A Guide to Stakeholder Analysis for Cybersecurity Researchers

Stakeholder-based ethics analysis is now a formal requirement for submissions to top cybersecurity research venues. This requirement reflects a growing consensus that cybersecurity researchers must go beyond providing capabilities to anticipating and mitigating the potential harms thereof. However, many cybersecurity researchers may be uncertain about how to proceed in an ethics analysis. In this guide, we provide practical support for that requirement by enumerating stakeholder types and mapping them to common empirical research methods. We also offer worked examples to demonstrate how researchers can identify likely stakeholder exposures in real-world projects. Our goal is to help research teams meet new ethics mandates with confidence and clarity, not confusion.