AGENCY Research

In recognition of International Women's Day, we would like to share 10 Top Tips to protect your online privacy and security when using FemTech. FemTech includes menopause management mobile apps, and IoT-enabled fertility and period trackers. *** Your FemTech Shield: 10 Top Tips *** ***Dos***? 1. Do research before using any FemTech app or device e.g., a period tracker: Check reviews, look for reputable sources, and read the privacy policy carefully. Check if these products are developed with input from experts. 2. Do prioritize technologies with clear and transparent privacy policies: Look for transparent and robust security and privacy plans and measures to protect your reproductive health information such as fertility data. 3. Do be mindful of the information you share about yourself and others (baby, partner, family): Avoid sharing overly personal details. Your data could be used against you in legal proceedings, particularly in places with limited reproductive rights. 4. Do regularly review and adjust your privacy settings and limit app access to health and fitness data: Understand what data is being collected on your device and control who has access. 5. Do practice your GDPR rights e.g., right to be forgotten: When uninstalling an app, consider contacting the company to remove your data (account, personal, health/medical/sexual) from all servers. ***Don’ts*** 1. Don't share your FemTech account credentials with anyone, not even friends or family: Protect your privacy and maintain control by keeping your account username and password strictly confidential. 2. Don't rely solely on FemTech apps for critical health decisions: Consult with healthcare professionals for accurate diagnoses and treatment plans, e.g., in case of infertility or menopause experiences. 3. Don't share intimate content within FemTech platforms without understanding the security and privacy measures: These images and videos could be leaked or misused, causing significant emotional distress. 4. Don't connect your FemTech app to other apps or devices without reviewing data sharing agreements: This could expose your sensitive data to a wider range of risks e.g., third party tracking and profiling. 5. Don't ignore red flags related to data security or privacy breaches: If you receive notifications of suspicious activity or data breaches, take immediate action to protect your account and report to the app developer and relevant authorities. This is brought to you by our experts at the Usable Security and Privacy (USP) Lab at Information Security Group - Royal Holloway, University of London. At Royal Holloway, University of London, we work on interdisciplinary projects such as AGENCY Research to empower citizens to use modern technologies without risk and fear. Please share this list with your network.

In recognition of International Women's Day, we would like to share 10 Top Tips to protect your online privacy and security when using FemTech. FemTech includes menopause management mobile apps, and IoT-enabled fertility and period trackers. *** Your FemTech Shield: 10 Top Tips *** ***Dos***? 1. Do research before using any FemTech app or device e.g., a period tracker: Check reviews, look for reputable sources, and read the privacy policy carefully. Check if these products are developed with input from experts. 2. Do prioritize technologies with clear and transparent privacy policies: Look for transparent and robust security and privacy plans and measures to protect your reproductive health information such as fertility data. 3. Do be mindful of the information you share about yourself and others (baby, partner, family): Avoid sharing overly personal details. Your data could be used against you in legal proceedings, particularly in places with limited reproductive rights. 4. Do regularly review and adjust your privacy settings and limit app access to health and fitness data: Understand what data is being collected on your device and control who has access. 5. Do practice your GDPR rights e.g., right to be forgotten: When uninstalling an app, consider contacting the company to remove your data (account, personal, health/medical/sexual) from all servers. ***Don’ts*** 1. Don't share your FemTech account credentials with anyone, not even friends or family: Protect your privacy and maintain control by keeping your account username and password strictly confidential. 2. Don't rely solely on FemTech apps for critical health decisions: Consult with healthcare professionals for accurate diagnoses and treatment plans, e.g., in case of infertility or menopause experiences. 3. Don't share intimate content within FemTech platforms without understanding the security and privacy measures: These images and videos could be leaked or misused, causing significant emotional distress. 4. Don't connect your FemTech app to other apps or devices without reviewing data sharing agreements: This could expose your sensitive data to a wider range of risks e.g., third party tracking and profiling. 5. Don't ignore red flags related to data security or privacy breaches: If you receive notifications of suspicious activity or data breaches, take immediate action to protect your account and report to the app developer and relevant authorities. This is brought to you by our experts at the Usable Security and Privacy (USP) Lab at Information Security Group - Royal Holloway, University of London. At Royal Holloway, University of London, we work on interdisciplinary projects such as AGENCY Research to empower citizens to use modern technologies without risk and fear. Please share this list with your network.

A memorable day at Coram Fields yesterday with my wonderful collaborators — Viana Zhang (Open Lab - Newcastle University) & Jan Forshaw & Justina Horne (Coram Life Education) for the EPSRC AGENCY research project, also with Vasilis Vlachokyriakos and Harriet Gill, and supported by Alan Ramsay's talented team at Roots and Wings CIC. We interviewed leading voices, policy makers, educators and advocates taking action on how UK children interact with online media — following recent roundtables with kids, parents, and youth workers across the UK. ?? Hugely grateful to our interviewees who collectively emphasised how families and schools can get more involved now to understand better - with kids - the features of these internet-enabled devices and how (sometimes inappropriate and harmful) online media 'arrives' with them, also recognising the grown-ups' responsibility to prove the safety of these features rather than deal with what cannot be unseen by children and the developmental and social impacts on them. Through taking this action to protect from risk of online harm - which we now arguably have enough evidence of, we can also focus more what exciting and positive opportunities are opened up by these devices as tools for exploration, creativity, learning and relationship-building. Our interviews took place on the eve of the new Safer Phones Bill being debated in Parliament today - spotlighting continuing concerns about include what the age of consent should be for children to share their data online, smartphone use in schools, and the responsibility of tech companies around kids’ consumption of addictive media online.

