Prof. M. Angela Sasse

"Designing systems that are secure and usable"

(Vortrag im Rahmen der "Distinguished Lecture Series" des "Max Planck Instituts für Software-Systeme")

The number of systems and services that people interact with has increased rapidly over the past 20 years. Most of those systems and services have security controls, but until recently, the usability of those mechanism was not considered. Research over the past 16 years has provided ample evidence that systems that are not usable are not secure, either, because users make mistakes or devise workarounds that create vulnerabilities. In this talk, I will present an overview of the most pressing problems, and what research on usable security (HCISec) has produced in response to this challenge. I will argue that past attempts have been focused on improving user interfaces to security mechanisms, but that delivering systems with usable and effective security controls requires an change in how we design and implement security in system and services. The talk will present examples of new approaches to requirements capture and system design, and new approaches to 'secure thinking' in organizations.

Bio: M. Angela Sasse is the Professor of Human-Centered Technology and Head of Information Security Research in the Department of Computer Science at University College London, UK. A usability researcher by training, she started investigating the causes and effects of usability issues with security mechanisms in 1996. In addition to studying specific mechanisms such as passwords, biometric, and access control, her research group has developed human centered frameworks that explain the role of security, privacy, identity and trust in human interactions with technology.
A list of project and publications can be found at Professor M. Angela Sasse