Towards understanding IT security professionals and their tools

In this work we ask the question: what are the challenges of managing a physical or file system access-control policy for a large organization? To answer the question, we conducted a series of interviews with thirteen administrators who manage access-control policy for either a file system or a physical space. Based on these interviews we identified three sets of real-world requirements that are either ignored or inadequately addressed by technology: 1) policies are made/implemented by multiple people; 2) policy makers are distinct from policy implementers; and 3) access-control systems don't always have the capability to implement the desired policy. We present our interview results and propose several possible solutions to address the observed issues.

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“…Topic groups were then used to construct theories. This approach is similar to other studies presented at CHI and SOUPS [8,14,19].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…They found that administrators are very collaborative and work together combining their specialized knowledge to solve problems [3]. Much of the information administrators use is both specific to their organization and exists in many places, requiring administrators to combine the information using custom tools [3,8].…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Real life challenges in access-control management

Bauer

Cranor

Reeder

et al. 2009

Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

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“…Flexibility is important because of the dynamic nature of the work system admins do and the systems they manage. For example, IT security administrators have identified the ability to change output styles or user-defined dashboards as important (Botta et al, 2007). The large number of tools used to gather small pieces of information suggests that integration could be useful to system admins; for example, system admins may consult system logs, notification systems, and knowledge repositories when completing a work task.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Integrated User Satisfaction Model: Assessing Information Quality and System Quality as Second-Order Constructs in System Administration

Forsgren¹,

Durcikova²,

Clay³

et al. 2016

CAIS

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Abstract:While many studies have investigated the relationship between information systems (IS) characteristics and IS use, the results have been inconsistent. We argue that this inconsistency may be due to the modeling of information and system quality and the importance of the system usage context. We extend Wixom and Todd's (2005) integrated model of IS satisfaction by proposing and modeling information and system quality as second-order constructs and by testing the model in the system administration context. Our findings provide support for modeling information and system quality as second-order constructs in the integrated model. Furthermore, our findings support using additional constructs, unique to the context studied, in the integrated model. We contribute to current literature by 1) enhancing the construct validity of information and system quality, which ultimately improves statistical conclusion validity and internal validity for studies that focus on information and system quality; and 2) testing the extended model in the system administration context. Our findings suggest that future research should measure information quality and system quality as second-order constructs and that including context-specific information and system characteristics provides researchers and practitioners with a better understanding of IS characteristics important in system administration.

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“…It primarily uses qualitative methods such as surveys and observations to understand how and why participants interact with computer systems. For example, Botta et al [3] conducted an ethnographic study of security professionals. Rode [20] used this approach to examine parental behaviour in protecting children's on-line safety.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

A clinical study of risk factors related to malware infections

Lévesque

Nsiempba

Fernandez

et al. 2013

Proceedings of the 2013 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer &Amp; Communications Security - CCS '13

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The success of malicious software (malware) depends upon both technical and human factors. The most security conscious users are vulnerable to zero-day exploits; the best security mechanisms can be circumvented by poor user choices. While there has been significant research addressing the technical aspects of malware attack and defense, there has been much less research reporting on how human behavior interacts with both malware and current malware defenses.In this paper we describe a proof-of-concept field study designed to examine the interactions between users, antivirus (anti-malware) software, and malware as they occur on deployed systems. The 4-month study, conducted in a fashion similar to the clinical trials used to evaluate medical interventions, involved 50 subjects whose laptops were instrumented to monitor possible infections and gather data on user behavior. Although the population size was limited, this initial study produced some intriguing, non-intuitive insights into the efficacy of current defenses, particularly with regards to the technical sophistication of end users. We assert that this work shows the feasibility and utility of testing security software through long-term field studies with greater ecological validity than can be achieved through other means.

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Towards understanding IT security professionals and their tools

Cited by 85 publications

References 10 publications

Real life challenges in access-control management

Real life challenges in access-control management

The Integrated User Satisfaction Model: Assessing Information Quality and System Quality as Second-Order Constructs in System Administration

A clinical study of risk factors related to malware infections

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