Prof. Dr. Alena Naiakshina

Professor / Head of Chair

Address:

Ruhr University Bochum
Faculty of Computer Science
Developer Centered Security

Universitätsstr. 150
D-44801 Bochum

 

Room: MB 2.197
Telephone: +49 (0) 234 32-26400
Office Hours: By arrangement
E-Mail: alena.naiakshina@rub.de


As of October 2024, I am no longer affiliated with Ruhr University Bochum. I have now joined the University of Cologne.


I served as a Professor at Ruhr University Bochum from 2021 to 2024. Before that, I worked as a Researcher at the University of Bonn from 2017 to 2021. I earned my Dr. rer. nat. (equivalent to a PhD) from the University of Bonn in November 2020.


My research interests remain focused on the following areas:

  • Developer-centered Security: Exploring ways to equip developers with usable security tools to integrate secure practices in their workflow.
  • Usable Security and Privacy: Exploring security and privacy solutions that are intuitive and accessible, ensuring higher adoption and better user experiences.
  • Security Study Design: Exploring methodologies for conducting security studies with developers.
  • Human Factors in Security: Investigating how human behavior affects security practices and how security measures can be better aligned with human capabilities.
 

AWARDS

  • 🏆 Distinguished Paper Award: Let’s Hash: Helping Developers with Password Security –  A User Study (SOUPS’22)
  • 🏅 Finalist at the CAST/GI IT Security Dissertation Award (CAST/GI Promotionspreis IT-Sicherheit) 2022
  • 🏆 John Karat Usable Privacy and Security Student Research Award (SOUPS’21)
  • 🏅 Honorable Mention: “If you want, I can store the encrypted password”: A Password-Storage Field Study with Freelance Developers (CHI’19) 
 

ACADEMIC SERVICE

 

2024

  • Program Committee (PC) Member: USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX’25)
  • Program Committee (PC) Member: IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P’25)
  • Program Committee (PC) Member: Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS’24) 
  • Reviewer: ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security (TOPS) 2024, Privacy & Security subcommittee for CHI’24

 

2023

  • Associate Chair (AC): Privacy & Security subcommittee for CHI’24
  • Program Committee (PC) Member: IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P’24)
  • Program Committee (PC) Member: Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS’23) 
  • Program Committee (PC) Member: IEEE Secure Development conference (SecDev’23) 
  • Program Committee (PC) Member: European Symposium on Usable Security (EuroUSEC’23)
  • Reviewer: Journal of Cybersecurity 2023, ACM SIGCHI Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW’23)
 

2022

  • Associate Chair (AC): Privacy & Security subcommittee for CHI’23
  • Program Committee (PC) Member and Member of the 2022 Karat Award Committee: Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS’22)
  • Program Committee (PC) Member: IEEE Secure Development (SecDev’22) conference
  • Program Committee (PC) Member: European Symposium on Usable Security (EuroUSEC’22)
  • Program Committee (PC) Member and Session Chair: Symposium on Usable Security and Privacy (USEC’22) in conjunction with NDSS
  • Reviewer: Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM), Journal of Cybersecurity, IEEE Security & Privacy: Special Issue on Usable Security for Security Workers
 

2021

  • Associate Chair (AC): Privacy & Security subcommittee for CHI’22
  • Program Committee (PC) Member: SOUPS workshop WAY (Who Are You!? Adventures in Authentication)
  • Poster Jury Member: Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS)
 

2020

  • Associate Chair (AC): Privacy & Security subcommittee for CHI’21
  • Program Committee (PC) Member: SOUPS workshop WAY (Who Are You!? Adventures in Authentication)
  • Workshop Leader for the BSI & UKB: „Networked with Security: Digitization, Cybersecurity & Me – Healthcare Perspectives“
 
 

Teaching

 
 

PUBLICATIONS

Jan H. Klemmer, Stefan Albert Horstmann, Nikhil Patnaik, Cordelia Ludden, Cordell Burton Jr, Carson Powers, Fabio Massacci, Akond Rahman, Daniel Votipka, Heather Lipford, Awais Rashid, Alena Naiakshina, Sascha Fahl
In Proceedings of the 2024 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS 2024)

