(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021-05)
Gabrielyan, Davit
In this paper, my team endeavored to assist end-users in their cybersecurity struggles by constructing a security assistant. The security assistant would unobtrusively detect vulnerabilities on the end-users machines and notify the users in the most effective manner to ensure that they take the steps to mitigate the underlying causes of the vulnerability. The detection of the vulnerabilities is performed using machine learning and detection algorithms.
To ensure the effectiveness of our assistant we plan to conduct a rigorous study in order to assess the extent to which our security assistant is capable of encouraging end-users to have better cybersecurity practices. After obtaining the results of our study, we plan to further improve the capabilities of our security assistant so that the notifications it displays are more effective and informative. Ultimately, we strive to find techniques that would allow end-users to interactively communicate with our assistant about their security needs and have a safe virtual environment on their machines.
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-05)
Golod, Ilya
This study presents Penny, a virtual assistant that monitors various parameters and
conditions of the user’s machine and notifies them in case it senses a potential
vulnerability. Penny also provides the user with information on the possible ways of
eliminating or avoiding the vulnerability. The purpose of the study is to find out how
specific types of security-related communication with end-users by a virtual assistant like
Penny can positively affect users’ security-related behaviors.
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-05)
Hrach, Jonathan
This works presents Air Mag, a foot wearable that uses pneumatic actuation and acoustic sensing for a wide range of foot interactions. With wearable devices such as smartwatches becoming increasingly popular, we aimed to explore the possibilities of increasing the interactivity of a shoe, a much more popular wearable associated with
being on the go. Using a known air pouch fabrication technique to construct airtight sealed pouches, we introduce a device that uses a pneumatic actuation system to rapidly deflate and inflate air pouches, providing a tightening sensation to the end-user. We also use a known acoustic sensing technique to detect the deformation of the air pouches in real-time using a microphone and speaker. Our results show several advantages and limitations of using such methods in the context of foot wearables and introduce future development of our wearable. Such a device can serve as a novel method for gait recognition, create toe input gestures, or be used as a tangible interface for haptic feedback.
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-12)
Ren, Ziang
Cybersecurity is a concern for both organizations and individual users. Although there are a variety of security tools available, the number of cybersecurity incidents is still high. One cause of this phenomenon is that users are typically unaware or underestimating the potential negative consequences of their insecure behaviors on the internet. This leads to a lack of motivation among users for adopting security tools that require additional efforts in order to access a desired service. Conventional methods in promoting people s awareness of cybersecurity such as information sessions hosted by cybersecurity professionals have been shown to be ineffective. Video games is a novel approach in cybersecurity education has achieved some success in training cybersecurity professionals. However, whether video games are an effective method for educating the general public about the basic concepts of cybersecurity remains untested. This study presents Stranger Danger, a video game that simulates real-world exploits and teaches its users via negative reinforcements. The purpose of the study is to examine whether video games are effective in teaching the general public about basic cybersecurity concepts.