The unseen cybersecurity consequences of real-life traumas such as serious illness diagnoses and relationship breakdowns are the focus of the project, named Adaptive PETs to Protect & emPower People during Life Transitions (AP4L). It will develop new technologies and offer advice to policymakers to help protect the online identities of people going through life-changing events, which can also include coming out as LGBTQ+ or leaving employment in the Armed Forces.
The multi-partner project, led by the University of Surrey, will begin its work on 1 April 2022.
Gareth Tyson, Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London and one of the project authors said: "For entirely understandable reasons, people going through life-changing moments can sometimes forget about online privacy and how it might open them up to harassment or other extremely unpleasant experiences.
"Through this work we want to develop the right tools and technology to give these people the protection, comfort, and peace of mind they deserve. We are aiming to make online protection and privacy as straightforward and secure as possible in these difficult periods of their lives."
Professor Nishanth Sastry, Principal Investigator of AP4L from the University of Surrey, said: "A common refrain I hear when people talk about online security is that their lives are boring and therefore there is nothing that can be exploited. I am afraid, in my experience, that is simply not true; the majority of us have a vast amount of personal data that, in the wrong hands, could be dangerous if circumstances change.
