Dr Karen Renaud
Reader
Computer and Information Sciences
Personal statement
Personal statement
I am interested in all aspects of human-centred cybersecurity. My research focuses on human-centred security, a branch of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). I am interested in the interplay between users and security in the context of societal and industrial use. I want to work towards creating a natural easy yet secure interaction between humans and devices. My work has a strong development, experimental and deployment focus, testing solutions in practical situations. I have come up with a number of novel solutions to improve usability in a wide range of situations. I have also done fundamental work in understanding people’s mental models of security in a variety of applications and contexts. My vision: Human-as-Solution, rather than Human-as-Problem.
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Research and Innovation Award Recipient 21/4/2023 Professor Extraordinarius Recipient 1/5/2021 Louis Brownlow Award Recipient 30/4/2021 Researcher Rating: B2 Recipient 5/1/2021 Visiting Professor Recipient 1/1/2021 Literati Award Recipient 4/12/2020
Prize And Awards
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Smart home cybersecurity awareness and behavioral incentives Douha N’guessan Yves-Roland, Renaud Karen, Taenaka Yuzo, Kadobayashi Youki Information and Computer Security, pp. 1-17 (2023) Cybersecurity insights gleaned from world religions Renaud Karen, Dupuis Marc Computers and Security Vol 132 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2023.103326 Would US citizens accept cybersecurity deresponsibilization? Perhaps not Renaud Karen, van der Schyff Karl, MacDonald Stuart Computers and Security Vol 131 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2023.103301 Gauging the unemployed's perceptions of online consent forms Schaik Paul van, Irons Alastair, Renaud Karen Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), pp. 1-10 (2023) Privacy in UK police digital forensics investigations Schaik Paul van, Irons Alastair, Renaud Karen Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), pp. 1-10 (2023) Investigating mobile instant messaging phishing : a study into user awareness and preventive measures Ahmad Rufai, Terzis Sotirios, Renaud Karen HCI for Cybersecurity, Privacy and Trust HCI International 2023, pp. 381-398 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35822-7_26
Publications
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Cyberways Podcast Speaker 15/9/2023 Cisco | Trailblazers Webcast - Live Event Participant 14/9/2023 Computers and Security (Journal) Peer reviewer 4/9/2023 Computers and Security (Journal) Peer reviewer 26/6/2023 Dewald Roode Workshop 2023 Participant 21/6/2023 PhD External Examination Examiner 5/6/2023
WELL-CONSENT documents: true consent through subtraction Renaud, Karen (Principal Investigator) 01-Jan-2022 - 30-Jan-2023 AP4L: Adaptive PETs to Protect & emPower People during Life Transitions Moncur, Wendy (Principal Investigator) Renaud, Karen (Co-investigator) Yan, Jeff (Co-investigator) AP4L is a 3-year program of interdisciplinary research, centring on the online privacy & vulnerability challenges that people face when going through major life transitions. Our central goal is to develop privacy-by-design technologies to protect & empower people during these transitions. Our work is driven by a narrative that will be familiar to most people. Life often "just happens", leading people to overlook their core privacy and online safety needs. For instance, somebody undergoing cancer treatment may be less likely to finesse their privacy setting on social media when discussing the topic. Similarly, an individual undergoing gender transition may be unaware of how their online activities in the past may shape the treatment into the future. This project will build the scientific and theoretical foundations to explore these challenges, as well as design and evaluate three core innovations that will address the identified challenges. AP4L will introduce a step-change, making online safety and privacy as painless and seamless as possible during life transitions
To ensure a breadth of understanding, we will apply these concepts to four very different transitions through a series of carefully designed co-creation activities, devised as part of a stakeholder workshop held in Oct'21. These are relationship breakdowns; LBGT+ transitions or transitioning gender; entering/ leaving employment in the Armed Forces; and developing a serious illness or becoming terminally ill. Such transitions can significantly change privacy considerations in unanticipated or counter-intuitive ways. For example, previously enabled location-sharing with a partner may lead to stalking after a breakup; 'coming out' may need careful management across diverse audiences (e.g - friends, grandparents) on social media.
We will study these transitions, following a creative security approach, bringing together interdisciplinary expertise in Computer Science, Law, Business, Psychology and Criminology.
