New article from the Algorithmic Societies group at Durham where theorize prompting as "a mutation in the exercise of political power, beyond the direct command and even the more indirect ‘action at a distance’ characteristic of liberal governmentality...." www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

On 12 November, we are delighted to welcome Siân John MBE to deliver the second Fred Piper Annual Information Security Lecture at @royalholloway.bsky.social. Registration is free but mandatory - follow the link below for more information and to sign-up. www.royalholloway.ac.uk/about-us/eve...

Phew! #CHI2026 paper submitted just in time 🎉💤

📰 Check out this new report funded by the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 'Securing Converged Technologies: Insights from Subject Matter Experts' Written by our own Dr @andrewdwyer.bsky.social and @mikaelabrough.bsky.social (CDT in Cyber Security) www.gov.uk/government/p...

📢 New blog piece from me - Prefiguring Responsibility: The Pall Mall Process and Cyber Intrusion Capabilities - for the Research Institute for Sociotechnical Cyber Security! riscs.org.uk/2025/08/12/p...

Funding bid submitted exploring some of the political economy of cyber power... fingers crossed as it's a potentially fantastic collaboration :D

Is anyone I know planning on attending the #AAG next year in San Fran? I'm mulling over what to do as I've been out of the geography conference circuit for a few years...

I'm delighted that with colleagues - Co-Is Lizzie Coles-Kemp and Danilo Francati - that we have been successful in the first SALIENT funding call with our project, "Fake in the Community"

A quote from me in @thetimes.com yesterday I was perhaps being somewhat provocative, but can a self-proclaimed technical authority (the UK NCSC) be also driving market and political change? www.thetimes.com/uk/technolog...

In the increasing discussion of 'agentic' AI, I thought about this back a few years ago with relation to computation, war and conflict... www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-...

After a very eventful and reflective #CHI2025, just found out that we have been successful in more funding to continue this work! What a great sweetener to end on!

In Japan to present our paper, Friend or Foe? Navigating and Re-configuring "Snipers’ Alley" at #CHI2025. This is my first time here, so if you wish to discuss 'critical' approaches to (cyber) security and privacy, please get in touch! dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1... programs.sigchi.org/chi/2025/pro...

Planning a conference as a lecturer is so different to a PhD... Oh the wilds of the PhD I miss you!

A little door refresh with some recent work!

Putting this back here because yes the deep border is everywhere, it certainly doesn’t respect “compartmentalized data” (are people really surprised that DOGE links data sources arbitrarily & violently?) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Sometimes academia can be a wild one - just been on @nickferrarilbc.bsky.social's LBC show to discuss the extraordinary leak of information on Signal on the Yemen strikes. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

Our #CHI2025 paper is now on arXiv! For those of you who wish to consider HCI and security from community-based perspective, where all actors in the 'digital by default' economy can be 'snipers' and ways of moving beyond threat models, this is for you! arxiv.org/abs/2503.16992

The Heathrow incident shows how important information - over cyber - security is for operational resilience. It’s about the whole ‘stack.’ I also think we need to reevaluate the UK flavour of ‘risk based’ governance that is consistently used to do the minimum investment possible. on.ft.com/4bMPRAl

📢 Our own @andrewdwyer.bsky.social gave evidence to the UK Parliament's Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (JCNSS) on offensive cyber - demonstrating the ISG's key work in providing expertise to policy in information and cyber security www.royalholloway.ac.uk/research-and...

we are recruiting a physical geography full professor - do contact @geodiverse.bsky.social if you need a bit of background to Oxford-University-ness (the role of the colleges here is, err, unique...). #geosky @oxfordgeography.bsky.social my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

Evergreen

So pleased to announce the launch event for the new @blavatnikschool.bsky.social at Oxford Tech and Cyber Policy Programme. The brilliant Richard Horne, head of the National Cyber Security Centre, will be speaking next Weds at 5pm. Sign up in person or online! 1/2 bit.ly/3D66x98

A good piece here on Salt and Volt Typhoon - and the limited utility of offensive cyber operations to deter. warontherocks.com/2025/02/a-ta...

Curious reporting in the NYT’s follow to @martinmatishak.bsky.social’s scoop about Hegseth’s stand-down order on Russian cyber operation planning (www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/u...) stating that US CYBERCOM’s covert operations against Russia are being run out of the United Kingdom.

