Coles-Kemp, Lizzie

Rydhof Hansen, René

In this paper we argue that in contemporary society a form of security emerges that is qualitatively neither technological nor social but that is truly sociotechnical. We argue that everyday security is a form of sociotechnical security co-constituted of both technological protection mechanisms designed to protect assets and of relational social practices that enable people to build and maintain trust in their daily interactions. We further argue that the complexity of real-world information security problems requires security models that are able to articulate and examine security as a sociotechnical phenomenon and that can articulate and examine the results of interaction between these two security constructions. Security must be modelled to acknowledge, at least, the connection between an individual’s security needs and the protection of assets if it is to help design secure services with which citizens can safely engage. We exemplify these attributes from case studies conducted as part of two sociotechnical research projects: the UK government and research council funded Cyber Security Cartographies (CySeCa) project and the EU FP7 funded project TREsPASS. These are introduced to discuss the potential for a family of modelling techniques. In this paper we examine the attributes of everyday security problems and reflect upon how such a modelling family might influence both academic research and practice in contemporary information security.</p

Hansen, René Rydhof

Walking the line:The everyday security ties that bind

In this paper we argue that in contemporary society a form of security emerges that is qualitatively neither technological nor social but that is truly sociotechnical. We argue that everyday security is a form of sociotechnical security co-constituted of both technological protection mechanisms designed to protect assets and of relational social practices that enable people to build and maintain trust in their daily interactions. We further argue that the complexity of real-world information security problems requires security models that are able to articulate and examine security as a sociotechnical phenomenon and that can articulate and examine the results of interaction between these two security constructions. Security must be modelled to acknowledge, at least, the connection between an individual’s security needs and the protection of assets if it is to help design secure services with which citizens can safely engage. We exemplify these attributes from case studies conducted as part of two sociotechnical research projects: the UK government and research council funded Cyber Security Cartographies (CySeCa) project and the EU FP7 funded project TREsPASS. These are introduced to discuss the potential for a family of modelling techniques. In this paper we examine the attributes of everyday security problems and reflect upon how such a modelling family might influence both academic research and practice in contemporary information security

Walking the Line:The Everyday Security Ties that Bind

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Royal Holloway - Pure