‘IT Fauna’ and ‘Crime Pays’: Using Critical Design to Envision Cyber Security Futures

The research presented is a collaboration between social scientists, designers and technologists that explored whether critical design could be used to envision cyber security futures. The research imperative was to examine the use of critical design as a way of imagining future or alternative scenarios of cyber security. We evaluated research methods that would encourage cyber security practitioners and policy makers to discuss and re-consider cyber security risk.

The research used critical design to produce speculative scenarios that would encourage a new way of thinking about cyber security risk. ‘Specimens of IT Fauna’ is a visualisation and celebration of our imaginary bestiary of software. ‘Crime Pays’ is a video installation that envisions a future where there is effectively a tax on online privacy.