Ariana Mirian: Improving Internet Security

Computer Science Channel (Audio)

Ariana is a PhD student at UC San Diego, where she works with the Sysnet, CryptoSec, and CNS groups at UCSD, as well as the Center for Evidence-based Security Research (CESR). She is advised by Geoff Voelker and Stefan Savage. As an undergrad, she started her academic journey in a security lab as an coder. She soon realized that the world of security would be an enthralling space that has repercussions for everyone that uses a computer today, and after doing some coding, she then moved more into a research-oriented role. She discovered that one of security's problems revolved around users and how users interact with our various security mechanisms; and what good are our security mechanisms if they fail to protect people? She then decided to dive into the intersection of usable security and empirical analysis, or how we can use environmental studies to determine user behavior, where is it going wrong, and how we can fix it. This is the philosophy that drives her research Series: "UCTV Prime" [Science] [Show ID: 33422]