If you can't beat 'em, join 'em: combining text and visual interfaces for security-system administration

While computer security usability research has largely been focused on end user issues such as password authentication, browser transactions, and Email handling, the needs of system administrators (sysadmins) have been relatively ignored. The size and complexity of the services and issues that sysad...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Interactions (New York, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2007-01, Vol.14 (1), p.12-14
Main Authors:	Yurcik, William, Thompson, Ramona, Twidale, Michael, Rantanen, Esa
Format:	Magazinearticle
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Administration Automation Computer security Computer supported cooperative work Data encryption Decision making Design Interfaces Internet Network management systems Network security Security Software packages Systems management Usability Visualization
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	While computer security usability research has largely been focused on end user issues such as password authentication, browser transactions, and Email handling, the needs of system administrators (sysadmins) have been relatively ignored. The size and complexity of the services and issues that sysadmins manage continues to grow, involving yet more components and interdependencies between systems. In addition, sysadmins are responsible for a wide range of tasks requiring disparate skill sets ranging from installation and configuration to monitoring, patching, and debugging. While some system administration is automated, far more of the work involves manual intervention than many people assume. Sysadmins are still very much in the loop, especially during emergencies, and as we consider next, during hacking attacks. VisFlowConnect-IP was developed during 2003-2004 based on requirements gathered from security- system administrators. The tool design was successful as a research activity, generating several peer-reviewed papers, it has been packaged for point-and-click installation, results from pilot studies with targeted users are very encouraging, and we are spreading the word at conferences and via mailing lists. VisFlowConnect-IP answers the basic question: Who is connecting to whom on my network-information which is highly relevant for most security events. The tool is free and downloadable from the Internet.
ISSN:	1072-5520 1558-3449