Security And Usability

Human factors and usability issues have traditionally played a limited role in security research and secure systems development. Security experts have largely ignored usability issues--both because they often failed to recognize the importance of human factors and because they lacked the expertise to address them. 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-computerinteraction (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.

The Psychology of Information Security – Resolving conflicts between security compliance and human behaviour considers information security from the seemingly opposing viewpoints of security professionals and end users to find the balance between security and productivity. It provides recommendations on aligning a security programme with wider organisational objectives, successfully managing change and improving security culture‎.

If you’re involved in cybersecurity as a software developer, forensic investigator, or network administrator, this practical guide shows you how to apply the scientific method when assessing techniques for protecting your information systems. You’ll learn how to conduct scientific experiments on everyday tools and procedures, whether you’re evaluating corporate security systems, testing your own security product, or looking for bugs in a mobile game. Once author Josiah Dykstra gets you up to speed on the scientific method, he helps you focus on standalone, domain-specific topics, such as cryptography, malware analysis, and system security engineering. The latter chapters include practical case studies that demonstrate how to use available tools to conduct domain-specific scientific experiments. Learn the steps necessary to conduct scientific experiments in cybersecurity Explore fuzzing to test how your software handles various inputs Measure the performance of the Snort intrusion detection system Locate malicious “needles in a haystack” in your network and IT environment Evaluate cryptography design and application in IoT products Conduct an experiment to identify relationships between similar malware binaries Understand system-level security requirements for enterprise networks and web services

There has been roughly 15 years of research into approaches for aligning research in Human Computer Interaction with computer Security, more colloquially known as ``usable security.'' Although usability and security were once thought to be inherently antagonistic, today there is wide consensus that systems that are not usable will inevitably suffer security failures when they are deployed into the real world. Only by simultaneously addressing both usability and security concerns will we be able to build systems that are truly secure. This book presents the historical context of the work to date on usable security and privacy, creates a taxonomy for organizing that work, outlines current research objectives, presents lessons learned, and makes suggestions for future research.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the 20th International Workshop on Security Protocols, held in Cambridge, UK, in April 2012. Following the tradition of this workshop series, each paper war revised by the authors to incorporate ideas from the workshop, and is followed in these proceedings by an edited transcription of the presentation and ensuing discussion. The volume contains 14 papers with their transcriptions as well as an introduction, i.e. 29 contributions in total. The theme of the workshop was "Bringing protocols to life".

Advanced Communications and Multimedia Security presents a state-of-the-art review of current perspectives as well as the latest developments in the area of communications and multimedia security. It examines requirements, issues and solutions pertinent to securing information networks, and identifies future security-related research challenges. A wide spectrum of topics is discussed, including: -Applied cryptography; -Biometry; -Communication systems security; -Applications security; Mobile security; -Distributed systems security; -Digital watermarking and digital signatures. This volume comprises the proceedings of the sixth Joint Working Conference on Communications and Multimedia Security (CMS'02), which was sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) and held in September 2002 in Portoroz, Slovenia. It constitutes essential reading for information security specialists, researchers and professionals working in the area of computer science and communication systems.

In 2000, Jakob Nielsen, the world’s leading expert on Web usability, published a book that changed how people think about the Web— Designing Web Usability (New Riders). Many applauded. A few jeered. But everyone listened. The best-selling usability guru is back and has revisited his classic guide, joined forces with Web usability consultant Hoa Loranger, and created an updated companion book that covers the essential changes to the Web and usability today. Prioritizing Web Usability is the guide for anyone who wants to take their Web site(s) to next level and make usability a priority! Through the authors’ wisdom, experience, and hundreds of real-world user tests and contemporary Web site critiques, you’ll learn about site design, user experience and usability testing, navigation and search capabilities, old guidelines and prioritizing usability issues, page design and layout, content design, and more!