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Prof. Dr. Alena Naiakshina

E-Mail: alena.naiakshina(at)uni-koeln.de
Tel: +49 221 470-90991

Universität zu Köln
Institut für Informatik
Gebäude 133, Raum 6.02
Weyertal 121
50931 Köln
Deutschland

Alena Naiakshina (PhD, 2020) is a Professor of IT Security at the University of Cologne, Germany. She was a Professor at Ruhr University Bochum from 2021 to 2024 and, prior to that, a researcher at the University of Bonn from 2017 to 2021, where she earned her Dr. rer. nat. (equivalent to a PhD) in November 2020. She received the John Karat Usable Privacy and Security Student Research Award in 2021 for her contributions. Her research focuses on developer-centered security, usable security and privacy, and security study design. She regularly serves on the program committees of leading international conferences in security, privacy, and human factors, including S&P, CCS, USENIX Security, CHI, and SOUPS.

Vita:

  • Full Professor for IT Security
    Institute of Computer Science, University of Cologne, Germany
    Since January 2026
  • Associate Professor for IT Security
    Institute of Computer Science, University of Cologne, Germany
    October 2024 - January 2026
  • Associate Professor for Developer-centered Security
    Faculty of Computer Science, Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), Germany
    April 2023 - September 2024
  • Assistant Professor for Developer-centered Security
    Faculty of Computer Science, Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), Germany
    November 2021 - April 2023
  • Post-doctoral researcher
    University of Bonn, Germany
    December 2020 - October 2021
  • Dr. rer. Nat. (equiv. PhD) with distinction
    University of Bonn, Germany
    November 2020
  • PhD student
    University of Bonn, Germany
    January 2017 - November 2020
  • Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Computer Science with distinction
    University of Bonn, Germany
    April 2014 - December 2016
  • Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Computer Science
    University of Bonn, Germany
    October 2010 - March 2014

My research interests are 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

  • Honorable Mention: Women Security Experts Are Not The Enemy: A Qualitative Study on Gender-Related Communication Challenges (CHI’25)
  • Honorable Mention: Exploring the Impact of Intervention Methods on Developers’ Security Behavior in a Manipulated ChatGPT Study (CHI’25)
  • 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) 

Press & Media

Academic Service

2026

  • Program Committee (PC) Member: ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS 2026) 

2025

  • Program Committee (PC) Member: ACM ASIA Conference on Computer and Communications Security (ACM ASIACCS 2026)

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“
     

Publications: