CASA PI M. Angela Sasse (Chair of Human-Centred Security) has been honored with the prestigious Test of Time Award at this year's Symposium on Usable Security and Privacy (USEC). The award recognizes Sasse's paper "Users are not the enemy" for its enduring impact on the field of usability and security. The USEC is a sister event of the renowned "Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS)" that is held this year from 26 February–1 March 2024 in San Diego, California.
First published in 1999, "Users are not the enemy" challenges the conventional wisdom that users are the weakest link in security systems. Sasse's research argues for a more nuanced understanding of human behavior and cognition in the context of security, advocating for user-centered design approaches that empower rather than blame users. This groundbreaking perspective has reshaped the discourse around security and usability, influencing research and practice in the years since its publication.
M. Angela Sasse's dedication to advancing the field of human-centred security has earned her widespread acclaim and esteem. Her work not only challenges existing paradigms but also offers practical insights for designing more effective and user-friendly security solutions.
CASA and the Horst Goertz Institute for IT Security congratulate M. Angela Sasse on this well-deserved honor and looks forward to her continued contributions to the field of human-centred security.
About M. Angela Sasse
M. Angela Sasse studied psychology at the University of Wuppertal and continued her studies in Great Britain. She received her master's degree in industrial psychology from the University of Sheffield and her doctorate from the University of Birmingham. In 1990, she began working as a lecturer in Computer Science at University College London. There she was a professor of human-centered technology from 2003. From 2012 to 2017, she directed the British Research Institute for Empirical Security Research and was inducted into the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2015. In 2018, she took over as Chair of Human-Centred Security at the Horst Görtz Institute for IT Security at RUB.
M. Angela Sasse is Hub Leader of Hub D: Usability.
General note: In case of using gender-assigning attributes we include all those who consider themselves in this gender regardless of their own biological sex.