Cyber security is growing rapidly and modern organizations generally spend liberally to enhance their digital defenses. Even private individuals are becoming more acutely aware of the importance of cyber security and what potentials consequences their digital actions can lead to. This is a reasonable effect of the increasing number of cyber attacks taking place throughout the world, both targeting individuals and organizations. Although cyber situational awareness is generally increasing, the public opinions of what is dangerous and what is safe may not always be in line with the actual truth. Some cyber threats may be perceived as highly dangerous, while they in truth can be overcome quite easily. Other threats may be perceived as harmless, while they in truth can be devastating.

This research project will investigate conceptions about cyber threats in relation to state-of-the-art knowledge about how dangerous those threats really are. Much of the practical work will be literature reviewing and surveys/case studies. Highlights include:

• Categorize digital threats.
• If possible, hypothesize about public opinions of the categorized digital threats.
• Obtain data on public opinions of the categorized digital threats (through interviews, case studies, or by other means).
• Obtain data on the actual severity of the categorized digital threats (likely through literature reviewing and interviews with subject matter experts).
• Compare the public opinions of the categorized digital threats with the opinions of subject matter experts and data found in literature/other material.

The scope can be adjusted to fit both a master’s and a bachelor’s thesis, and much of the work can be done remotely.

If you have any questions or want to apply, send an email to fheiding@kth.se