Article: User security education is pointless

News.com had an interesting article: “Security expert: User education is pointless”

“Users are often called the weakest link in computer security. They can’t select secure passwords, and they write down passwords and give them out to strangers in exchange for treats.”

“I don’t believe user education will solve problems with security because security will always be a secondary goal for users.”

“In order for security to work, it must be embedded in the process. It must be designed so that it does not conflict with the users’ primary goal. It can’t work if it interferes.”

The frustration with security is that it is labor intensive and costly on both the part of the company providing service, as well as the end user. There is a high degree of responsibility on both ends to maintain secure environments.

Think about the end user experience. For new computer users, right out of the box, security is not their first concern. Newbies struggle to operate the computer, gain access the Internet, and communicate with others. Only after a level of comfort has been achieved will newbies begin to become aware (slightly) of online risks. Manufacturers and service providers can do a much better job with pre-emptive consumer education right out of the box.

-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.