Workshop on 2/26/2026: What is Cybersecurity Really Protecting? The Role of Human Agency in Positive Cybersecurity
The goal of cybersecurity is to protect against cyber attacks. But what are we protecting? This talk argues that many current conceptions of cybersecurity focus entirely on objective harms from cyberattacks. Instead, it refocuses the discussion to argue that, at root, cybersecurity issues are moral issues, and any reasonable conception of cybersecurity should be understood in relation to its role in human agency. The talk describes a way of thinking called “positive cybersecurity” that centers human agency and autonomy in cybersecurity. It also explains how this perspective can help clarify moral issues in cybersecurity, provide clearer ways to think about the potential harms and damages from cyberattacks, and clarify the challenges cybersecurity faces when it asks people to undertake actions to be more secure.
Rick Wash is an expert on the human aspects of cybersecurity. He is a Professor in the Information School at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He studies how people think about their interactions with modern technology, with an emphasis on the work people do to protect themselves from risks associated with using information technology and the Internet. His research has won the Impact award at SOUPS for significant long-term impact on the usable security and privacy research and practice, a Google Security and Privacy Research award, and an NSF CAREER award. His work is supported by over $2 million from the US National Science Foundation. He was previously a professor at Michigan State University, and he completed his PhD at the School of Information at the University of Michigan.
To join the working group, to be notified of upcoming workshops, and to learn more about our ongoing research, please sign up for the mailing list.
For more details about the working group, click here.