32 research outputs found
How WEIRD is Usable Privacy and Security Research? (Extended Version)
In human factor fields such as human-computer interaction (HCI) and
psychology, researchers have been concerned that participants mostly come from
WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) countries. This
WEIRD skew may hinder understanding of diverse populations and their cultural
differences. The usable privacy and security (UPS) field has inherited many
research methodologies from research on human factor fields. We conducted a
literature review to understand the extent to which participant samples in UPS
papers were from WEIRD countries and the characteristics of the methodologies
and research topics in each user study recruiting Western or non-Western
participants. We found that the skew toward WEIRD countries in UPS is greater
than that in HCI. Geographic and linguistic barriers in the study methods and
recruitment methods may cause researchers to conduct user studies locally. In
addition, many papers did not report participant demographics, which could
hinder the replication of the reported studies, leading to low reproducibility.
To improve geographic diversity, we provide the suggestions including
facilitate replication studies, address geographic and linguistic issues of
study/recruitment methods, and facilitate research on the topics for non-WEIRD
populations.Comment: This paper is the extended version of the paper presented at USENIX
SECURITY 202
Cryptographic Protocols for Privacy Enhancing Technologies: From Privacy Preserving Human Attestation to Internet Voting
Desire of privacy is oftentimes associated with the intention to hide certain
aspects of our thoughts or actions due to some illicit activity. This is a
narrow understanding of privacy, and a marginal fragment of the motivations
for undertaking an action with a desired level of privacy. The right for not
being subject to arbitrary interference of our privacy is part of the universal
declaration of human rights (Article 12) and, above that, a requisite for
our freedom. Developing as a person freely, which results in the development
of society, requires actions to be done without a watchful eye. While
the awareness of privacy in the context of modern technologies is not widely
spread, it is clearly understood, as can be seen in the context of elections,
that in order to make a free choice one needs to maintain its privacy. So
why demand privacy when electing our government, but not when selecting
our daily interests, books we read, sites we browse, or persons we encounter?
It is popular belief that the data that we expose of ourselves would not be
exploited if one is a law-abiding citizen. No further from the truth, as this
data is used daily for commercial purposes: users’ data has value. To make
matters worse, data has also been used for political purposes without the
user’s consent or knowledge. However, the benefits that data can bring to
individuals seem endless and a solution of not using this data at all seems
extremist. Legislative efforts have tried, in the past years, to provide mechanisms
for users to decide what is done with their data and define a framework
where companies can use user data, but always under the consent of the latter.
However, these attempts take time to take track, and have unfortunately
not been very successful since their introduction.
In this thesis we explore the possibility of constructing cryptographic protocols
to provide a technical, rather than legislative, solution to the privacy
problem. In particular we focus on two aspects of society: browsing and
internet voting. These two events shape our lives in one way or another, and
require high levels of privacy to provide a safe environment for humans to
act upon them freely. However, these two problems have opposite solutions.
On the one hand, elections are a well established event in society that has
been around for millennia, and privacy and accountability are well rooted
requirements for such events. This might be the reason why its digitalisation
is something which is falling behind with respect to other acts of our society
(banking, shopping, reading, etc). On the other hand, browsing is a recently
introduced action, but that has quickly taken track given the amount of possibilities
that it opens with such ease. We now have access to whatever we
can imagine (except for voting) at the distance of a click. However, the data
that we generate while browsing is extremely sensitive, and most of it is disclosed to third parties under the claims of making the user experience better
(targeted recommendations, ads or bot-detection).
Chapter 1 motivates why resolving such a problem is necessary for the
progress of digital society. It then introduces the problem that this thesis
aims to resolve, together with the methodology. In Chapter 2 we introduce
some technical concepts used throughout the thesis. Similarly, we expose the
state-of-the-art and its limitations.
In Chapter 3 we focus on a mechanism to provide private browsing. In
particular, we focus on how we can provide a safer, and more private way, for
human attestation. Determining whether a user is a human or a bot is important
for the survival of an online world. However, the existing mechanisms
are either invasive or pose a burden to the user. We present a solution that
is based on a machine learning model to distinguish between humans and
bots that uses natural events of normal browsing (such as touch the screen
of a phone) to make its prediction. To ensure that no private data leaves
the user’s device, we evaluate such a model in the device rather than sending
the data over the wire. To provide insurance that the expected model has
been evaluated, the user’s device generates a cryptographic proof. However
this opens an important question. Can we achieve a high level of accuracy
without resulting in a noneffective battery consumption? We provide a positive
answer to this question in this work, and show that a privacy-preserving
solution can be achieved while maintaining the accuracy high and the user’s
performance overhead low.