Privacy Quest: Level Up Your Data Privacy? Dive into the world of Privacy Quest, an arcade game that makes understanding data privacy interactive, fun, and empowering! Part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science, this unique experience allows you to test your decisions in real-world scenarios involving data collection and see how they align with GDPR protections. What is Privacy Quest? Developed by the AGENCY project researchers Rebecca Owens and Maxim Kolomeets from Newcastle University, and David Lam from the University of Birmingham, Privacy Quest is designed to demystify how your personal data is collected and used. Through our game, you'll uncover the impact of your choices on your privacy and gain valuable insights into your rights under GDPR. Why Play? Play & Learn: Make choices and learn how they affect your data privacy. Free & Fun: A dynamic experience for anyone aged 16 and above. Shape the Future: Your gameplay contributes to cutting-edge research on public perspectives about data privacy. Event Details ?? Newcastle City Library: 33 New Bridge St W, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8AX ?? Throughout the Month of November ?? Free for All FIND OUT MORE AT: https://privacy-quest.uk/ #ESRC #privacyquest #festivalofsocialscience

Presented our work @EMNLP-24 Evidence Retrieval for Fact Verification using Multi-stage Reranking Shrikant Malviya and Stamos Katsigiannis https://lnkd.in/eDxXVCpt #FEVEROUS #EMNLP24

Presented our work @EMNLP-24 Evidence Retrieval for Fact Verification using Multi-stage Reranking Shrikant Malviya and Stamos Katsigiannis https://lnkd.in/eDxXVCpt #FEVEROUS #EMNLP24

??TWO papers accepted in a day— A testament to the growing momentum of our research on energy digitalisation with the focus on cybersecurity and data privacy! ?? Paper 1 “Cyber Threats to Green Hydrogen Production within a Solar Microgrid” accepted in International Conference on Security for Information Technology and Communications (SecITC 2024), is the output our HI-ACT project. This research evaluates the impact of cyber-attacks on the economic performance of green hydrogen production, with a particular focus on how altering relay settings can disrupt electricity flow, leading to inefficient energy management and financial losses. Paper 2 “Exploring Federated Learning for Energy Consumption Forecasting in Smart Homes” accepted in IEEE Conference on Energy Internet and Energy System Integration (IEEE EI2 2024), is the output of our AGENCY Research project. This research explores the application of Federated Learning (FL) as a decentralised approach to energy consumption prediction, which preserves privacy by keeping data localised while aggregating learning parameters across households. ?? Grateful for the hard work of everyone involved. Stay tuned for more updates from us. ?? Mehmet Bozdal, David Lam, Han Wu, Aad van Moorsel, HI-ACT, AGENCY Research, UoB School of Computer Science, Birmingham Energy Institute

I am very pleased to announce that we have another doctor in the team now ?? Scott Harper has passed his viva successfully today at Newcastle University. The title of Scott's PhD project is "On The Security and Privacy of Animal Technologies", supervised by me and Matthew Leach (Director of the CBC) from the School of School of Natural and Environmental Sciences. His PhD was supported by the EPSRC. His examiners were Nishanth S. Sastry (external) from the University of Surrey, Mujeeb Ahmed (internal) and Dr Geoff Abbott acted as an independent chair. During this exciting interdisciplinary project, Scott published the following papers:? 1- "Security and privacy of pet technologies: actual risks vs user perception."?Frontiers in The Internet of Things?2 (2023): 1281464. https://lnkd.in/gMvEUkPT 2- "Security and Privacy Concerns of Pet Tech Users."?Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on the Internet of Things. 2022. https://lnkd.in/gMySFvD8 3- "Are our animals leaking information about us? security and privacy evaluation of animal-related apps."?2022 IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy Workshops (EuroS&PW). IEEE, 2022. https://lnkd.in/gjBfFu2k where the third paper was extensively featured in the international news, as you can see here:?https://lnkd.in/eh5gPm8g Scott's last PhD chapter was designing a sensor-based secure system for pairing IoT devices used on animals (e.g., in farms or pets). Scott is now a Research Assistant for the?UKRI PCO AGENCY AGENCY Research?project at the University of Surrey, working on the security of smart homes and devices.

Congratulations to Maryam Mehrnezhad from Royal Holloway, University of London for winning the Tech Academic of the Year Award! Maryam's dedication to advancing the field of technology through her academic work and education has had a profound and lasting impact. Her commitment to raising awareness and promoting the adoption of innovative technologies is truly inspiring. Her efforts to support and develop women and underrepresented groups in STEM have helped to create a more inclusive and equitable academic environment. We are honoured to recognise Maryam's outstanding achievements and celebrate her contributions to the field of technology. #WITUKAwards