TeSSA²
Usability of Computer Security

Ursula Holmström, Kristiina Karvonen

Introduction

How can you be sure that the Internet-based services you use are safe, secure, and private? Well, the bad news is you can' t. The Internet was not designed with security in mind, and stories of its untrustworthiness have almost become "urban legends". Yet more and more people are learning to use Internet for information retrieval, communication and leisure time activities. Now they would like to widen the scope of their use of the Internet, to use it to take care of more private businesses also, such as paying bills from their bank account, for example. But the Internet does not seem to be secure enough for this kind of services to be used through it. People do not trust the web. This is why usability becomes such a central issue when considering the security of the Internet. There is a huge mess of misunderstandings and confusion related to the users' ideas about the security and privacy of the Internet. Because of this, it is not enough to make the system safer and more secure and private - this also has to be communicated to the users in some way. This sets great demands on the user interface design: it has to enhance the users' willingness to use also the more private services that the Internet provides and make the users believe that they actually can trust the Internet.

Goals and outlines

The goal of the usability subproject is to find out and analyse the key factors behind users' comprehension of the Internet and computer security, privacy and trustworthiness. On basis of conducted user studies, a user-centered security model will be developed. The usability studies will be designed and conducted in close contact with the HST subproject.

Reports and results

• HFT Paper (UH)
• Literature study (KK)
• User Analysis (KK)
• Summary of user interfaces (UH)
• Design Concepts (UH, KK)
• Technology review (UH)
• Usability Testplan (KK)
• Test Results, in the Nordsec Paper (KK)
• Ethical questions: PhDIT'99 (KK)

Links

• Security & Usability >>

This page is maintained by Ursula Holmström, Email: ursula@tcm.hut.fi, and Kristiina Karvonen, Email: karvonen@tcm.hut.fi
Last modified: Wed 19 16:51:01 EEST 2000
URL: http://www.tcm.hut.fi/Research/TeSSA/Usability/