Shaking the Cybersecurity Kaleidoscope – An Immersive Look into Human Behaviour and Cybersecurity

Speaker:

Alana Maurushat (Western Sydney University)

Bio:

Dr. Alana Maurushat is Professor of Cybersecurity and Behaviour at Western Sydney University where she holds a joint position in the School of Computer Science & Mathematics, and in the School of Social Sciences and Criminology, and is Key Researcher with the CRC Smart Satellites. She is currently researching on Payment Diversion Fraud and Ransomware, Tracking Money-Laundering through Bitcoin Blenders, distributed extreme edge computing for micro-clustered satellites, and Ethical Hacking.

She previously was Senior Lecturer in Law, Key Researcher on the CRC Data to Decisions – Big Data in National Security, and Senior Fellow with the Australian CyberSecurity Centre for Research and Education all at UNSW. She is the Cyber-Ambassador for the NSW Cybersecurity Network. She is on the Board of Directors for the cybercrime investigation company IFW Global. She lectures & researches in Cybersecurity, Privacy and Security by Design, Cyber Risk Management, and Artificial Intelligence across the disciplines of law, criminology, business, political science and information communications technology. Alana has done consultancy work on cyber security, open data, big data, technology and civil liberties for both the Australian and Canadian governments, industry and NGOs. Alana has done media with 60 Minutes, the New York Time, Insight, ABC, and 730 Report, and is the author of many books and articles.

Abstract:

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, Talin, Majong, Anti-Vaccination, the Mayor of Montreal, 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.