In search of usable security: Five lessons from the field

Different lessons learned while building usable, secure systems are discussed and were learned by contrasting two different versions of a public key infrastructure (PKI)-based secure wireless network. New devices to the network using location-limited channels are also described. It is pointed that a gestural user interface lets users intuitively express their application needs while simultaneously supporting strong security. One of the learned lessons is that small application-specific PKIs can give us all the benefits of public-key cryptography without the drawback of a global PKIs nonexistence. It is suggested that the designing of the systems that are simultaneously usable and secure should be stressed.