as well as the degree to which app data is considered worth protecting, influence users‘ choices of appropriate measures to protect app categories. Therefore, we conducted a representative study (n=1024). On the one hand, our results show that a positive correlation between perceived security and effort exists for all investigated non-biometric authentication methods. On the other hand, the study sheds light on the differences between the investigated app categories and the users‘ choice of the appropriate security mechanisms for the particular category. In contrast to perceived security having a positive influence on a user’s preference of mechanism, a relation can hardly be identified for effort. Moreover, app data sensitivity does not seem relevant for the users‘ choice of security mechanism.
@inproceedings{reuter_between_2019,
address = {Hamburg, Germany},
title = {Between {Effort} and {Security}: {User} {Assessment} of the {Adequacy} of {Security} {Mechanisms} for {App} {Categories}},
url = {http://www.peasec.de/paper/2019/2019_ReuterHaeusserBienHerbert_EffortSecurity_MuC.pdf},
doi = {10.1145/3340764.3340770},
abstract = {With the increasing popularity of the smartphone, the number of people using it for financial transactions such as online shopping, online banking or mobile payment is also growing. Apps used in these contexts store sensitive and valuable data, creating a need for security measures. It has not yet been researched to what extent certain authentication mechanisms, which can be information-, biometric- as well as token-based, are suitable for individual apps and the respective data. The goal of this work is to assess how perceived security and estimated effort of using such mechanisms, as well as the degree to which app data is considered worth protecting, influence users' choices of appropriate measures to protect app categories. Therefore, we conducted a representative study (n=1024). On the one hand, our results show that a positive correlation between perceived security and effort exists for all investigated non-biometric authentication methods. On the other hand, the study sheds light on the differences between the investigated app categories and the users' choice of the appropriate security mechanisms for the particular category. In contrast to perceived security having a positive influence on a user's preference of mechanism, a relation can hardly be identified for effort. Moreover, app data sensitivity does not seem relevant for the users' choice of security mechanism.},
booktitle = {Mensch und {Computer} - {Tagungsband}},
publisher = {ACM},
author = {Reuter, Christian and Häusser, Katja and Bien, Mona and Herbert, Franziska},
editor = {Alt, Florian and Bulling, Andreas and Döring, Tanja},
year = {2019},
keywords = {HCI, Student, Security, UsableSec, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-ATHENE-FANCY, Projekt-CRISP},
pages = {287--297},
}
2017
[BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Obwohl Usability und Sicherheit beides relevante Anforderungen für Anwendungssysteme sind, stehen sie in einem Spannungsfeld. Sicherheit kann als Schutz vor Angriffen von außen (Security), aber auch für das sichere Funktionieren (Safety) dieser Anwendungssysteme verstanden werden. Durch die immer größere Vernetzung klassischer Safety-Domänen, wie dem Katastrophenschutz, gewinnen Security-Aspekte dort ebenfalls an Bedeutung. Die Übertragung von kritischen und vertraulichen Informationen auf mobile Endgeräte muss zugleich passwortgeschützt als auch schnell verfügbar sein; zeitintensive Authentifizierungsmechanismen können hier stören. In dieser Studie werden die Nutzung von Passwörtern vor dem Hintergrund der Abwägung von Sicherheit und Usability exploriert und Hypothesen zum Umgang mit Passwörtern aufgestellt, die im Kontext der Digitalisierung in der zivilen Sicherheit sowie mobilen und ubiquitären Geräte im Katastrophenschutz an enormer Bedeutung gewinnen.
@inproceedings{reuter_benutzbare_2017,
address = {Regensburg, Germany},
title = {Benutzbare {Sicherheit}: {Usability}, {Safety} und {Security} bei {Passwörtern}},
url = {https://dl.gi.de/bitstream/handle/20.500.12116/3214/2017_WS01_384.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y},
doi = {10.18420/muc2017-ws01-0384},
abstract = {Obwohl Usability und Sicherheit beides relevante Anforderungen für Anwendungssysteme sind, stehen sie in einem Spannungsfeld. Sicherheit kann als Schutz vor Angriffen von außen (Security), aber auch für das sichere Funktionieren (Safety) dieser Anwendungssysteme verstanden werden. Durch die immer größere Vernetzung klassischer Safety-Domänen, wie dem Katastrophenschutz, gewinnen Security-Aspekte dort ebenfalls an Bedeutung. Die Übertragung von kritischen und vertraulichen Informationen auf mobile Endgeräte muss zugleich passwortgeschützt als auch schnell verfügbar sein; zeitintensive Authentifizierungsmechanismen können hier stören. In dieser Studie werden die Nutzung von Passwörtern vor dem Hintergrund der Abwägung von Sicherheit und Usability exploriert und Hypothesen zum Umgang mit Passwörtern aufgestellt, die im Kontext der Digitalisierung in der zivilen Sicherheit sowie mobilen und ubiquitären Geräte im Katastrophenschutz an enormer Bedeutung gewinnen.},
booktitle = {Mensch und {Computer} 2017 - {Workshopband}},
publisher = {Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V.},
author = {Reuter, Christian and Kaufhold, Marc-André and Klös, Jonas},
editor = {Burghardt, M. and Wimmer, R. and Wolff, C. and Womser-Hacker, C.},
year = {2017},
keywords = {HCI, Student, Security, UsableSec, Projekt-CROSSING, Projekt-KontiKat, Projekt-CRISP},
pages = {33--41},
}
Weiterführende Informationen: https://www.crossing.tu-darmstadt.de/