Hi there! I am a human-computer interaction (HCI) researcher specializing in usable privacy and security. As privacy and security technologies become more advanced, users often passively accept protective measures without fully understanding or verifying them. I believe user autonomy is essential for managing privacy and security in todayโ€™s complex cyberspace, with technology serving primarily as a supportive tool. My research advances this principle by designing evidence-based interactive interventions, such as educational video games, explanatory visualizations, and AI assistants. These digital tools empower users to better protect themselves and make informed decisions about managing their personal information. My research has been published in leading venues including ACM CHI, IEEE S&P, and Information Sciences.

I am a postdoc in the Computer Science Department at Virginia Tech, working with Prof. Yaxing Yao. I am fortunate to have worked as a postdoc at HKUST VIS Lab, following my Ph.D. in computer science from Cornell University (2021). Before that, I recieved my joint first-class honours bachelor degrees in computer science from University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, U.K. and BUCT, Beijing, China.

๐Ÿ”ฅ News

๐Ÿ“ Selected Publications

S&P'25
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Supporting Family Discussions About Digital Privacy Through Perspective-Taking: An Empirical Investigation in the proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P), 2025.

Authors: Zikai Wen, Lanjing Liu, Yaxing Yao

Highlights: We present on the results of a structured activity promoting perspective-taking in privacy discussions with 13 parent-child dyads. We identified key communication challenges and addressed these challenges through scaffolded, moderated conversations between parents and children, to help families treat privacy as a spectrum and something that is context-dependent.

ISCI Journal
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The Influence of Explanation Designs on User Understanding Differential Privacy and Making Data-Sharing Decision in Information Sciences, Sep. 2023.

Authors: Zikai Alex Wen, Jingyu Jia, Hongyang Yan, Yaxing Yao, Zheli Liu, Changyu Dong

Highlights: Our explanatory illustration design simplifies the understanding of differential privacy protection of numerical data. A survey of 228 people shows visual illustration outperformed text-based explanation in understanding differential privacy. Learning about privacy-enhancing technology does not necessarily increase the willingness to share data.

CHI'19
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What.Hack: Engaging Anti-Phishing Training Through a Role-Playing Phishing Simulation Game in the proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2019.

Authors: Zikai Alex Wen, Zhiqiu Lin, Rowena Chen, Erik Andersen

Highlights: People being phished is due in part to insufficient and tiresome user training in cybersecurity. we designed the game What.Hack, which not only teaches phishing concepts but also simulates actual phishing attacks in a role-playing game to encourage the player to practice defending themselves.

Pointer: Game

๐Ÿ“– Full Publications

Symbol * indicates that I am the (co-)corresponding author. My current citation status is:

Venue Title Author(s) Theme(s)
S&Pโ€™25 Supporting Family Discussions About Digital Privacy Through Perspective-Taking: An Empirical Investigation Zikai Wen, Lanjing Liu, Yaxing Yao Privacy, EdTech
ISCI Journal DPGazeSynth: Enhancing Eye-Tracking Virtual Reality Privacy With Differentially Private Data Synthesis Xiaojun Ren, Jiluan Fan, Ning Xu, Shaowei Wang, Changyu Dong, Zikai Wen* Privacy
VLDBโ€™24 Privacy Amplification via Shuffling: Unified, Simplified, and Tightened Shaowei Wang, Yun Peng, Jin Li, Zikai Wen, Zhipeng Li, Shiyu Yu, Di Wang, Wei Yang Privacy
AIS&Pโ€™23 Email Reading Behavior-Informed Machine Learning Model to Predict Phishing Susceptibility Ning Xu, Jiluan Fan, Zikai Wen* Security
ISCI Journal The Influence of Explanation Designs on User Understanding Differential Privacy and Making Data-Sharing Decision Zikai Alex Wen, Jingyu Jia, Hongyang Yan, Yaxing Yao, Zheli Liu, Changyu Dong Privacy
CHI Play EAโ€™22 CollectiAR: Computer Vision-Based Word Hunt for Children with Dyslexia Danlu Fei, Ze Gao, Linping Yuan, Zikai Alex Wen* EdTech, Gaming
IEEE GEMโ€™22 What Features Influence Impact Feel? A Study of Impact Feedback in Action Games Zhonghao Lin, Haihan Duan, Zikai Alex Wen, Wei Cai Gaming
IEEE GEMโ€™22 Understanding the Challenges of Team-Based Live Streaming for First-Person Shooter Games Jiaye Li, Minghao Li, Zikai Alex Wen, Wei Cai Gaming
ASSETS EAโ€™21 An Intelligent Math E-Tutoring System for Students with Specific Learning Disabilities Zikai Alex Wen, Yuhang Zhao, Erica Silverstein, Shiri Azenkot EdTech, Gaming
ASSETSโ€™20 Teacher Views of Math E-Learning Tools for Students with Specific Learning Disabilities Zikai Alex Wen, Erica O Silverstein, Yuhang Zhao, Anjelika Lynne S Amog, Katherine Garnett, Shiri Azenkot EdTech
ASSETS EAโ€™19 Teacher Perspectives on Math E-Learning Tools for Students with Specific Learning Disabilities Zikai Alex Wen, Anjelika Lynne S Amog, Shiri Azenkot, Katherine Garnett EdTech
CHIโ€™19 What.Hack: Engaging Anti-Phishing Training Through a Role-Playing Cyber Defense Simulation Game Zikai Alex Wen, Zhiqiu Lin, Rowena Chen, Erik Andersen Security, EdTech
CHI EAโ€™17 What.Hack: Learn Phishing Email Defence the Fun Way Zikai Alex Wen*, Yiming Li, Reid Wade, Jeffrey Huang, Amy Wang Security, EdTech
S&Pโ€™16 Hawk: The Blockchain Model of Cryptography and Privacy-Preserving Smart Contracts Ahmed Kosba, Andrew Miller, Elaine Shi, Zikai Wen, Charalampos Papamanthou Privacy
SACโ€™14 Efficient Protocols for Private Record Linkage Zikai Wen, Changyu Dong Privacy
CCSโ€™13 When Private Set Intersection Meets Big Data: an Efficient and Scalable Protocol Changyu Dong, Liqun Chen, Zikai Wen Privacy

๐ŸŽ– Awards and Grants

๐ŸŽฎ Fun Stuff

LD#36
Tori Tori Panic

Tori Tori Panic at Ludum Dare #36

Team: Jeff Huang, Yiming Li, Changxu Lu, Zikai Alex Wen

About: A stealthy archery game made in 72 hours for the "Ancient Technology" theme. Sneak around, take aim, and quietly shoot unsuspecting birds with pixel-perfect precision. Just donโ€™t let them catch you.