UCL's Angela Sasse featured in Nature

Angela Sasse, Professor of Human-Centred Security and member of UCL's Information Security Research Group, appears in the latest issue of Nature.

In How to hack the hackers: The human side of cybercrime, Angela addresses ransomware - an extortion scheme in which hackers encrypt the data on a user's computer, then demand money for the digital key to unlock them. Victims get detailed, easy-to-follow instructions for the payment process, and how to use the key. If they run into technical difficulties, there are 24/7 call centres.

This gives way to Angela's belief that the attackers are so far ahead of the defenders; receiving greater support for their activities than one might expect from their own Internet service providers.

Angela's work reflects the need for more psychologists, economists and human-factors people to fight back and change people's habits to beat the hackers.

Read more at http://www.nature.com/news/how-to-hack-the-hackers-the-human-side-of-cybercrime-1.19872.