Heidi Trost

Heidi Trost is a UX leader who helps cross-disciplinary teams improve the security user experience. With a background in UX research, Heidi does this by helping teams better understand the people they are designing for, as well as the security threats that may negatively impact people and systems. Heidi is also the host of the podcast Human-Centered Security, where she interviews security experts and people who design for the security user experience.

Heidi led the UX research team for cybersecurity software company Secureworks and has helped tech-focused teams at startups, nonprofits, and Fortune 500 companies rethink their digital experiences.

Presentations

UX Camp Winter 2025

Cybersecurity Needs Human-Centered Design: Find the Right People, Ask the Right Questions

If you design digital products, you are designing for the security user experience—even if you have never thought of it that way before. The design decisions you make influence the security (and privacy) choices users make and the actions they take. 

We live in an ecosystem where everything increasingly relies on the security of systems: from hospitals, to our water supply, to cars and robots. So the stakes are high: disruptions to these systems mean people can get hurt. Further, technology like AI agents—services that will know nearly everything about us and will take actions on our behalf—mean security and privacy are more important than ever.

As a UX designer, where do you come in? You understand your product better than your users ever will—including the potential security threats that directly impact your users. You are in a unique position to address those threats and protect your users from them. 

Expect to leave with confidence on how to apply human-centered design principles to security: human-centered security. You’ll know areas of the user experience where security impacts the most and have the tools to focus your efforts there (bonus: this is where your organization stands to gain—or lose—money). Finally you’ll learn how to find the right cross-disciplinary teammates and ask better security- and privacy-related questions so you can build products and systems that are secure by design. Not only that, you’ll have a human-centered security framework at your disposal: something you can leverage immediately.