Beyond the office

Presentation overview

As the boundaries of the traditional workplace dissolve, so too do the limitations on how employees interact with sensitive organisational data. While remote work offers unprecedented flexibility, it also introduces new security challenges. Our research delves into the complex interplay between personal and organisational security, revealing how remote workers often adopt unofficial security practices—known as shadow security—to mitigate perceived risks.

In this presentation, we will share findings from our qualitative research study on security behaviours in remote work settings. We will present a novel model that describes how remote workers assess the alignment between their personal security and the organisational security model—defined as the rules and tools organisations use to enforce secure behaviour. This model highlights the factors driving compliance, non-compliance, and shadow security behaviours. We will explore the implications of our findings for remote work security and discuss strategies to build a security culture that empowers remote workers while safeguarding organisational assets

Biography

Sarah Alromaih is a doctoral candidate at the department of Computer Science, University of Oxford. Before beginning her studies at Oxford, Sarah worked as a researcher at the Cyber Security Institute at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia, where she played an active role in initiatives aimed at advancing research and collaboration in computer science. She holds both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Computer Science, graduating with honours. Her expertise spans diverse areas within the field, including usable security, data analytics, and human-cantered computing.