In Chapter 4 we focus on the problem of internet voting. Internet voting
means voting remotely, and therefore in an uncontrolled environment.
This means that anyone can be voting under the supervision of a coercer,
which makes the main goal of the protocols presented to be that of coercionresistance.
We need to build a protocol that allows a voter to escape the
act of coercion. We present two proposals with the main goal of providing
a usable, and scalable coercion resistant protocol. They both have different
trade-offs. On the one hand we provide a coercion resistance mechanism
that results in linear filtering, but that provides a slightly weaker notion of
coercion-resistance. Secondly, we present a mechanism with a slightly higher
complexity (poly-logarithmic) but that instead provides a stronger notion of
coercion resistance. Both solutions are based on a same idea: allowing the
voter to cast several votes (such that only the last one is counted) in a way
that cannot be determined by a coercer.
Finally, in Chapter 5, we conclude the thesis, and expose how our results
push one step further the state-of-the-art. We concisely expose our contributions,
and describe clearly what are the next steps to follow. The results
presented in this work argue against the two main claims against privacy preserving solutions: either that privacy is not practical or that higher levels
of privacy result in lower levels of security.Programa de Doctorado en Ciencia y TecnologĂa Informática por la Universidad Carlos III de MadridPresidente: AgustĂn MartĂn Muñoz.- Secretario: JosĂ© MarĂa de Fuentes GarcĂa-Romero de Tejada.- Vocal: Alberto Peinado DomĂngue
Towards Lightweight Secure User-Transparent And Privacy-Preserving Web Metering
Privacy is an issue today as more people are actively connecting and participating in the Internet. Problems arise when such concerning issue is coupled with security requirements of online applications. The web metering problem is the problem of counting the number of visits done by users to a webserver, additionally capturing data about these visits. There are trade-o s between designing secure web metering solutions and preserving users' privacy. There is also a dilemma between privacy preserving solutions versus accuracy of results. The problem becomes more difficult when the main interacting party, the user, is not inherently interested to participate and operations need to be carried out transparently. This thesis addresses the web metering problem in a hostile environment and proposes different web metering solutions. The web metering solutions operate in an environment where webservers or attackers are capable of invading users' privacy or modifying the web metering result. Threats in such environment are identified, using a well established threat model with certain assumptions, which are then used to derive privacy, security and functional requirements. Those requirements are used to show shortcomings in previous web metering schemes, which are then addressed by our proposed solutions. The central theme of this thesis is user's privacy by user-transparent solutions. Preserving users' privacy and designing secure web metering solutions that operate transparently to the user are two main goals of this research. Achieving the two goals can conflict with other requirements and such exploration was missed by former solutions in the literature. Privacy issues in this problem are the result of the dilemma of convincing interested parties of web metering results with sufficient details and non-repudiation evidence that can still preserve users' privacy. Relevant privacy guidelines are used to discuss and analyse privacy concerns in the context of the problem and consequently privacy-preserving solutions are proposed. Also, improving the usability through \securely" redesigning already used solutions will help into wider acceptance and universal deployment of the new solutions. Consequently, secure and privacy-preserving web metering solutions are proposed that operate transparently to the visitor. This thesis describes existing web metering solutions and analyses them with respect to different requirements and desiderata. It also describes and analyses new solutions which use existing security and authentication protocols, hardware devices and analytic codes. The proposed solutions provide a reasonable trade-o among privacy, security, accuracy and transparency. The first proposed solution, transparently to the user, reuses Identity Management Systems and hash functions for web metering purposes. The second hardware-based solution securely and transparently uses hardware devices and existing protocols in a privacy-preserving manner. The third proposed solution transparently collects different "unique" users' data and analyses fingerprints using privacy-preserving codes
Towards internet voting in the state of Qatar
Qatar is a small country in the Middle East which has used its oil wealth to invest in the country's infrastructure and education. The technology for Internet voting now exists or can be developed, but are the people of Qatar willing to take part in Internet voting for national elections?. This research identifies the willingness of government and citizens to introduce and participate in Internet voting (I-voting) in Qatar and the barriers that may be encountered when doing so. A secure I voting model for the Qatar government is then proposed that address issues of I-voting which might arise due to the introduction of such new technology. Recommendations are made for the Qatar government to assist in the introduction of I-voting.
