SSAP Professorial Lecture - Shaking the Cybersecurity Kaleidoscope - An Immersive Look into Human Behaviour and Cybersecurity

Professorial Lecture: Shaking the Cybersecurity Kaleidoscope - An Immersive Look into Human Behaviour and Cybersecurity Presented by Professor Alana Maurushat Professor of Cybersecurity & Behaviour, School of Social Sciences and Psychology Over 10,000 new cybersecurity technologies are developed each year yet we do not see a correlating decrease in cybersecurity threats. This is because cybersecurity isn’t a mere computer science problem. The most vulnerable part in the security chain is humans. But humans are also a valuable asset in countering cybersecurity threats. A kaleidoscope is constantly changing pattern or sequence of elements. In cyber we need to shake the kaleidoscope to create new ways of both identifying and solving problems. This presentation will be somewhat unorthodox. Maurushat will weave a story through the thread of human behaviour and cybersecurity with the primary objective of making sense out of chaos. What do Mars Bars, Perestroika, Carrots, Transylvania, Robin Hood, Tallinn, Mahjong, Anti-Vaccination, the Mayor of Montreal, The Black Panther, Tails and Pineapples have to do with cybersecurity? In her presentation, Professor Maurushat encapsulates key human behaviour issues in cybersecurity based on 17 years of experience and research in ethical hacking, vulnerability markets, cybercrime investigations and cybersecurity policy consultation with governments and intelligence agencies. There are no easy answers to cybersecurity challenges. However, this presentation will stimulate thinking about how to use the power of human behaviour to improve cybersecurity through emerging fields of behaviour data engineering, artificial intelligence, behavioural economics and neuro-diversity (as evolution). Alana Maurushat is Professor of Cybersecurity and Behaviour at Western Sydney University, is a Cyber Ambassador for the NSW Cybersecurity Network, and is a Director and Special Cyber Advisor for the cybercrime private investigations intelligence firm IFW Global. She is an expert in cybercrime, cybersecurity, data privacy and the data processing regulatory environment. She is author of the books Ethical Hacking (2019) and Disclosure of Security Vulnerabilities (2013). She has been in the media with 60 Minutes, 730 Report, Insight, ABC TV, ABC Radio and the New York Times. She is passionate about human rights and cybersecurity, and has done consultancies with NGOs, Industry as well as the Australian and Canadian governments RSVP: SSAP-research@westernsydney.edu.au by 2/5/2019.