Universal design for website authentication:views and experiences of senior citizens

Using digital devices and online products and services requires users to regularly authenticate themselves. Given that the vast majority of websites use passwords to authenticate users, this study focuses on the accessibility and inclusivity of this mechanism, using Universal Design Principles as a lens. Collecting and analysing autobiographical narrative data from 50 respondents, we use a qualitative approach to explore the views and experiences of senior citizens across various phases of website authentication. Our analysis uncovers barriers and challenges, leading to several undesirable consequences, when authentication is not accessible and inclusive. Our findings also show how users, many of whom have cognitive and other age-related infirmities which are seldom accommodated in authentication design, try to cope with these issues. Our findings show how authentication may fail to align with the principles of universal design and highlight considerations in making authentication more accessible and inclusive for all users

Usable Security. A Systematic Literature Review

Usable security involves designing security measures that accommodate users’ needs and behaviors. Balancing usability and security poses challenges: the more secure the systems, the less usable they will be. On the contrary, more usable systems will be less secure. Numerous studies have addressed this balance. These studies, spanning psychology and computer science/engineering, contribute diverse perspectives, necessitating a systematic review to understand strategies and findings in this area. This systematic literature review examined articles on usable security from 2005 to 2022. A total of 55 research studies were selected after evaluation. The studies have been broadly categorized into four main clusters, each addressing different aspects: (1) usability of authentication methods, (2) helping security developers improve usability, (3) design strategies for influencing user security behavior, and (4) formal models for usable security evaluation. Based on this review, we report that the field’s current state reveals a certain immaturity, with studies tending toward system comparisons rather than establishing robust design guidelines based on a thorough analysis of user behavior. A common theoretical and methodological background is one of the main areas for improvement in this area of research. Moreover, the absence of requirements for Usable security in almost all development contexts greatly discourages implementing good practices since the earlier stages of development

Selected Computing Research Papers Volume 1 June 2012

An Evaluation of Anti-phishing Solutions (Arinze Bona Umeaku) ..................................... 1 A Detailed Analysis of Current Biometric Research Aimed at Improving Online Authentication Systems (Daniel Brown) .............................................................................. 7 An Evaluation of Current Intrusion Detection Systems Research (Gavin Alexander Burns) .................................................................................................... 13 An Analysis of Current Research on Quantum Key Distribution (Mark Lorraine) ............ 19 A Critical Review of Current Distributed Denial of Service Prevention Methodologies (Paul Mains) ............................................................................................... 29 An Evaluation of Current Computing Methodologies Aimed at Improving the Prevention of SQL Injection Attacks in Web Based Applications (Niall Marsh) .............. 39 An Evaluation of Proposals to Detect Cheating in Multiplayer Online Games (Bradley Peacock) ............................................................................................................... 45 An Empirical Study of Security Techniques Used In Online Banking (Rajinder D G Singh) .......................................................................................................... 51 A Critical Study on Proposed Firewall Implementation Methods in Modern Networks (Loghin Tivig) .................................................................................................... 5

The role of effort in security and privacy behaviours online

As more and more aspects of users’ lives go online, they can interact with each other, access services and purchase goods with unprecedented convenience and speed. However, this also means that users’ devices and data become more vulnerable to attacks. As security is often added to tools and services as an after-thought, it tends to be poorly integrated into the processes and part of the effort of securing is often offloaded onto the user. Users are goal-driven and they go online to get things done, protecting their security and privacy might therefore not be a priority. The six studies described in this dissertation examine the role of effort in users’ security and privacy behaviours online. First, two security studies use authentication diaries to examine the user effort required for authentication to organisational and online banking systems respectively. Second, two further studies are laboratory evaluations of proposed mechanisms for authentication and verification. Third, two privacy studies examine the role of effort in users’ information disclosure in webforms and evaluate a possible solution that could help users manage how much they disclose. All studies illustrate the different coping strategies users develop to manage their effort. They show that demanding too much effort can affect productivity, cause frustration and undermine the security these mechanisms were meant to offer. The work stresses the importance of conducting methodologically robust user evaluations of both proposed and deployed mechanisms in order to improve user satisfaction and their security and privacy

Implementation of Captcha as Graphical Passwords For Multi Security

To validate human users, passwords play a vital role in computer security. Graphical passwords offer more security than text-based passwords, this is due to the reason that the user replies on graphical passwords. Normal users choose regular or unforgettable passwords which can be easy to guess and are prone to Artificial Intelligence problems. Many harder to guess passwords involve more mathematical or computational complications. To counter these hard AI problems a new Captcha technology known as, Captcha as Graphical Password (CaRP), from a novel family of graphical password systems has been developed. CaRP is both a Captcha and graphical password scheme in one. CaRP mainly helps in hard AI problems and security issues like online guess attacks, relay attacks, and shoulder-surfing attacks if combined with dual view technologies. Pass-points, a new methodology from CaRP, addresses the image hotspot problem in graphical password systems which lead to weak passwords. CaRP also implements a combination of images or colors with text which generates session passwords, that helps in authentication because with session passwords every time a new password is generated and is used only once. To counter shoulder surfing, CaRP provides cheap security and usability and thus improves online security. CaRP is not a panacea; however, it gives protection and usability to some online applications for improving online security