RUST: a retargetable usability testbed for website authentication technologies

  • Authors:
  • Maritza L. Johnson;Chaitanya Atreya;Adam Aviv;Mariana Raykova;Steven M. Bellovin;Gail Kaiser

  • Affiliations:
  • Columbia University;Columbia University and Columbia University;University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University;Columbia University;Columbia University;Columbia University

  • Venue:
  • UPSEC'08 Proceedings of the 1st Conference on Usability, Psychology, and Security
  • Year:
  • 2008

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

Website authentication technologies attempt to make the identity of a website clear to the user, by supplying information about the identity of the website. In practice however, usability issues can prevent users from correctly identifying the websites they are interacting with. To help identify usability issues we present RUST, a Retargetable USability Testbed for website authentication technologies. RUST is a testbed that consists of a test harness, which provides the ability to easily configure the environment for running usability study sessions, and a usability study design that evaluates usability based on spoofability, learnability, and acceptability. We present data collected by RUST and discuss preliminary results for two authentication technologies, Microsoft CardSpace and Verisign Secure Letterhead. Based on the data collected, we conclude that the testbed is useful for gathering data on a variety of technologies.