Trusted Social and Human Interactions

How does IT change our interactions, and how can more trustworthy IT change them further? This includes studies of on-line trust, ecommerce (business-to-business and business-to-consumer), digital government services, e-conferencing, on-line personae and anonymity, online news, on-line research and the ephemeral nature of information, on-line propaganda, and spam.

Text Extraction and Data Visualization for Pet Health Surveillance

Principal Investigator: David Ebert

Exploring Risk Perception and Ultimate Trust in Online Environments: Viewpoints of the Visually-Impaired

Principal Investigator: Juline Mills

Building and keeping credibility in the eyes of consumers is a complex task faced by online organizations. While research on the behavioral aspects of online consumer behavior focusing on trust, satisfaction, and loyalty, with the aim of creating a compelling online environment to satisfy consumer needs, is increasing, the majority of these research efforts do not focus on the needs of visually impaired people, and their perception, perceived risk, and trust in Web-based environments. In this project, the PI will seek to identify the antecedents of trust from the viewpoint of the visually impaired consumer (both online users and non-users). The study will specifically seek to: identify the salient factors important in developing visually impaired consumer trust in online businesses; identify the interpersonal trust factors and the corresponding levels of interpersonal trust critical to the adaptation or continued use of the Internet by visually impaired consumers; explore variations in trust antecedents based on the demographic characteristics (age, gender, and ethnic and cultural background) of visually impaired consumers; develop a trust typology model for visually impaired consumers; and develop educational programs to aid non-users and users with increasing trust online. An understanding of visually impaired consumer perspectives on trust will enhance knowledge of the underlying principles of trust in e-commerce and move the discipline closer towards developing a centralized control for trust. Detailed knowledge of the hopes and concerns of visually impaired consumers broken down by age groups, gender, and ethnic backgrounds is critical for policy makers in charting effective Internet transaction-related policies. The findings from this study should also be of importance for online organizations in the development of proactive strategies for visually impaired customer recruitment and retention in online transactions.

Assessing Risk of Insider Threats to Information Systems

Principal Investigator: Fariborz Farahmand

Even as tools and technologies are being improved to protect critical national infrastructures against external attack, malicious insiders, intent on damaging an organization or turning a profit, remain a pervasive and challenging problem. In an insider attack, the attacker uses legitimate rights and privileges for inappropriate reasons. Such attacks are difficult to detect and defend against: insiders exist at all levels of an organization; broad internet connectivity enables anyone to be a potential “insider”; technologies enforcing useful access rights either do not exist or are difficult to use;and insiders often do only small, hard-to-detect amounts of damage at a time.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The Human Behavior, Insider Threat, and Awareness research project, supported by the Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection (I3P),brings together cross-disciplinary researchers at leading national facilities to develop a scalable infrastructure for detecting, monitoring, and preventing insider attacks with due regard for the ethical, legal, and economic needs of users and organizations. Much of the science for understanding insider threats is still immature, with results difficult to measure. This research project will provide a foundation both for understanding insider threats and for developing methods to protect critical infrastructures against insider attacks:

  • Early prototypes of new approaches will be available for demonstration and use.
  • New insights into enterprise bestpractice will inform training programs that might reshape the ways that employees think about their actions.
  • Industry and government stakeholders will have a role in making project solutions useful in their real-world settings.

A Multi-site Study of How Medical Surgical Medical Nurses Spend Their Time: a Baseline

Principal Investigator: Bill Cleveland, Chris Clifton

Improving the Privacy and Security of Online Survey Data Collection, Storage, and Processing

Principal Investigator: Mike Atallah;Juline Mills

This project involves the development of cryptographic protocols and techniques to enhance the security and privacy of the collection, storage, and processing of online survey data. Specifically, cryptographic protocols are designed for carrying out computations on online survey data in such a manner that only the approved output is revealed by the protocol, not the input data. The protocol therefore acts as a purpose-enforcement mechanism such that the data can be used only as authorized and can no longer be collected for one purpose and illicitly used for another. This approach has the benefit of protecting collected online survey data from hackers, spyware, misbehaving insiders, and accidental disclosure through the loss of a storage device. The security and purpose-enforcement in turn make it possible to potentially acquire higher quality responses to surveys on sensitive topics, a significant benefit in view of the increasing societal reliance on surveys from which important policy conclusions are often drawn in the health sciences, social and behavioral sciences, experimental economics, and other disciplines where the human subjects’ individual responses are to be considered sensitive and kept private. The cryptographic protocols are tested through the administration of an online survey on Internet addiction. Protocols for data analysis techniques are developed to aid in the analysis of the collected data. The students involved in this project acquire a unique combination of inter-disciplinary talents. The results of this work are disseminated through the project Web site: http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/mja/secsurv/SecureSurv.html