Victoria Marcinkiewicz
Victoria is a 3rd year PhD student based in the School of Psychology and is part of the Doctoral Training Program (DTP) in Cyber Security Analytics.
Victoria studied Criminology as an undergraduate at the University of Lincoln and went on to complete her Masters in Criminology and Social Research – Cyber Crime and Cyber Security at the University of Surrey.
Victoria’s research focusses on how self-driving cars would be blamed and trusted (or not) in the event of a cyber attack using methods from both applied and experimental psychology. Victoria is also examining how the initial loss of trust in such technology could be countered by human-computer interactions with the human-machine interface and wider vehicle design.
Around her studies, Victoria has worked as a Research Assistant; spoken at international conferences, workshops and symposiums and is also an established Cyber Security and Information Assurance Consultant.
Session
Although technical measures have played a vital role in enhancing cybersecurity, the changing landscape has shifted towards exploiting human vulnerabilities. Most recorded attacks now target behavioural vulnerabilities, highlighting the need to comprehend and encourage positive security behaviours. However, securing human behaviour poses a significant challenge, with individual motivations, environmental influences, and cognitive biases amongst a myriad of factors contributing to the complexity of the challenge. This village seeks to shed light on the complexity of the human challenge in cybersecurity. First, through a series of talks featuring academic and industry experts, we aim to showcase the diverse range of influences on human behaviour. From psychological biases to organisational culture and geopolitics, our speakers will explore the multifaceted nature of human factors and their implications for increasing positive security behaviours. In addition to the talks, attendees can participate in various human factors related interactive sessions, including a novel board game that simulates the development of a digital healthcare start-up, challenging players to make strategic product and cybersecurity decisions as board members. Finally, our village will facilitate an expert panel discussion on pressing questions surrounding human factors, including “How do we know interventions are working?” and ”What even are human factors?!”.