Improving Computer Security by Understanding Cognitive Security

Presented as part of the 2020 HCSS conference. 

The recording of this talk will only be available to those who registered for the HCSS Conference. If you would like to request access to view this presentation video, please contact hcss@cps-vo.org.

Dr. Kimberly Ferguson-Walter is a Senior Research Scientist with the National Security Agency’s Laboratory for Advanced Cybersecurity Research. She earned a BS in Information and Computer Science from the University of California Irvine, cum laude, with a specialization in artificial intelligence and her MS and PhD in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research interests are focused on the intersection of computer security, artificial intelligence, and human behavior. In addition to cyber security, her research background includes reinforcement learning, transfer learning, representation learning, and intelligent tutoring systems. She has been focused on adaptive cybersecurity at the NSA for the past ten years and is the lead for the Research Directorate’s deception for cyber-defense effort. She is currently on joint-duty assignment to the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific to perform collaborative research and facilitate strategic alignment and technology transfers and acts as an advisor to the Navy Science & Technology Advisor Council on matters involving Cyber and Autonomy. She has organized international workshops on cyber deception, autonomous cyber operations, and cognitive security. Dr Ferguson-Walter is a founding member of the Cybersecurity Technical Group of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) and co-chairs a mini-track at the Hawaiian International Conference on System Science (HICSS) on Cyber Deception and Cyber Psychology for Defense.