Dr. Mary Aiken stands on the forefront of cyberpsychology, exploring the intricate relationship between expertise and human behaviour.
As a professor and chair of the Division of Cyberpsychology at Capitol Expertise College in Washington D.C., and a Professor of Forensic Cyberpsychology on the College of East London, she has devoted her profession to understanding the psychological implications of our digital lives.
A extremely sought-after cybersecurity speaker, Dr Aiken shares her experience on international levels, providing distinctive insights into cyber behaviour and digital threat. We spoke together with her to delve into the evolving panorama of cyberpsychology, the challenges posed by rising applied sciences, and the way people and organisations can navigate the complexities of the digital age.
In your view, how vital is it that cybersecurity evolves to completely incorporate the human layer, and what are essentially the most urgent psychological components that should now be addressed?
Initially, let’s discuss our on-line world. As cyber psychologists, folks like myself have been discussing our on-line world for the very best a part of twenty years. In reality, in 2016, NATO formally ratified our on-line world as an atmosphere — as a site — recognising that the battles of the long run would happen not solely on land, sea, and air, but additionally throughout pc networks.
The US army conceptualises our on-line world as comprising three layers. Firstly, there’s the bodily community, which incorporates the {hardware}, cables, and infrastructure. Secondly, there’s the logical community, which facilitates communication throughout these networks. And eventually, there’s the cyber persona layer—that’s us, the people.
Once we discuss incorporating the human layer into the cybersecurity equation, we now have to acknowledge that we’ve had 50 to 60 years of cybersecurity, and it has been very efficient in addressing the primary two layers: the bodily and logical networks. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of cyberattacks in the present day are pushed by social engineering — and social engineering has much more to do with psychology than with expertise.
Because of this, we’re now seeing the emergence of a brand new sector underneath the broader umbrella of cybersecurity: the web security expertise sector, or SafetyTech. I’m proud to be one of many founding members of this sector within the UK. Our mission is to develop technological options to technology-facilitated issues — specifically dangerous and prison behaviours on-line.
To summarise, we should issue the human into the cybersecurity equation — from the angle of customers, staff, and cyber attackers. And after we take a look at the spectrum of cyber menace actors — from state-sponsored to state-condoned, from hacktivists to activists, from organised cybercrime to classy menace teams — we’d like options that aren’t solely technically strong and resilient, but additionally account for human psychological resilience.
We wish our information methods and networks to be safe, however equally, we’d like the folks working these methods to be psychologically protected, strong, and resilient. That’s how we are able to ship on what I name 360-degree resilience.
As one of many foremost consultants in cyber psychology, how does the science underpinning this discipline inform your public talking, notably when partaking with sectors grappling with tech-driven behavioural change?
In cyber psychology, we examine particular results — for instance, the web disinhibition impact — which explains why folks typically behave in methods on-line that they’d by no means take into account in the actual world. It’s a key behavioural driver in digital environments.
We additionally discover the facility of on-line anonymity, which could be helpful in some contexts however may also act like a ‘superhuman energy of invisibility’. And, as with all powers, it comes with accountability — one thing not at all times exercised effectively by people.
In fact, we additionally observe constructive on-line behaviours, resembling altruism, seen in actions like crowdsourced fundraising. The elemental precept is that human behaviour modifications in on-line environments, and understanding the impression of those behavioural shifts is important.
By means of my talking engagements, I’ve the privilege of addressing a variety of sectors — expertise, cybersecurity, infosec, monetary providers, training, e-commerce, and healthcare. All of those industries profit from deeper insights into how expertise influences human behaviour, each from the consumer and operator views.
My analysis spans quite a lot of areas, together with cyberchondria — a type of well being anxiousness that manifests on-line. Many people have skilled this: a headache shortly spirals into Googling signs, resulting in panic over critical circumstances like mind tumours.
One other current space of focus is cyber fraud. Within the UK, laws such because the On-line Security Act is geared toward addressing this type of cyber-enabled criminality. I’ve contributed to quite a few info campaigns that target one among my key areas of experience: cyber behavioural profiling.
Many campaigns inform folks, “Don’t click on the hyperlink.” I am going a step additional — I analyse the semantics of phishing messages, breaking down how attackers manipulate language and psychology to compel customers to behave. Understanding the emotional and cognitive triggers that cybercriminals exploit helps us higher educate the general public and defend in opposition to such assaults.
When it comes to discuss matters, I cowl a broad spectrum — from human components in cybersecurity to cyber behavioural profiling, and more and more, the psychology of AI.
With the fast rise of generative AI and different superior applied sciences, how should stakeholders throughout business and authorities recalibrate their pondering to successfully handle each threat and alternative?
In terms of applied sciences like AI, we’ve seen many false dawns — in addition to quite a lot of ethical panics. Take the emergence of ChatGPT, as an illustration. Individuals grew to become excited by the novelty of chatbots, however in fact, chatbots have been round for many years.
The primary chatbot, Eliza, was developed within the Sixties. She was modelled on Rogerian psychology and was extremely efficient at eliciting info. When she requested questions like “How are you?” and adopted up with “Inform me extra about your day,” folks started sharing deeply private tales. The response was so sturdy that the programme was shut down pretty shortly — its inventor was reportedly horrified by how a lot folks disclosed.
Within the Nineties, I had the pleasure of working with one other chatbot, Jabberwacky, which was developed by a colleague of mine. It was a superb and progressive piece of expertise. What we’re witnessing now could be the continuing evolution of this area.
As for the widespread concern that AI will replicate human intelligence and render us out of date, I stay sceptical. As a behavioural scientist, I’d level out that we don’t but totally perceive how the human mind works. The concept we are able to replicate or substitute one thing we don’t totally comprehend is, to me, a flawed premise.
As a substitute of specializing in ‘synthetic intelligence’, I advocate for a special strategy: IIA (Intelligence Augmentation). This idea, impressed by Licklider’s Fifties work Man-Laptop Symbiosis, proposes a mannequin during which human and machine intelligence work symbiotically.
With IIA, we maintain the human on the centre of the method. That, I consider, is how we should always body our engagement with AI and machine studying – specializing in augmentation, not alternative.
Wanting forward, there are undoubtedly thrilling and vital modifications on the horizon. I’m notably within the convergence of quantum computing, machine studying, and AI. That mixture would be the level at which we actually start to imitate features of human intelligence.
In delivering insights throughout international establishments, from NATO to the UN, what core message or shift in mindset do you most hope audiences will stroll away with after listening to you communicate?
As one of many world’s main consultants in cyber psychology, I’ve had the honour of being invited to talk at high-level boards world wide — from the White Home to NATO, from the United Nations to INTERPOL.
When it comes to conferences, I’ve spoken at gatherings throughout the spectrum — cybersecurity, infosec, healthtech, fintech, regtech, edtech, in addition to coverage and policing boards. This breadth and depth mirror the common relevance of cyber psychology in in the present day’s digital world.
My position is to equip audiences with the information, instruments, and skillsets wanted to confront the complicated challenges that emerge on the intersection of people and expertise.
I assist folks assume in a different way — empowering them to design and deploy technology-based options to technology-facilitated issues, together with dangerous and prison on-line behaviours.
Finally, my aim is to make folks extra knowledgeable, extra assured, and higher ready to interact with expertise in a method that’s protected, moral, and efficient.
And most significantly, I intention to encourage collaboration, as a result of we’re all working on this shared atmosphere of our on-line world. If we’re to make it safer and safer, it is going to take collective accountability and international cooperation.
Photograph by Mostafa Saeed on Unsplash
This interview with Dr Mary Aiken was performed by Mark Matthews.
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