Working with cyber-physical analysts and research programmers to build networking and portal interfaces.
The Challenge
The Information Trust Institute is a cybersecurity research group within the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. ITI works hard to protect the nation's critical infrastructure, but it lacks internal tools that can help researchers carry out their daily tasks. This creates issues involving:
System organization
Visibility of system status
Information finding
The Process
In each of my design projects at ITI, I loosely follow the "Double Diamond" design thinking process. For me, I tend to circle back to the "Understand" phase of the process quite often, as I went into this internship with basic and elementary cybersecurity knowledge. As a result, I consult analysts and specialists on the projects regularly to gain clarity on goals, mechanisms, and feasibility of different features for the tools. I supplement this by reading up and studying networking materials to strengthen my knowledge base. I have even been inspired to take an introductory course called Intro to Risk & Cybersecurity this semester!
I also work iteratively on my designs, as it makes it easier to address possible system constraints. This involves working in steps: building an information architecture, drawing out possible designs, and finally recreating on Figma. This workflow repeats, as we come up with new use cases that will contribute to the efficacy of the tool when it is implemented.
The Solution
Due to the sensitive and confidential nature of the Information Trust Institute's work, I cannot speak at length about the specific solutions within my projects. If you have any specific questions, please feel free to reach out at taychan723@gmail.com
Key Takeaways
My experience as a Design Intern at the Information Trust Institute has exposed me to the diverse application of UI/UX in different fields. Going into this internship, I assumed that cybersecurity was an area limited to engineers. However, I learned that I can apply my skill sets to improve outcomes in this domain.
More importantly, I have gained a deeper understanding on significance of cybersecurity. Before this experience, I never realized the extent of disruption that threat actors can cause on a personal, organizational, and even national level. I will use this knowledge to better protect myself and those around me moving forward.
I got to visit one of Corn Belt Energy's substations during the summer to learn about how hackers can attack the power grid!