Threat modelling procedures in cybersecurity rely on experts to identify vulnerabilities and potential attackers. This process often reflects the assumptions and concerns about causes of insecurity among researchers, many of whom focus on security perspectives from the point of view of governments and large organisations. There are, however, many ways that citizens can understand threats in robust ways from their everyday experience.
Following feminist approaches to knowledge creation and technology design, this project helps citizens draw on their own experiences and individual positionality to expand cybersecurity research in threat modelling and usable security design. We do this through a series of public workshops and focus group discussions on personal data privacy.
Rather than dictating what threats citizens should be worrying about, this project elicits and listens to citizens’ concerns to expand the scope of threat modelling in cybersecurity. This process creates pathways for citizens to engage in shaping future research directions for cybersecurity: ones that are grounded in the lived experience of those who are traditionally excluded from discussions of cyber- or information security. The project will culminate with a series of reports for public dissemination
Former DPhil Student
Project role: Principal Investigator
Julia Slupska is a doctoral student at the Centre for Doctoral Training in Cybersecurity and the Oxford Internet Institute. Julia previously graduated from the LSE and the OII.
Former Professor of Technology & Society
Project role: Co-Principal Investigator
Professor Neff is the Executive Director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy at the University of Cambridge. She is a sociologist who studies innovation, the digital transformation of industries, and how new technologies impact work.
Former MSc Student
Project role: Researcher
Scarlet is interested in the role that online spheres play in shaping identity, particularly personal and national identities. She holds a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.
Former MSc Student
Project role: Researcher
Linda was a student on the MSc in Social Sciences of the Internet programme.
DPhil Student
Project role: Researcher
Nayana is a DPhil researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute. Her research focuses on purpose-built storytelling platforms in India and the changing nature of writing online. In her work, she blends ethnographic methodology with literary practice.
Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford
Project role: Researcher
With Dr Julia Slupska, Scarlet Dawson Duckworth, Folami Prehaye, and Professor Gina Neff
For the Reconfigure: Feminist Action Research in Cybersecurity Report launch, authors Julia Slupska, Scarlet Dawson Duckworth, and Professor Gina Neff, are joined by Folami Prehaye, Activist & Founder of Victims of Image Crime.
By Julia Slupska, Scarlet Dawson Duckworth, Gina Neff, Nayana Prakash, Selina Cho, Linda Ma, Laura Shepherd, Hayyu Imanda, Hubert Au, Antonella Perini, and Romy Minko
The discourse around cybersecurity can often seem academic and exclusive. The Reconfigure project aims to build a feminist alternative and this report sets out findings from a pilot study applying “action research” methods to cybersecurity questions.