We will systematise this knowledge, and develop fundamental models of the nature of transitions and their interplay with online lives. These models will inform the development of a suite of technologies and solutions that will help people navigate significant life transitions through adaptive, personalised privacy-enhanced interventions that meet the needs of each individual and bolster their resilience, autonomy, competence and connection. The suite will comprise:
(1) "Risk Playgrounds", which will build resilience by helping users to explore potentially risky interactions of life transitions with privacy settings across their digital footprint in safe ways
(2) "Transition Guardians", which will provide real-time protection for users during life transitions.
(3) "Security Bubbles", which will promote connection by bringing people together who can help each other (or who need to work together) during one person's life transition, whilst providing additional guarantees to safeguard everyone involved.
In achieving this vision, and as evidenced by £686K of in-kind contributions, we will work with 26 core partners spanning legal enforcement agencies (e.g., Surrey Police), tech companies (e.g., Facebook, IBM), support networks (e.g., LGBT Foundation, Revenge Porn Helpline) and associated organisations (e.g., Ofcom, Mastercard, BBC). Impact will be delivered through various activities including a specially commissioned BBC series on online life transitions to share knowledge with the public; use of the outputs of our projects by companies & social platforms (e.g., by incorporating into their products, & by designing their products to take into consideration the findings of our project) & targeted workshops to enable knowledge exchange with partners & stakeholders. 01-Jan-2022 - 31-Jan-2025 Revealing Young Learners’ Mental Models of Online Sludge Renaud, Karen (Principal Investigator) 01-Jan-2021 - 30-Jan-2022 SIPR PhD Studentships Proposal:Improving Cybercrime reporting Thomas, Daniel (Principal Investigator) Renaud, Karen (Co-investigator) Sikra, Juraj (Researcher) 01-Jan-2021 - 30-Jan-2024 CENSIS PhD Studentship: A mechanism for preventing access to adult content. Renaud, Karen (Principal Investigator) 01-Jan-2021 - 30-Jan-2024
Professional Activities
Projects
To ensure a breadth of understanding, we will apply these concepts to four very different transitions through a series of carefully designed co-creation activities, devised as part of a stakeholder workshop held in Oct'21. These are relationship breakdowns; LBGT+ transitions or transitioning gender; entering/ leaving employment in the Armed Forces; and developing a serious illness or becoming terminally ill. Such transitions can significantly change privacy considerations in unanticipated or counter-intuitive ways. For example, previously enabled location-sharing with a partner may lead to stalking after a breakup; 'coming out' may need careful management across diverse audiences (e.g - friends, grandparents) on social media.
We will study these transitions, following a creative security approach, bringing together interdisciplinary expertise in Computer Science, Law, Business, Psychology and Criminology.
We will systematise this knowledge, and develop fundamental models of the nature of transitions and their interplay with online lives. These models will inform the development of a suite of technologies and solutions that will help people navigate significant life transitions through adaptive, personalised privacy-enhanced interventions that meet the needs of each individual and bolster their resilience, autonomy, competence and connection. The suite will comprise:
(1) "Risk Playgrounds", which will build resilience by helping users to explore potentially risky interactions of life transitions with privacy settings across their digital footprint in safe ways
(2) "Transition Guardians", which will provide real-time protection for users during life transitions.
(3) "Security Bubbles", which will promote connection by bringing people together who can help each other (or who need to work together) during one person's life transition, whilst providing additional guarantees to safeguard everyone involved.
In achieving this vision, and as evidenced by £686K of in-kind contributions, we will work with 26 core partners spanning legal enforcement agencies (e.g., Surrey Police), tech companies (e.g., Facebook, IBM), support networks (e.g., LGBT Foundation, Revenge Porn Helpline) and associated organisations (e.g., Ofcom, Mastercard, BBC). Impact will be delivered through various activities including a specially commissioned BBC series on online life transitions to share knowledge with the public; use of the outputs of our projects by companies & social platforms (e.g., by incorporating into their products, & by designing their products to take into consideration the findings of our project) & targeted workshops to enable knowledge exchange with partners & stakeholders.
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Contact
Dr
Karen
Renaud
Reader
Computer and Information Sciences
Email: karen.renaud@strath.ac.uk
Tel: Unlisted