The Complexity of Cyber Security in Private and Professional Everyday Life — An Ethnographic-Informatic Collaborative Approach

Pöhls HC, Eckhardt D, Feist N, Pfeiffer S, Herrmann D, Katzenbeisser S (2025)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Conference contribution

Publication year: 2025

Pages Range: 105-124

Event location: Gothenburg

URI: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-92833-8_7#Abs1

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-92833-8_7

Abstract

In many ways it becomes visible that IT security problems persist in people’s everyday lives regardless of the progress in the field of IT security research. We show—based on ethnographic studies—that this is due to the complexity of everyday situations in which security mechanisms and device functionality and their heterogeneity interact with human understanding and everyday use in ways that are difficult to anticipate. To better align scientific research with people and their IT security needs, we have extracted five challenges that—if addressed—would lead to better IT security in people’s everyday lives. We contribute by the methodological development of interdisciplinary research showing how incorporating research methods from ethnography draws findings from the thoroughly subjective observation of the everyday life of individuals. IT security research can then make existing systems suitable for everyday use and develop new basic security functionalities tackling those five challenges that we found to be specific to everyday life: legacy systems, heterogeneity, versioning, perception, and everyday use.

Authors with CRIS profile

Dennis Eckhardt Lehrstuhl für Soziologie mit dem Schwerpunkt Technik - Arbeit - Gesellschaft Nelli Feist Lehrstuhl für Soziologie mit dem Schwerpunkt Technik - Arbeit - Gesellschaft Sabine Pfeiffer Lehrstuhl für Soziologie mit dem Schwerpunkt Technik - Arbeit - Gesellschaft

Involved external institutions

Universität Passau DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Pöhls, H.C., Eckhardt, D., Feist, N., Pfeiffer, S., Herrmann, D., & Katzenbeisser, S. (2025). The Complexity of Cyber Security in Private and Professional Everyday Life — An Ethnographic-Informatic Collaborative Approach. In Proceedings of the HCII: International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 105-124). Gothenburg.

MLA:

Pöhls, Heinrich C., et al. "The Complexity of Cyber Security in Private and Professional Everyday Life — An Ethnographic-Informatic Collaborative Approach." Proceedings of the HCII: International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Gothenburg 2025. 105-124.

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