Department of Computer Science

Research Group Humans, Security and Privacy

We study how people experience and respond to digital deception and manipulation, and how technology can support informed decision-making and user autonomy.

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Building a resilient future

Our interdisciplinary research examines human resilience to deception and risk in digital environments. We study how people experience and respond to social engineering, misinformation, and other forms of online manipulation, and how technology can support more informed and autonomous decision-making.  

Our research interests are: 

  • Human experiences of digital deception, including social engineering, misinformation, and related online manipulation.
  • Design and evaluation of user-centered technologies that support critical judgment, informed choices, and user autonomy.
  • Behaviors in response to security technologies and interventions. 

Keywords: Human-centered security, Digital deception, Digital manipulation, HCI, Social engineering, Misinformation

Professorship Distler Group

Juho Alin

Master thesis researcher
Co-supervision with Sanna Suoranta; Misinformation

Vitor Horodynski

Master thesis researcher
Misinformation

Ira Laihanen

Master thesis researcher
Cybersecurity education
 Xiaowei Chen

Xiaowei Chen

External Doctoral Researcher (Co-Supervision)
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Work with us

If you are interested to write a Master thesis (Aalto students) with us, join us for a research visit, or would like to ask about PhD or postdoc opportunities, please reach out to Assistant Professor Verena Distler with the following information. Only requests including this information can be answered. 

  1. Your study transcript incl. grades and scale; 

  2. CV

  3. Short motivation incl. the research questions that interest you, and how they connect with the group's work specifically (see publications below). 


     

Latest publications

Too Many Zombies : Exploring Challenges and Motivations for (Not) Deleting Unused Online Accounts

Franziska Bumiller, Sarah Delgado Rodriguez, Lukas Mecke, Verena Distler, Florian Alt 2026 CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Beyond Deterrence: A Systematic Review of the Role of Autonomous Motivation in Organizational Security Behavior Studies

Xiaowei Chen, Lorin Schöni, Verena Distler, Verena Zimmermann 2025 CHI '25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Empowering Parents to Support Children's Online Security and Privacy : Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial

Xiaowei Chen, Verena Distler, Chloe Gordon, Yaxing Yao, Ziwen Teuber 2025 CCS 2025 - Proceedings of the 2025 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security

Public Security User Interfaces Supporting Spontaneous Engagement with IT Security

Doruntina Murtezaj, Viktorija Paneva, Verena Distler, Florian Alt 2025 NSPW '24: Proceedings of the New Security Paradigms Workshop

What Makes Phishing Simulation Campaigns (Un)Acceptable? A Vignette Experiment on the Acceptance and Manipulation Intention Related to Phishing Simulation Campaigns

Jasmin Schwab, Alexander Nussbaum, Anastasia Sergeeva, Florian Alt, Verena Distler 2025 NDSS Symposium on Usable Security and Privacy (USEC)

Vishing: Detecting social engineering in spoken communication — A first survey & urgent roadmap to address an emerging societal challenge

Andreas Triantafyllopoulos, Anika A. Spiesberger, Iosif Tsangko, Xin Jing, Verena Distler, Felix Dietz, Florian Alt, Björn W. Schuller 2025 Computer Speech and Language

Defining and Fortifying Against Cognitive Vulnerabilities in Social Engineering

Yomna Abdelrahman, Florian Alt, Tilman Dingler, Christopher Hadnagy, Abbie Maroño, Verena Distler 2024 Dagstuhl Reports

The Effects of Group Discussion and Role-playing Training on Self-efficacy, Support-seeking, and Reporting Phishing Emails : Evidence from a Mixed-design Experiment

Xiaowei Chen, Margault Sacre, Gabriele Lenzini, Samuel Greiff, Verena Distler, Anastasia Sergeeva 2024 CHI 2024 - Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
More information on our research in the Aalto research portal.
Research portal
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