Emerging Trends in Usable Security and Privacy

Abstract

New technologies are constantly becoming part of our everyday life. At the same time, designers and developers still often do not consider the implications of their design choices on security and privacy. For example, new technologies generate sensitive data, enable access to sensitive data, or can be used in malicious ways. This creates a need to fundamentally rethink the way in which we design new technologies. While some of the related opportunities and challenges have been recognized and are being addressed by the community, there is still a need for a more holistic understanding. In this editorial, we will address this by (1) providing a brief historical overview on the research field of ‘Usable Security and Privacy’; (2) deriving a number of current and future trends; and (3) briefly introducing the articles that are part of this special issue and describing how they relate to the current trends and what researchers and practitioners can learn from them.