Eric Spero

About

I study how people understand and navigate cybersecurity, and how principled design of user interfaces and tools can better support them. My work takes a cognitive science perspective, with a particular focus on mental models, and is grounded in empirical user studies and statistical analysis.

I also teach a postgraduate course on Usable Security & Privacy, where students engage with foundational research and design their own studies.

Featured Publications

Full list on Google Scholar

- Language as Lure: A Naturalistic Study on Pasifika Phishing Susceptibility
- Eric Spero, Isa Seow, Lucas Betts, Eddie Fuatimau, Robert Biddle, Danielle Lottridge, Giovanni Russello
- USENIX Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, USENIX, 2025
- PDF Slides
- Site Inspector: Improving Browser Communication of Website Security Information
- Eric Spero, Robert Biddle
- ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security, ACM, 2025
- PDF Firefox Add-on GitHub
- What is Beautiful is Secure
- Milica Stojmenović, Eric Spero, Miloš Stojmenović, Robert Biddle
- ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security, ACM, 2022
- PDF
- Out of Sight, Out of Mind: UI Design and the Inhibition of Mental Models of Security
- Eric Spero, Robert Biddle
- New Security Paradigms Workshop, ACM, 2020
- PDF