Introduction to Social Cybersecurity

While classical cybersecurity focuses on how software and hardware can be compromised (with humans possibly involved in the process, and ultimately suffering the consequences, but not being the immediate target), social cybersecurity focuses on how humans can be compromised when participating in socio-technical systems (e.g. social media platforms). “Compromised” here means affecting behaviour and social/cultural/political outcomes (e.g. results of elections).

The course covers:

• Social cybersecurity threats and types of information operations.

• Computational methods to detect social cybersecurity threats.

• The roles of AI in social cybersecurity.

• Interventions (effectiveness & ethical questions).

The course consists of lectures, discussion of papers read in advance by the participants, and depending on the participants hands-on activities. In addition to in-person activities, the course requires preparation (reading the papers for the discussions) and provides the opportunity for a follow-up individual or group project for additional credits (typical setting: 3 credits for preparation and in-person activities + 2 credits for a basic follow-up project).

To make this as relevant as possible, if you are interested please fill in this short form before the end of the week, so I can define a good time for the course and fine-tune its activities. The form asks for background and preferred times for the in-person activities in Uppsala.

Contact: Matteo Magnani  (matteo.magnani@it.uu.se)