Conference & Journal Paper
SoK: A Framework for Unifying At-Risk User Research
Noel Warford, Tara Matthews, Kaitlyn Yang, Omer Akgul, Sunny Consolvo, Patrick Gage Kelley, Nathan Malkin, Michelle L. Mazurek, Manya Sleeper, Kurt Thomas
Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P '22), San Francisco, CA, 2344–2360, 2022
May 2022
Part ofAt-Risk Users →
Abstract
At-risk users are people who experience risk factors that augment or amplify their chances of being digitally attacked and/or suffering disproportionate harms. In this systematization work, we present a framework for reasoning about at-risk users based on a wide-ranging meta-analysis of 95 papers. Across the varied populations that we examined (e.g., children, activists, people with disabilities), we identified 10 unifying contextual risk factors—such as marginalization and access to a sensitive resource—that augment or amplify digital-safety risks and their resulting harms. We also identified technical and non-technical practices that at-risk users adopt to attempt to protect themselves from digital-safety risks. We use this framework to discuss barriers that limit at-risk users' ability or willingness to take protective actions. We believe that researchers and technology creators can use our framework to identify and shape research investments to benefit at-risk users, and to guide technology design to better support at-risk users.
- at-risk users
- research methods
- sok
- synthesis
Cite this paper
@misc{warford2022sok,
title = {SoK: A Framework for Unifying At-Risk User Research},
author = {Warford, Noel and Matthews, Tara and Yang, Kaitlyn and Akgul, Omer and Consolvo, Sunny and Kelley, Patrick Gage and Malkin, Nathan and Mazurek, Michelle L. and Sleeper, Manya and Thomas, Kurt},
year = {2022},
eprint = {2112.07047},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.07047},
}