Important piece from @alexmartin.bsky.social about the impact of the suspected Technical Capability Notice (TCN) from the UK against Apple's Advanced Data Protection system on the UK's responsible cyber power. I'm quoted about the potential for this position... 1/2 therecord.media/apple-uk-bac...

Students are using AI - from note taking, to explaining concepts, and writing and development. As much as AI will be useful what is learning without tension? That is, learning emerges during points of caesura - learning is not efficient information transfer www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Punchy FT editorial here about the UK’s move to limit E2E encryption - Encryption ‘back doors’ are a bad idea on.ft.com/436y1G9

This is noble idea from Jason Healey and colleagues; but questions of trust and legitimacy still are problematic, especially in the dominance of the ‘west’ and how the US simply is not seen as a reliable partner. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/a-mu...

I do hope that there are strong provisions to stop harassment of people through dropping warrants - I imagine some people could exploit the dropping of AirTags to use police presence as a harassment technique. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Interesting piece in @wonkhe.bsky.social on PGR supervision - and about CPD. This is something that I've found is often overlooked, and it's nice to see it recognised. wonkhe.com/blogs/resear...

First proper article in five years, due to life stuff. If you’re interested in work, automation, the future & imagination this may be of interest #geosky doi.org/10.1177/0263...

If there was ever an issue with extraterritorial jurisdiction, it is this case with Apple over its advanced data protection. I think it’s perfectly fair that Apple should remove its services to avoid an order 1/2 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Looks like a major Community Fibre outage, a London ISP…

📣 Friend or Foe? Navigating and Re-configuring "Snipers' Alley" A paper with Lizzie Coles-Kemp, Clara Crivellaro, & Claude Heath exploring how 'snipers' - including governments, service providers, and family/friends - are made in a constricted 1/2 #chi25 pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/en/publicati...

Great piece in the FT about senses of justice in the FT by @sarahoconnorft.ft.com, relating to work we’re doing in NE England on automated security, fraud, and senses of justice in what we term ‘snipers’ alley’ soon to be published. on.ft.com/410gtdg

Somewhat a 'nothing to see here' issue regarding the story of Starmer's email being compromised by Russia. This is not to be unexpected, and shows how politicians need additional protections and support. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

I'm currently editing a paper, and I just remembered a dream where an ex colleague said - "Ah, I knew it was your paper as there were too many split infinitives"... I think that shows my state of mind.

Beck's uninsurability thesis meets Piketty's inequality thesis www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Our new commentary in @bindinghook.bsky.social explores why ransomware has (in our view) largely been ignored by scholars of cyber conflict and offensive cyber operations. 1/

How do y’all cope with the incapacitating administrative loads in academia? #academicsky

Today has been one of those ‘Alice’ days where I can’t be on the computer for too long before triggering another episode… means exam prep has gone completely out of the window… www.bbc.com/future/artic...

This may be something I replicate for next year after just completing marking for my course last semester.

One really ought to be concerned about the errors in Apple Intelligence presentation of news. Because when even Cupertino cannot get it right, the roll your own LLMs being pushed across agencies & services for national security missions almost certainly aren’t going to be better.

I'm delighted that our paper that I am lead author on, "Friend or Foe? Navigating and Re-configuring "Snipers' Alley"" has been 'conditionally accepted' (albeit with no revisions!) at #CHI2025... just moving everything into the correct format now!

The digital landscape is 'shrouded', writes Gillian Youngs in her new book. This fits a long debate about how much digital communication is actually visible. We get excited by what we see, but how do we act upon the silent and the hidden - or even know about them? www.routledge.com/Feminist-Int...

Listening to the Today programme and read over the #ransomware payments ban (amongst other things) consultation in the UK. Think that Jamie McColl’s comments on specific sectors being avoided is an interesting one… www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

This will be going straight into my #IY5501 security management course next academic year!

I do wonder when we're going to see the funding for 'everyday' and embedded research on 'AI' securities like we did for 'fundamental' AI safety and security... If the UK Government wants to do this, then understanding how 'opportunity' manifests will be essential.

As far-fetched as it all seems in practical terms, the rhetorical normalization of the idea that the sovereignty of smaller countries is negotiable is going to have serious reverberations for both Ukraine and Taiwan