CHORUS Lab

Carleton's Human Oriented Research in Usable Security Lab

 

Leah Zhang-Kennedy

About

I recently completed my Ph.D. in Computer Science at Carleton University under the supervision of Dr. Sonia Chiasson. My Ph.D. thesis titled “Multimedia Approaches for Improving Children’s Privacy and Security Knowledge and Persuading Behaviour Change” identified research gaps in privacy education, and found existing children’s mental models of online privacy to inform the design and development of two privacy and security multimedia educational tools for children (7-11). Evaluations of the tools showed that they were effective for improving children’s knowledge retention and promoting privacy-conscious behaviour.

My research and interests are in the areas of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Interaction Design, and Usable Privacy and Security. I am currently collaborating with members of the CHORUS Lab on various research projects.

Previously, I obtained a M.A.Sc. in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) from Carleton University, and a B.Des. from the York University/Sheridan College joint program in design. I have four years of industry experience as a designer, obtained prior to graduate school.

Sample design/research projects:

Cyberheroes: An Interactive Ebook to Educate Children about Online Privacy.

View at: http://www.versipass.com/edusec/cyberheroes

Secure Comics: A Comics Approach for Improving Cyber Security and Privacy.

View at: http://www.versipass.com/edusec/securecomics

Publications

Articles
  • [DOI] Matthew Hull, Leah Zhang-Kennedy, Khadija Baig, and Sonia Chiasson. [Journal Article] Understanding Individual Differences: Factors Affecting Secure Computer Behaviour. Behaviour & Information Technology (TBIT), 2021.
    [PDF] [Bibtex] 
    @article{hull2021-behaviourfactors-tbit,
title={[Journal Article] Understanding Individual Differences: Factors Affecting Secure Computer Behaviour},
author={Matthew Hull AND Leah Zhang-Kennedy AND Khadija Baig AND Sonia Chiasson},
journal={Behaviour \& Information Technology (TBIT)},
volume={},
number={},
pages={},
year={2021},
publisher={Taylor \& Francis},
doi={10.1080/0144929X.2021.1977849},
note = {Articles}
}

  • [DOI] Leah Zhang-Kennedy and Sonia Chiasson. [Journal Article] A Systematic Review of Multimedia Tools for Cybersecurity Awareness and Education. ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR), 54(1):1–39, 2021.
    [PDF] [Bibtex] 
    @article{zhang-kennedy2021-eductools-csur,
title={[Journal Article] A Systematic Review of Multimedia Tools for Cybersecurity Awareness and Education},
author={Zhang-Kennedy, Leah and Chiasson, Sonia},
journal={ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR)},
volume={54},
number={1},
pages={1--39},
year={2021},
publisher={ACM New York, NY, USA},
doi={10.1145/3427920},
note = {Articles}
}

  • [DOI] Leah Zhang-Kennedy, Yomna Abdelaziz, and Sonia Chiasson. [Journal Article] Cyberheroes: The Design and Evaluation of an Interactive Ebook to Educate Children about Online Privacy. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, Elsevier, 2017.
    [PDF] [Bibtex] 
    @article{zhang-kennedy2017cyberheroes-ijcci,
title = {[Journal Article] Cyberheroes: The Design and Evaluation of an Interactive Ebook to Educate Children about Online Privacy},
journal = {International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, Elsevier},
pages = {},
year = {2017},
author = {Leah Zhang-Kennedy AND Yomna Abdelaziz AND Sonia Chiasson},
doi={10.1016/j.ijcci.2017.05.001},
url={https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcci.2017.05.001},
note = {Articles}
}

  • [DOI] Leah Zhang-Kennedy, Sonia Chiasson, and Robert Biddle. [Journal Article] The Role of Instructional Design in Persuasion: A Comics Approach for Improving Cyber Security. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction (IJHCI), 32:215–257, 2016.
    [PDF] [Bibtex] 
    @ARTICLE{zhang-kennedy2016comics-ijhci,
author = {Zhang-Kennedy, Leah and Chiasson, Sonia and Biddle, Robert},
title = {[Journal Article] The Role of Instructional Design in Persuasion: A Comics Approach for Improving Cyber Security},
journal = {International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction ({IJHCI})},
year = {2016},
volume = {32},
pages = {215--257},
issue = {3},
note = {Articles},
doi = {10.1080/10447318.2016.1136177},
url = {http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10447318.2016.1136177},
publisher = {Taylor \& Francis}
}

