The Security Implications of Online Intergroup Contact

This project will use a range of well-established psychology analysis techniques combined with novel analytical methods (machine learning, network analysis, text analysis, and others) to investigate the effects of online intergroup contact in natural settings, discover what conditions are necessary for positive outcomes, and test whether these conditions are being met by groups that have the potential to become security threats to society across the globe. I first aim to investigate the effect of intergroup interaction online between opposing political groups, and how this effects the extent of physical violence when these groups interact in the real world. Following this, I will investigate how the anonymity provided by internet applications affects groups dynamics, both within and between groups, before moving to investigate the effects of echo-chambering within the broader internet echo system and how this can be manipulated. Finally, I propose an experimental study of the effects of exposure to digital information and propaganda on implicit group associations in a range of individuals.
The application of established psychological methods to address these emerging online questions is highly novel and has real potential to shed light on a range of currently poorly understood phenomena.

This project comes under the EPSRC Cyber Security research theme and medical sciences

It is part of the nature of Cyber Security - and a key reason for the urgency in developing new research approaches - that it now is a concern of every section of society, and so the successful CDT will have a very broad impact indeed. We will ensure impact for:

* The IT industry; vendors of hardware and software, and within this the IT Security industry;

* High value/high assurance sectors such as banking, bio-medical domains, and critical infrastructure, and more generally the CISO community across many industries;

* The mobile systems community, mobile service providers, handset and platform manufacturers, those developing the technologies of the internet of things, and smart cities;

* Defence sector, MoD/DSTL in particular, defence contractors, and the intelligence community;

* The public sector more generally, in its own activities and in increasingly important electronic engagement with the citizen;

* The not-for-profit sector, education, charities, and NGOs - many of whom work in highly contended contexts, but do not always have access to high-grade cyber defensive skills.

Impact in each of these will be achieved in fresh elaborations of threat and risk models; by developing new fundamental design approaches; through new methods of evaluation, incorporating usability criteria, privacy, and other societal concerns; and by developing prototype and proof-of-concept solutions exhibiting these characteristics. These impacts will retain focus through the way that the educational and research programme is structured - so that the academic and theoretical components are directed towards practical and anticipated problems motivated by the sectors listed here.