The research identifies the feasibility of I-voting and the government s readiness and willingness to introduce it. Multiple factors are examined: the voting experience, educational development, telecommunication development, the large number of Internet users, Qatar law which does not bar the use of I-voting and Qatar culture which supports I-voting introduction. It is shown that there is a willingness amongst both the people and the government to introduce I-voting, and there is appropriate accessibility, availability of IT infrastructure, availability of Internet law to protect online consumers and the existence of the e government project. However, many Qataris have concerns of security, privacy, usability, transparency and other issues that would need to be addressed before any voting system could be considered to be a quality system in the eyes of the voters. Also, the need to consider the security threat associated on client-side machines is identified where a lack of user awareness on information security is an important factor.
The proposed model attempts to satisfy voting principles, introducing a secure platform for I-voting using best practices and solutions such as the smart card, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and digital certificates. The model was reviewed by a number of experts on Information Technology, and the Qatari culture and law who found that the system would, generally, satisfy voting principles, but pointed out the need to consider the scalability of the model, the possible cyber-attacks and the risks associated with voters computers. which could be reduced by enhancing user awareness on security and using secure operating systems or Internet browsers. From these findings, a set of recommendations were proposed to encourage the government to introduce I-voting which consider different aspects of I-voting, including the digital divide, e-literacy, I voting infrastructure, legal aspects, transparency, security and privacy. These recommendations were also reviewed by experts who found them to be both valuable and effective.
Since literature on Internet voting in Qatar is sparse, empirical and non-empirical studies were carried out in a variety of surveys, interviews and experiments. The research successfully achieved its aim and objectives and is now being considered by the Qatari Government
Towards Internet Voting in the State of Qatar
Qatar is a small country in the Middle East which has used its oil wealth to invest in the country's infrastructure and education. The technology for Internet voting now exists or can be developed, but are the people of Qatar willing to take part in Internet voting for national elections?. This research identifies the willingness of government and citizens to introduce and participate in Internet voting (I-voting) in Qatar and the barriers that may be encountered when doing so. A secure I voting model for the Qatar government is then proposed that address issues of I-voting which might arise due to the introduction of such new technology. Recommendations are made for the Qatar government to assist in the introduction of I-voting. The research identifies the feasibility of I-voting and the government s readiness and willingness to introduce it. Multiple factors are examined: the voting experience, educational development, telecommunication development, the large number of Internet users, Qatar law which does not bar the use of I-voting and Qatar culture which supports I-voting introduction. It is shown that there is a willingness amongst both the people and the government to introduce I-voting, and there is appropriate accessibility, availability of IT infrastructure, availability of Internet law to protect online consumers and the existence of the e government project. However, many Qataris have concerns of security, privacy, usability, transparency and other issues that would need to be addressed before any voting system could be considered to be a quality system in the eyes of the voters. Also, the need to consider the security threat associated on client-side machines is identified where a lack of user awareness on information security is an important factor. The proposed model attempts to satisfy voting principles, introducing a secure platform for I-voting using best practices and solutions such as the smart card, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and digital certificates. The model was reviewed by a number of experts on Information Technology, and the Qatari culture and law who found that the system would, generally, satisfy voting principles, but pointed out the need to consider the scalability of the model, the possible cyber-attacks and the risks associated with voters computers. which could be reduced by enhancing user awareness on security and using secure operating systems or Internet browsers. From these findings, a set of recommendations were proposed to encourage the government to introduce I-voting which consider different aspects of I-voting, including the digital divide, e-literacy, I voting infrastructure, legal aspects, transparency, security and privacy. These recommendations were also reviewed by experts who found them to be both valuable and effective. Since literature on Internet voting in Qatar is sparse, empirical and non-empirical studies were carried out in a variety of surveys, interviews and experiments. The research successfully achieved its aim and objectives and is now being considered by the Qatari Government.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
Modern Socio-Technical Perspectives on Privacy
