Comments on: Usability of Security Administration http://usablesecurity.com/2005/07/08/security-administration/ Every system has a user. Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:43:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: Kosta Beznosov http://usablesecurity.com/2005/07/08/security-administration/#comment-110 Kosta Beznosov Fri, 08 Jul 2005 17:46:28 +0000 http://usablesecurity.com/2005/07/08/usability-of-security-administration/#comment-110 Slides from the panel are located at <a href="http://konstantin.beznosov.net/professional/works/shared/biblio_view.php?bibid=20&tab=home" rel="nofollow">here</a> Slides from the panel are located at here

]]> By: Richard M. Conlan http://usablesecurity.com/2005/07/08/security-administration/#comment-109 Richard M. Conlan Fri, 08 Jul 2005 15:07:10 +0000 http://usablesecurity.com/2005/07/08/usability-of-security-administration/#comment-109 One of my longstanding thoughts on this topic has been that end users require different abstractions than system administrators. For the most part this hasn't quite happened. Take personal firewalls. End users often find them hard to use, and in many cases will not use them because of the perceived complexity. Even Zone Alarm, which is supposedly a personal firewall designed for the end user, the outgoing prompts are opaque and confusing. Does the typical end user know that there is any association between "WINWORD.EXE" and Microsoft Word? It seems that most personal firewalls try to simplify what is going on by eliminating information rather than trying to come up with a meaningful way of presenting it. What are some thoughts on new ways of abstracting the functions of a personal firewall? What are some other examples of software where the abstractions are broken or too complex for the user at a fundamental level? One of my longstanding thoughts on this topic has been that end users require different abstractions than system administrators.

For the most part this hasn’t quite happened.

Take personal firewalls. End users often find them hard to use, and in many cases will not use them because of the perceived complexity. Even Zone Alarm, which is supposedly a personal firewall designed for the end user, the outgoing prompts are opaque and confusing. Does the typical end user know that there is any association between “WINWORD.EXE” and Microsoft Word? It seems that most personal firewalls try to simplify what is going on by eliminating information rather than trying to come up with a meaningful way of presenting it.

What are some thoughts on new ways of abstracting the functions of a personal firewall?

What are some other examples of software where the abstractions are broken or too complex for the user at a fundamental level?

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