Veranstaltungen

Laura Kocksch, SecHuman Alumna and currently Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Aalborg University in Copenhagen is introducing her monograph “Fragile Computing – How to Live with Insecure Technologies” (Palgrave Macmillan) with a book launch at RUSTlab, RUB, MB 4/165.

Based on substantial ethnographic work in critical infrastructures in Germany, the book presents different ways of handling digital security in everyday practices: Testing, Tinkering, Preparing, Producing. Fragile Computing suggests understanding cybersecurity not as a problem, but as a practice: seeing the work of users, administrators and developers as sites of re-articulation of what security is and how to attend to it. In practice, cybersecurity is often not about finding discreet solutions or absolute security, but about finding ways of living with partially insecure systems, forging compromise, and caring for uneasy patchworks. Cybersecurity is mundane, not spectacular; messy, not straight forward. What is fragile is precious, but brittle, needs care but evades conclusive fixes, is both demanding and flexible.

A short note of interest to attend is preferred but not mandatory: laurak@ikl.aau.dk.
Snacks and drinks will be provided.

More information

The many advantages and new possibilities of digitalization are increasingly accompanied by unclear responsibilities, a lack of accountability, and growing power to digital tech firms. Meeting the new challenges and threats that come along with digital interconnectivity requires a multifaceted approach that addresses both technical vulnerabilities and human factors. By bringing together experts from diverse fields, an interdisciplinary approach enables a comprehensive understanding of the current and developing challenges – and helps to develop holistic solutions that address technical, human, legal, and ethical aspects.

Recent technological advances such as deepfakes (the hyperrealistic imitation of audio-visual content) but also ever more powerful Large Language Models (such as ChatGPT or LLaMa) pose new risks. Namely, using such technologies enables new forms of manipulation, deception, and fraud. The consequences of such attacks range from the societal level such as manipulation of democratic processes, to the individual level where people might reveal sensitive information, or transfer data or money to attackers.

The summer school “Taming the risks of digital technologies - interdisciplinary collaboration for a trustworthy future” will bring together researchers working in the field of manipulative technologies. It will bring together scholars from various disciplines including IT security research, computer science, communication science, psychology, economics and more. The summer school will feature keynotes, hands-on workshops highlighting the risks but also providing insights into concrete countermeasures to manipulative tech.

DATE: 29 – 31 July 2024
PLACE: Beckmanns Hof, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
OPEN FOR: PhDs and Postdocs as well as PIs from the discipline of IT security or related areas of research

The summer school is hosted by SecHuman and the Research Center Trustworthy Data Science and Security.

More information and registration

Das Forschungskolleg „Sicherheit für Menschen im Cyberspace“ (SecHuman) erforscht seit 2016 technische und gesellschaftliche Problemstellungen der IT-Sicherheit in einem inter- und transdisziplinären Forschungsumfeld. Dabei basiert das Kolleg auf einem innovativen Tandemkonzept: Jeweils ein*e Doktorand*in aus einem technischen Fachgebiet arbeitet mit einer Doktorandin bzw. einem Doktoranden aus den Geistes- oder Gesellschaftswissenschaften in einem Forschungstandem zusammen.

Der interdisziplinäre und ganzheitliche Ansatz des Forschungskollegs machte SecHuman zu einem Leuchtturmprojekt an der Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Die holistische Erforschung von IT-Sicherheit von kryptografischen Grundlagen bis zu menschenzentrierter Sicherheit inspirierte u.a. die erfolgreiche Konzeption des Exzellenzclusters CASA (Cybersicherheit im Zeitalter großskaliger Angreifer) an der Ruhr-Universität. Auch das im Jahr 2022 gegründete Research Center “Trustworthy Data Science and Security” der Research Alliance Ruhr steht in der Tradition der interdisziplinären IT-Sicherheitsforschung, welche mit SecHuman ihre Initialzündung am Forschungsstandort IT-Sicherheit Bochum hatte.

Darüber hinaus wurde das interdisziplinäre Konzept der Tandempromotionen in SecHuman bereits 2017 im Bericht der US National Academies Foundational Cybersecurity Research: „Improving Science, Engineering, and Institutions“ als wegweisendes Modell für den dringend notwendigen Ausbau der interdisziplinären Sicherheitsforschung genannt.

Diese Erfolgsgeschichte wollen wir anlässlich des Abschlusses der zweiten Förderphase von SecHuman feiern:

• am 01. Oktober 2024 ab 13:30 Uhr
• im Veranstaltungszentrum der Ruhr-Universität Bochum.

Vorläufiges Programm und Anmeldung ab MItte Juli hier.