Conference Papers
  • Leah Zhang-Kennedy and Sonia Chiasson. [Paper]`Whether it’s moral is a whole other story’: Consumer perspectives on privacy regulations and corporate data practices. In Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS). USENIX Association 2021.
    [PDF] [Bibtex] 
    @inproceedings {zhang-kennedy2021moral-corporate-privacy-soups,
author = {Leah Zhang-Kennedy AND Sonia Chiasson},
title = {[Paper]`Whether it's moral is a whole other story': Consumer perspectives on privacy regulations and corporate data practices},
booktitle = {Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security ({SOUPS})},
year = {2021},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/conference/soups2021/presentation/zhang-kennedy},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
note = {Conference Papers}
}

  • Leah Zhang-Kennedy, Hala Assal, Jessica Rocheleau, Reham Mohamed, Khadija Baig, and Sonia Chiasson. [Paper] The aftermath of a crypto-ransomware attack at a large academic institution. In USENIX Security 2018.
    [PDF] [Bibtex] 
    @INPROCEEDINGS{zhang-kennedy2018ransomware-usenixsec,
author = {Leah Zhang-Kennedy AND Hala Assal AND Jessica Rocheleau AND Reham Mohamed AND Khadija Baig AND Sonia Chiasson},
title = {[Paper] The aftermath of a crypto-ransomware attack at a large academic institution},
booktitle = {USENIX Security},
year = {2018},
url={https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity18/presentation/zhang-kennedy},
note = {Conference Papers}
}

  • Leah Zhang-Kennedy, Khadija Baig, and Sonia Chiasson. [Paper] Comics as Persuasion for Children’s Online Privacy Education. In British HCI 2017.
    [PDF] [Bibtex] 
    @INPROCEEDINGS{zhang-kennedy2017childrencomics-bhci,
author = {Leah Zhang-Kennedy AND Khadija Baig AND Sonia Chiasson},
title = {[Paper] Comics as Persuasion for Children's Online Privacy Education},
booktitle = {British HCI},
year = {2017},
note = {Conference Papers}
}

  • Leah Zhang-Kennedy, Christine Mekhail, Yomna Abdelaziz, and Sonia Chiasson. [Paper] From Nosy Little Brothers to Stranger-Danger: Children and Parents’ Perception of Mobile Threats. In Interaction Design and Children (IDC). ACM, 2016.
    [PDF] [Bibtex] 
    @INPROCEEDINGS{zhang-kennedy2016-kidsmobile-idc,
author = {Leah Zhang-Kennedy AND Christine Mekhail AND Yomna Abdelaziz AND Sonia Chiasson},
title = {[Paper] From Nosy Little Brothers to Stranger-Danger: Children and Parents’ Perception of Mobile Threats},
booktitle = {Interaction Design and Children ({IDC})},
year = {2016},
note = {Conference Papers},
organization = {ACM}
}

  • Leah Zhang-Kennedy, Elias Fares, Sonia Chiasson, and Robert Biddle. [Paper] The Effects of Interactivity on Information Visualization about Internet Phishing Trends. In APWG eCrime. IEEE, 2016.
    [PDF] [Bibtex] 
    @INPROCEEDINGS{zhang-kennedy2016phishingvis-ecrime,
author = {Leah Zhang-Kennedy AND Elias Fares AND Sonia Chiasson AND Robert Biddle},
title = {[Paper] The Effects of Interactivity on Information Visualization about Internet Phishing Trends},
booktitle = {{APWG} e{C}rime},
year = {2016},
note = {Conference Papers},
organization = {IEEE}
}

  • Leah Zhang-Kennedy, Sonia Chiasson, and P. C. van Oorschot. [Paper] Revisiting Password Rules: Facilitating Human Management of Passwords. In APWG eCrime. IEEE, 2016.
    [PDF] [Bibtex] 
    @INPROCEEDINGS{zhang-kennedy2016pwdrules-ecrime,
author = {Leah Zhang-Kennedy AND Sonia Chiasson AND P. C. van Oorschot},
title = {[Paper] Revisiting Password Rules: Facilitating Human Management of Passwords},
booktitle = {{APWG} e{C}rime},
year = {2016},
note = {Conference Papers},
organization = {IEEE}
}

