The International Cyber Security Center of Excellence (INCS-CoE), of which UMBC is a charter member, will hold an online seminar on Security Challenges for Immersive Technologies from 7:00 to 8:30 am EDT on Thursday, October 9 via Zoom. The seminar will consist of two talks. 

Enhancing Security and Privacy in Augmented Reality - Through the Lens of Eye Tracking, Bo Ji, Virginia Tech

Augmented Reality (AR) devices distinguish themselves from other mobile devices by providing an immersive and interactive experience. The ability of these devices to collect information presents challenges and opportunities to improve existing security and privacy techniques in this domain. In this talk, I will discuss how readily available eye-tracking sensor data can be used to improve existing methods for assuring security and protecting the privacy of those near the device. Our research has presented three new systems, BystandAR, ShouldAR, and GazePair, leveraging the user's eye gaze to improve security and privacy expectations in or with AR. As these devices grow in power and number, such solutions are necessary to prevent perception and privacy failures that hindered earlier devices. This work is presented in the hope that these solutions can improve and expedite the adoption of these powerful and useful AR devices.

Shaping the Metaverse: Policy engagement with immersive technologies in the UK, Jesus Martinez del Rincon, Queen's University Belfast

Queen's University Belfast completed a two-phase Metaverse technologies horizon scanning project in July 2023 and 2025. This talk will cover a summary of the most relevant findings and outcomes. In the first phase, we presented a broad landscaping report of UK interests and activities in related technical areas. Building on areas where the UK might benefit from the emerging Metaverse, the second phase, deepens the analysis in three main areas: a) interoperability standards: where we highlighted current metaverse standards development organisations and identified the strategic aims of such participation; b) privacy, security and regulations: investigating two complementary aspects: (1) the evolving regulatory and legal landscape related to data collection by metaverse service operators; (2) a thread analysis of the metaverse and a technical analysis of the privacy preserving technologies that could enable metaverse data platforms; c) a horizon-scanning of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and their application to the Metaverse.

Join the seminar via Zoom.