UMD Group Connects Sociotechnical Cybersecurity Thinkers and Leaders
Bringing together innovators from across academia, industry, and government
The University of Maryland (UMD) College of Information Studies (INFO) founded the Sociotechnical Cybersecurity (STC) Interest Group to connect a diverse group of thinkers and leaders in the field—from across academia, industry, and government—to further dialogue about STC challenges and innovations.
Cybersecurity is not just a technical issue. Addressing its challenges requires an understanding of social, cultural, and human factors. The group considers how people interact with technology and aims to develop holistic strategies for safeguarding digital assets and infrastructure.
According to the STC Interest Group, “Purely technical solutions to cybersecurity are insufficient as they do not wholly account for the complex range of users and environments those solutions must address. Sociotechnical aspects of cybersecurity consider the human element that interacts with the technological for the creation, maintenance, and operation of cybersecurity.”
The STC Interest Group hosts a speaker series and a summer reading group—which regularly shares papers about sociotechnical cybersecurity. The speaker series secures experts in cybersecurity and sociotechnical research from around the country to talk with the group about security, technology, and artificial intelligence.
The STC Interest Group includes faculty, staff, and students from across UMD, including INFO, the Smith School of Business, School of Public Policy, the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), the Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL), the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS), the Maryland Global Initiative for Cybersecurity (MaGIC), the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM).
Members of the STC Interest Group also represent:
Booz Allen Hamilton
National Security Agency (NSA)
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Cyber Statecraft Initiative at the Atlantic Council
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
New Jersey Institute of Technology
UMBC School of Public Policy
James Madison University
University of Kent
Cornell Tech Digital Life Initiative
Institute for Security and Global Affairs, University of Leiden
Irvine School of Law
Visit the STC Interest Group website to subscribe for event updates or to inquire about joining the group.