Cybersecurely Ever After: The cybersecurity of fairy tales (and more)

Show, don’t tell” has become the literary commandment for any writer. It applies to all forms of fiction, and to non-fiction, including scientific writing, where it lies at the heart of many scientific communication and storytelling approaches. In this talk, I will discuss how “show and tell” is actually often the best approach when one wants to present, teach or explain complicated ideas such as those underlying notions and results in mathematics and science, and in particular in cybersecurity. I will discuss how different kinds of artworks can be used to explain cybersecurity and I will illustrate how telling (i.e., explaining notions in a formal, technical way) can be paired with showing through different forms of storytelling. As concrete examples, I will discuss how Fairy Tales such as Cinderella, popular films and TV series, including Peppa Pig, can be used to explain cybersecurity notions in such a way that they can be understood by non-experts. This talk covers research that I have described in my four papers "Explaining Cybersecurity Using Films and the Arts”, "Don’t Tell Me The Cybersecurity Moon Is Shining… (Cybersecurity Show and Tell)”, "Nicolas Cage is the Center of the Cybersecurity Universe”, and “The Cybersecurity of Fairy Tales". I will also present some results that are still unpublished about experiments that we have carried out to understand the quantitative and qualitative impact of films and other popular artworks.
Speaker Bio
Luca Viganò is Professor at the Department of Informatics of King's College London, UK, where he heads the Cybersecurity Group. His research focuses on formal analysis of cybersecurity and privacy, and on explainable cybersecurity, where, in addition to more formal approaches, he has been investigating how fairy tales, films and other kinds of artworks can be used to explain cybersecurity and how telling (i.e., explaining notions in a formal, technical way) can be paired with showing through different forms of storytelling.
Luca is also a playwright and screenwriter. His works have been published and produced in Italy, the UK and Russia. His first short film in English, “The First”, explores a future scenario where the rights of sentient beings clash with freedom, identity and ethical judgment.
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