  • Leah Zhang-Kennedy, Sonia Chiasson, and Robert Biddle. [Paper] Stop clicking on `update later’: Persuading users they need up-to-date antivirus protection. In International Conference on Persuasive Technology (PERSUASIVE), page 302–322. Springer LNCS, 2014.
    [PDF] [Bibtex] 
    @INPROCEEDINGS{zhang-kennedy2014stopclicking-persuasive,
author = {Zhang-Kennedy, Leah and Chiasson, Sonia and Biddle, Robert},
title = {[Paper] Stop clicking on `update later': Persuading users they need
up-to-date antivirus protection},
booktitle = {International Conference on Persuasive Technology (PERSUASIVE)},
year = {2014},
pages = {302--322},
organization = {Springer LNCS},
note = {Conference Papers}
}

  • Leah Zhang-Kennedy, Sonia Chiasson, and Robert Biddle. [Paper] Password advice shouldn’t be boring: Visualizing password guessing attacks. In Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) eCrime Researchers Summit, page 1–11. IEEE, 2013.
    [PDF] [Bibtex] 
    @INPROCEEDINGS{zhang2013password,
author = {Zhang-Kennedy, Leah and Chiasson, Sonia and Biddle, Robert},
title = {[Paper] Password advice shouldn't be boring: Visualizing password
guessing attacks},
booktitle = {Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) eCrime Researchers Summit},
year = {2013},
pages = {1--11},
organization = {IEEE},
note = {Conference Papers}
}

Extended Abstracts and Workshop Papers
  • Leah Zhang-Kennedy and Sonia Chiasson. [Extended Abstract] Teaching with an Interactive E-book to Improve Children’s Online Privacy Knowledge. In Interaction Design and Children (IDC). {ACM}, 2016.
    [PDF] [Bibtex] 
    @INPROCEEDINGS{zhang-kennedy2016-cyberheroes-idc,
author = {Leah Zhang-Kennedy AND Sonia Chiasson},
title = {[Extended Abstract] Teaching with an Interactive E-book to Improve Children’s Online Privacy Knowledge},
booktitle = {Interaction Design and Children ({IDC})},
year = {2016},
note = {Extended Abstracts and Workshop Papers},
organization = {{ACM}}
}

  • Leah Zhang-Kennedy and Sonia Chiasson. [Workshop paper] Improving Children’s Mobile Privacy Awareness and Behaviour. SOUPS Workshop on Inclusive Privacy and Security (WIPS), 2015.
    [Bibtex] 
    @MISC{zhang-kennedy2015childrenprivacy-wips,
author = {Leah Zhang-Kennedy AND Sonia Chiasson},
title = {[Workshop paper] Improving Children's Mobile Privacy Awareness and Behaviour},
howpublished = {SOUPS Workshop on Inclusive Privacy and Security (WIPS)},
year = {2015},
note = {Extended Abstracts and Workshop Papers}
}

  • Leah Zhang-Kennedy, Elias Fares, Sonia Chiasson, and Robert Biddle. [Extended Abstract] Geo-Phisher: The design of a global phishing trend visualization. Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS), 2015.
    [PDF] [Bibtex] 
    @MISC{zhang-kennedy2015geophisher-soups,
author = {Leah Zhang-Kennedy AND Elias Fares AND Sonia Chiasson AND Robert Biddle},
title = {[Extended Abstract] Geo-Phisher: The design of a global phishing trend visualization},
howpublished = {Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS)},
year = {2015},
note = {Extended Abstracts and Workshop Papers}
}

  • Christine Mekhail, Leah Zhang-Kennedy, and Sonia Chiasson. [Extended abstract] Visualizations to Teach about Mobile Online Privacy. In International Conference on Persuasive Technology (PERSUASIVE), page 43–47 2014.
    [PDF] [Bibtex] 
    @INPROCEEDINGS{mekhail2014visualizations-persuasive,
author = {Mekhail, Christine and Zhang-Kennedy, Leah and Chiasson, Sonia},
title = {[Extended abstract] Visualizations to Teach about Mobile Online Privacy},
booktitle = {International Conference on Persuasive Technology (PERSUASIVE)},
year = {2014},
pages = {43--47},
note = {Extended Abstracts and Workshop Papers}
}

