Bluetooth security analysis of general and intimate health IoT devices and apps: the case of FemTech

Authors: Stephen Cook (RHUL), Maryam Mehrnezhad (RHUL), Ehsan Toreini (University of Surrey) We are pleased to announce that we have published a new paper in the Springer International Journal of Information Security. Link to open-access full paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10207-024-00883-3 The adoption of commercial digital health technologies is increasing faster than ever with its global market share … Read more

CyberMi2 Research Day 2024

by Maryam Mehrnezhad On 24 May 2024, we had a successful second CyberMi2 Research Day, which was dedicated to Inclusive Cybersecurity and Privacy for marginalised users. Please visit here. It was a pleasure to partner with Research Institute for Sociotechnical Cyber Security (RISCS) and AGENCY Research. CyberMi2’24 included a series of talks on topics such … Read more

Tech Back Your Bits!

by Maryam Mehrnezhad On Saturday, 13 July 2024, some members of the AGENCY Research team presented some of our work on gender and cybersecurity, online privacy, safety and trust in AI/ML and digital health and medical technologies. This event (Tech Back Your Bits!) was organised by bleepDigital (https://www.bleepdigital.org/), hosted by Vagina Museum in London. The … Read more

AGENCY team members participate in the FCA Financial Inclusion TechSprint

On the 30th of May, 5 of our AGENCY team took part in the Demo Day to conclude the FCA Financial Inclusion TechSprint in Glasgow. The TechSprint ran from 7th March to 30th May 2024. This initiative was aimed at leveraging technological solutions to foster financial inclusion, a critical step towards a more equitable financial … Read more

Research exposes security, privacy and safety issues in FemTech

the team at the cyfer exhibition

Researchers are calling for regulatory action after research has highlighted security and privacy concerns in female-oriented technologies (FemTech) such as period-tracker mobile apps and fertility and menopause smart and connected devices used beyond health and medical clinics. Experts at Royal Holloway University of London, Newcastle University, and ETH Zurich have identified significant security, privacy, and … Read more

On the Security and Privacy of Visual Impairments and Assistive Technologies

On the Security and Privacy of Visual Impairments and Assistive Technologies

Read the full paper on ACM Transactions for Accessible Computing: Invisible, Unreadable, and Inaudible Cookie Notices: An Evaluation of Cookie Notices for Users with Visual Impairments According to the Office of National Statistics in 2020, almost 11 million adults with disabilities recently used the Internet in the UK [1]. Visual impairment is a term used … Read more

AGENCY responds to govenment call for evidence on LLM

AGENCY is pleased to provide written evidence to the House of Lords Communications and Digital Select Committee’s inquiry on large language models (LLM). This response builds upon our engagement with the UK Government’s White Paper AI Regulation: A Pro-Innovation Approach. This call for evidence on the future of LLM and regulation aligns with the AGENCY … Read more

AGENCY visits CyFer

the team at the cyfer exhibition

Led by Dr Maryam Mehrnezhad (Co-Investigator on AGENCY), the Cyber Security, Privacy, Bias and Trust in FemTech (CyFer) project has explored current and potential cyber threats to women through their growing use of female-oriented technologies.   Women sharing their intimate and personal data through the use of innovative technology opens up new possibilities with the potential … Read more

2023: Blog Post: Challenges of Extracting Data from Social Media: The Case of Women’s Health Misinformation

Author: Dr Adrian Bermudez-Villalva (adriano.bermudezvillalva@rhul.ac.uk)  In the field of cybersecurity research, gathering data from social media platforms has become an essential task for understanding various trends, behaviours, and patterns on the internet. However, when it comes to sensitive and intimate topics such as women’s health and misinformation, researchers face a multitude of challenges in extracting … Read more

Reimagining AI Governance

Reimagining AI Governance

A Response by AGENCY to the UK Government’s White Paper AI Regulation: A Pro-Innovation Approach. Abstract: On March 29, 2023, the UK Government released a white paper outlining its plans to implement a pro-innovation approach to Artificial Intelligence (AI) regulation and strengthen the UK’s position as a global leader in AI. As part of the … Read more