This open access book provides researchers and professionals with a foundational understanding of online privacy as well as insight into the socio-technical privacy issues that are most pertinent to modern information systems, covering several modern topics (e.g., privacy in social media, IoT) and underexplored areas (e.g., privacy accessibility, privacy for vulnerable populations, cross-cultural privacy). The book is structured in four parts, which follow after an introduction to privacy on both a technical and social level: Privacy Theory and Methods covers a range of theoretical lenses through which one can view the concept of privacy. The chapters in this part relate to modern privacy phenomena, thus emphasizing its relevance to our digital, networked lives. Next, Domains covers a number of areas in which privacy concerns and implications are particularly salient, including among others social media, healthcare, smart cities, wearable IT, and trackers. The Audiences section then highlights audiences that have traditionally been ignored when creating privacy-preserving experiences: people from other (non-Western) cultures, people with accessibility needs, adolescents, and people who are underrepresented in terms of their race, class, gender or sexual identity, religion or some combination. Finally, the chapters in Moving Forward outline approaches to privacy that move beyond one-size-fits-all solutions, explore ethical considerations, and describe the regulatory landscape that governs privacy through laws and policies. Perhaps even more so than the other chapters in this book, these chapters are forward-looking by using current personalized, ethical and legal approaches as a starting point for re-conceptualizations of privacy to serve the modern technological landscape. The book’s primary goal is to inform IT students, researchers, and professionals about both the fundamentals of online privacy and the issues that are most pertinent to modern information systems. Lecturers or teacherscan assign (parts of) the book for a “professional issues” course. IT professionals may select chapters covering domains and audiences relevant to their field of work, as well as the Moving Forward chapters that cover ethical and legal aspects. Academicswho are interested in studying privacy or privacy-related topics will find a broad introduction in both technical and social aspects
Modern Socio-Technical Perspectives on Privacy
This open access book provides researchers and professionals with a foundational understanding of online privacy as well as insight into the socio-technical privacy issues that are most pertinent to modern information systems, covering several modern topics (e.g., privacy in social media, IoT) and underexplored areas (e.g., privacy accessibility, privacy for vulnerable populations, cross-cultural privacy). The book is structured in four parts, which follow after an introduction to privacy on both a technical and social level: Privacy Theory and Methods covers a range of theoretical lenses through which one can view the concept of privacy. The chapters in this part relate to modern privacy phenomena, thus emphasizing its relevance to our digital, networked lives. Next, Domains covers a number of areas in which privacy concerns and implications are particularly salient, including among others social media, healthcare, smart cities, wearable IT, and trackers. The Audiences section then highlights audiences that have traditionally been ignored when creating privacy-preserving experiences: people from other (non-Western) cultures, people with accessibility needs, adolescents, and people who are underrepresented in terms of their race, class, gender or sexual identity, religion or some combination. Finally, the chapters in Moving Forward outline approaches to privacy that move beyond one-size-fits-all solutions, explore ethical considerations, and describe the regulatory landscape that governs privacy through laws and policies. Perhaps even more so than the other chapters in this book, these chapters are forward-looking by using current personalized, ethical and legal approaches as a starting point for re-conceptualizations of privacy to serve the modern technological landscape. The book’s primary goal is to inform IT students, researchers, and professionals about both the fundamentals of online privacy and the issues that are most pertinent to modern information systems. Lecturers or teacherscan assign (parts of) the book for a “professional issues” course. IT professionals may select chapters covering domains and audiences relevant to their field of work, as well as the Moving Forward chapters that cover ethical and legal aspects. Academicswho are interested in studying privacy or privacy-related topics will find a broad introduction in both technical and social aspects
AN ENHANCEMENT ON TARGETED PHISHING ATTACKS IN THE STATE OF QATAR
The latest report by Kaspersky on Spam and Phishing, listed Qatar as one of the top 10 countries by percentage of email phishing and targeted phishing attacks. Since the Qatari economy has grown exponentially and become increasingly global in nature, email phishing and targeted phishing attacks have the capacity to be devastating to the Qatari economy, yet there are no adequate measures put in place such as awareness training programmes to minimise these threats to the state of Qatar. Therefore, this research aims to explore targeted attacks in specific organisations in the state of Qatar by presenting a new technique to prevent targeted attacks. This novel enterprise-wide email phishing detection system has been used by organisations and individuals not only in the state of Qatar but also in organisations in the UK. This detection system is based on domain names by which attackers carefully register domain names which victims trust. The results show that this detection system has proven its ability to reduce email phishing attacks. Moreover, it aims to develop email phishing awareness training techniques specifically designed for the state of Qatar to complement the presented technique in order to increase email phishing awareness, focused on targeted attacks and the content, and reduce the impact of phishing email attacks. This research was carried out by developing an interactive email phishing awareness training website that has been tested by organisations in the state of Qatar. The results of this training programme proved to get effective results by training users on how to spot email phishing and targeted attacks
Advances in Information Security and Privacy
With the recent pandemic emergency, many people are spending their days in smart working and have increased their use of digital resources for both work and entertainment. The result is that the amount of digital information handled online is dramatically increased, and we can observe a significant increase in the number of attacks, breaches, and hacks. This Special Issue aims to establish the state of the art in protecting information by mitigating information risks. This objective is reached by presenting both surveys on specific topics and original approaches and solutions to specific problems. In total, 16 papers have been published in this Special Issue