Security and Usability

Chapter Two. Why Do We Need It? How Do We Get It?

M. Angela Sasse and Ivan Flechais

SECURITY EXPERTS FREQUENTLY REFER TO PEOPLE AS “THE WEAKEST LINK IN THE CHAIN” OF SYSTEM SECURITY. Famed hacker Kevin Mitnick revealed that he hardly ever cracked a password, because it “was easier to dupe people into revealing it” by employing a range of social engineering techniques. Often, such failures are attributed to users’ carelessness and ignorance. However, more enlightened researchers have pointed out that current security tools are simply too complex for many users, and they have made efforts to improve user interfaces to security tools. In this chapter, we aim to broaden the current perspective, focusing on the usability of security tools (or products) and the process of designing secure systems for the real-world context (the panorama) in which they have to operate. Here we demonstrate how current human factors knowledge and user-centered design principles can help security designers produce security solutions that are effective in practice.

Introduction

The need for people to protect themselves and their assets is as old as humankind. Peoples’ physical safety and their possessions have always been at risk from deliberate attack or accidental damage. The increasing use of information technology means that individuals and organizations today have an ever-growing range of physical (equipment) and electronic (data) assets that are at risk. To meet the increasing demand for security, the IT ...