Designing Usable Security

 

 

 

Designing Usable Security

Description: The goal of this seminar is to (1) understand usable security challenges based on user studies from scientific literature, (2) identify the design space based on these studies and (3) propose potential design approaches for user-friendly security and privacy technology.

In the first part of the seminar, we will focus on user studies published at top tier conferences to identify a design space for new usable security and privacy technology. The second part of the seminar will be focused on design methods from human computer interaction. We will search for relevant papers on design methods and discuss their applicability to security, and, in particular, the problems we identified in the first part of the seminar. You will also write a seminar paper on a usable security challenge of your choice consisting of a literature review of user studies and design methods, and your own reasoning about potential solutions. The goal of this seminar is to use interdisciplinary methods to understand and address hard usable security problems. You will be encouraged to be creative and think outside the box to find innovative and unconventional solutions.

Requirements: Foundations of Cybersecurity I and II, Usable Security (Advanced Lecture)

Important Dates (Presence is mandatory):

• 5 Nov 19 - Topic selection based on 3-5 scientific papers
• 19 Nov 19 - Design approaches from Industrial Design/UX/HCI
• 10 Dec 19 - Intermediate feedback, final presentations
• 14 Jan 20 - Final presentations
• 21 Jan 20 - Final presentations
• 28 Jan 20 - Final paper due

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How do I get a grade?

You will be graded based on the seminar paper (to be submitted via CMS no later than 28 Jan 20) and your final presentation. An important criteria is the originality of your work. I strongly encourage you to think outside the box and discuss creative, controversial, disruptive design ideas in your paper. Your presentation should spark interesting and fruitful discussions in class. Don't be afraid of disagreement but make sure to justify your conclusions and reasoning.

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What do I have to do until 5 Nov?

Choose one of the four topics presented during the kick-off:

• Privacy in the Internet of Things
• Privacy and security for underrepresented populations
• Usable security for experts, e.g., developers and administrators
• Usable encryption

Consider the recent editions of the most important venues for usable security papers and read (or briefly skim) 3-5 papers on the topic of your choice. Prepare arguments to describe the design space based on these papers. You do not have to prepare slides, just bring the papers and freely talk about the their findings and your reasoning on the design space.

Please consider at least three papers from the following conferences:

• Usenix SOUPS
• ACM CHI
• Usenix Security
• ACM CCS
• IEEE S&P
• NDSS

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What do I have to do until 19 Nov?

Revise the Slides on Design Methods from the Usable Security Lecture. Spend additional 30-60 minutes (depending on your previous knowledge on design methods) researching the Internet on design methods from Industrial Design or UX. Hint: ACM CHI has design papers that could also be a fruitful source. You are encouraged to use the discussion forum of this seminar to point others to interesting sources.

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Instructions for final presentations (14 Jan, 26 Jan)

Your presentation should be 10 minutes long and about a third of the time should be dedicated to elaborating the design space. In the remaining two thirds you should talk about suitable design approaches. Please note that we will be very strict with time limits, so you must stay within the 10 minutes to finish your presentation.

Please also use this chance to work on your presentation skills. Remember that this is a safe space where you can also try out something new! Consider an "unusual", more creative introduction to the topic. Think about different ways of visualizing content. You do not have to prepare slides, but you can if you want. I am looking forward to some exciting discussions.

Presentation schedule:

14.1.20	21.1.20
Jonas	Sravni
Abhilash	Jannis
Vinay	Rishab
Sridar	Simon
Suraksha	Olli
	Philipp

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Instructions to write your seminar paper (until 28th of January 2020)

For the seminar paper, please remember that your paper will be graded based on its content and not based on its length. Please make sure to be precise when framing the design space. What *exactly* is the usable security challenge that you want to address? Why is this particular challenge important? What is beyond the scope and not considered in your report?

When reasoning about design approaches that could be suitable to address your selected challenge, please provide enough information for the reader to understand the design method. When discussing the method and its applicability, always make sure to justify and critically reflect.

Please use the SOUPS conference proceedings LaTex template (linked in the SOUPS 2020 Call for Papers https://www.usenix.org/conference/soups2019/call-for-papers). Your report should be between 5 and 10 pages long using this template, excluding references and appendices. Including reference and appendices, your paper should not be longer than 15 pages.

We are looking forward to reading your papers.