Defying the Odds: Solana’s Unexpected Resilience in Spite of the Security Challenges Faced by Developers 

Sebastien Andreina, Tobias Cloosters, Lucas Davi, Jens-Rene Giesen, Marco Gutfleisch, Ghassan Karame, Alena Naiakshina, Houda Naji
In Proceedings of the 2024 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS 2024)
 
Raphael Serafini, Stefan Albert Horstmann, Alena Naiakshina
USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX 2024)

ChatGPT-Resistant Screening Instrument for Identifying Non-Programmers
Raphael Serafini, Clemens Otto, Stefan Albert Horstmann, Alena Naiakshina
In Proceedings of the 46th International Conference on Software Engineering 2024 (ICSE 2024)

 

„Those things are written by lawyers, and programmers are reading that.“
Mapping the Communication Gap Between Software Developers and Privacy Experts

Stefan Albert Horstmann, Samuel Domiks, Marco Gutfleisch, Mindy Tran, Yasemin Acar, Veelasha Moonsamy, Alena Naiakshina
Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS 2024)


On the Recruitment of Company Developers for Security Studies: Results from a Qualitative Interview Study
Raphael Serafini, Marco Gutfleisch, Stefan Albert Horstmann, Alena Naiakshina
Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS 2023)

 

Let’s Hash: Helping Developers with Password Security

🏆 Distinguished Paper Award 
Lisa Geierhaas, Anna-Marie Ortloff, Matthew Smith, Alena Naiakshina
Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS 2022)


Testing Screener Questions for Software Developer Studies with Time Limits
Anastasia Danilova, Stefan Horstmann, Matthew Smith, Alena Naiakshina
International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2022)


Do you really code? Designing and Evaluating Screening Questions for Online Surveys with Programmers
Anastasia Danilova, Alena Naiakshina, Stefan Horstmann, Matthew Smith
In Proceedings of the 43rd International Conference on Software Engineering 2021 (ICSE 2021)


Code Reviewing as Methodology for Online Security Studies with Developers – A Case Study with Freelancers on Password Storage
Anastasia Danilova, Alena Naiakshina, Anna Rasgauski, Matthew Smith
Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS 2021)


On Conducting Security Developer Studies with CS Students: Examining a Password-Storage Study with CS Students, Freelancers, and Company Developers
Alena Naiakshina, Anastasia Danilova, Eva Gerlitz, Matthew Smith
In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2020)


One Size Does Not Fit All: A Grounded Theory and Online Survey Study of Developer Preferences for Security Warning Types
Anastasia Danilova, Alena Naiakshina, Matthew Smith
In Proceedings of the 42nd International Conference on Software Engineering 2020 (ICSE 2020)


Replication: On the Ecological Validity of Online Security Developer Studies: Exploring Deception in a Password-Storage Study with Freelancers
Anastasia Danilova, Alena Naiakshina, Johanna Deuter, Matthew Smith
Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS 2020)


If you want, I can store the encrypted password.” A Password-Storage Field Study with Freelance Developers 

🏅 Honorable Mention

Alena Naiakshina, Anastasia Danilova, Eva Gerlitz, Emanuel von Zezschwitz, Matthew Smith
In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2019)


“In Encryption We Don’t Trust: The Effect of End-To-End Encryption to the Masses on User Perception”
Sergej Dechand, Alena Naiakshina, Anastasia Danilova, Matthew Smith
IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy (Euro S&P 2019)


Deception Task Design in Developer Password Studies: Exploring a Student Sample

Alena Naiakshina, Anastasia Danilova, Christian Tiefenau, Matthew Smith
Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS 2018)


Why Do Developers Get Password Storage Wrong? A Qualitative Usability Study
Alena Naiakshina, Anastasia Danilova, Christian Tiefenau, Marco Herzog, Sergej Dechand, Matthew Smith
In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS 2017)


Obstacles to the Adoption of Secure Communication Tools
Ruba Abu-Salma, M. Angela Sasse, Joseph Bonneau, Anastasia Danilova, Alena Naiakshina, Matthew Smith
IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P 2017)