  • Leah Zhang-Kennedy, Sonia Chiasson, and Robert Biddle. [Workshop paper] Interactive Comics as Visual Narratives in Computer Security Education. GRAND NCE Annual Conference, 2013.
    [Bibtex] 
    @MISC{zhang-kennedy2013comics-grand,
author = {Leah Zhang-Kennedy AND Sonia Chiasson AND Robert Biddle},
title = {[Workshop paper] Interactive Comics as Visual Narratives in Computer
Security Education},
howpublished = {GRAND NCE Annual Conference},
year = {2013},
note = {Extended Abstracts and Workshop Papers}
}

Posters and Others
  • Leah Zhang-Kennedy, Christine Mekhail, and Sonia Chiasson. [Poster] Visualizations to teach about mobile online privacy. GRAND NCE Annual Conference, 2014.
    [Bibtex] 
    @MISC{zhang-kennedy2014privacy-grand,
author = {Leah Zhang-Kennedy AND Christine Mekhail AND Sonia Chiasson},
title = {[Poster] Visualizations to teach about mobile online privacy},
howpublished = {GRAND NCE Annual Conference},
year = {2014},
note = {Posters and Others}
}

  • Leah Zhang-Kennedy, Sonia Chiasson, and Robert Biddle. [Poster] Interactive comics to teach about computer security. GRAND NCE Annual Conference, 2013.
    [Bibtex] 
    @MISC{zhang-kennedy2013comics-grand,
author = {Leah Zhang-Kennedy AND Sonia Chiasson AND Robert Biddle},
title = {[Poster] Interactive comics to teach about computer security},
howpublished = {GRAND NCE Annual Conference},
year = {2013},
note = {Posters and Others}
}

  • Leah Zhang, Sonia Chiasson, and Robert Biddle. [Poster] Teaching about Password Guessing Attacks Through Visualizations. GRAND NCE Annual Conference, 2012.
    [Bibtex] 
    @MISC{zhang2012guessing-grand,
author = {Leah Zhang AND Sonia Chiasson AND Robert Biddle},
title = {[Poster] Teaching about Password Guessing Attacks Through Visualizations},
howpublished = {GRAND NCE Annual Conference},
year = {2012},
note = {Posters and Others}
}

Technical Reports
  • Leah Zhang-Kennedy and Sonia Chiasson. [Tech report] Using Comics to Teach Users About Mobile Online Privacy. Technical Report TR-14-02, School of Computer Science, Carleton University, 2014.
    [PDF] [Bibtex] 
    @TECHREPORT{zhang-kennedy2014mobile-tr,
author = {Zhang-Kennedy, Leah and Chiasson, Sonia},
title = {[Tech report] Using Comics to Teach Users About Mobile Online Privacy},
institution = {School of Computer Science, Carleton University},
year = {2014},
number = {TR-14-02},
note = {Technical Reports}
}

Theses
  • Leah Zhang-Kennedy. [Thesis] Multimedia Approaches for Improving Children’s Privacy and Security Knowledge and Persuading Behaviour Change. PhD thesis, School of Computer Science, Carleton University, 2017.
    [PDF] [Bibtex] 
    @PHDTHESIS{zhang-kennedy2017thesis-carleton,
author = {Leah Zhang-Kennedy},
title = {[Thesis] Multimedia Approaches for Improving Children’s Privacy and Security Knowledge and Persuading Behaviour Change},
school = {School of Computer Science, Carleton University},
year = {2017},
note = {Theses}
}

  • Leah Zhang-Kennedy. [Thesis] Improving mental models of computer security through information visualization. Master’s thesis, Human Computer Interaction, Carleton University, 2013.
    [PDF] [Bibtex] 
    @MASTERSTHESIS{zhang-kennedy2013thesis-carleton,
author = {Leah Zhang-Kennedy},
title = {[Thesis] Improving mental models of computer security through information
visualization},
school = {Human Computer Interaction, Carleton University},
year = {2013},
note = {Theses}
}