By Lorrie Faith Cranor, Simson Garfinkel
First Edition
August 2005
Pages: 738
Series: Theory In Practice
ISBN 10: 0-596-00827-9 |
ISBN 13: 9780596008277
There is increasing agreement that we need to design secure computer systems that people can actually use, but less agreement about how to reach this goal. Destined to be the classic reference in this emerging field, Security & Usability collects 34 groundbreaking essays from leading security and human-computer interaction (HCI) researchers on authentication, privacy and anonymity, secure systems, commercialization, and much more. It is expected to start an avalanche of discussion, new ideas, and further advances in this important field.
Full Description
But there is a growing recognition that today's security problems can be solved only by addressing issues of usability and human factors. Increasingly, well-publicized security breaches are attributed to human errors that might have been prevented through more usable software. Indeed, the world's future cyber-security depends upon the deployment of security technology that can be broadly used by untrained computer users.
Still, many people believe there is an inherent tradeoff between computer security and usability. It's true that a computer without passwords is usable, but not very secure. A computer that makes you authenticate every five minutes with a password and a fresh drop of blood might be very secure, but nobody would use it. Clearly, people need computers, and if they can't use one that's secure, they'll use one that isn't. Unfortunately, unsecured systems aren't usable for long, either. They get hacked, compromised, and otherwise rendered useless.
There is increasing agreement that we need to design secure systems that people can actually use, but less agreement about how to reach this goal. Security & Usability is the first book-length work describing the current state of the art in this emerging field. Edited by security experts Dr. Lorrie Faith Cranor and Dr. Simson Garfinkel, and authored by cutting-edge security and human-computer interaction (HCI) researchers world-wide, this volume is expected to become both a classic reference and an inspiration for future research.
Security & Usability groups 34 essays into six parts:
- Realigning Usability and Security---with careful attention to user-centered design principles, security and usability can be synergistic.
- Authentication Mechanisms-- techniques for identifying and authenticating computer users.
- Secure Systems--how system software can deliver or destroy a secure user experience.
- Privacy and Anonymity Systems--methods for allowing people to control the release of personal information.
- Commercializing Usability: The Vendor Perspective--specific experiences of security and software vendors (e.g., IBM, Microsoft, Lotus, Firefox, and Zone Labs) in addressing usability.
- The Classics--groundbreaking papers that sparked the field of security and usability.
This book is expected to start an avalanche of discussion, new ideas, and further advances in this important field.
Cover | Table of Contents | Colophon
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Media reviews
"The discussions presented in this book need to be discussed, even debated, if advances in the field are going to occur. And this debate should not be limited to the IT security community. This is because security is everyone's responsibility...I consider this book to be a "must read" for the information security, application development, system administration, and IT audit communities. "
-- Christopher Byrne, The Business Controls Caddy
"The six major parts of the book all have their enlightening moments, whether discussing authentication mechanisms or privacy and anonymity. Throughout, conventional wisdom is challenged in refreshing ways...Security and Usability is highly readable, intelligible, and intelligent. IT professionals will find it to be a helpful resource and an effective reminder of how user impact needs to be factored into computer security decisions, procedures, and systems."
-- Mayer Nudell, CSC, Security Management
"Editors Lorrie Faith Cranor and Simson Garfinkel, have done an outstanding job of writing a practical book that will help you realize the need for increased security usability in your systems...This most excellent book discusses case studies of usable secure system design, along with the latest thinking about how to approach this problem. More importantly, the content of this book will give developers important insights that will lead to successful designs."
-- John Vacca, "Tech Write Independent Reviewer", Amazon.com
