Internship Programmes
 
Bridging the Usability-Security Gap

Discipline: Human Factors / Computer Engineering / Computer Science / Electrical Engineering

Project Description:
Many systems are sold on usability but not security.  Secure systems tend to be less usable as perceived by end users.  Is there a way to bridge these twin ideals through better human computer interface design?

The candidate will design and carry out human factors experiments that will shed light on how representative classes of security tools succeed or fail to present interfaces that match end users' perceived conceptual model of security.    

The candidate is expected to develop tools that will assist in automating relevant aspects of the experiment.  Examples of domains involved in the development work include networking and programming (e.g. Perl scripting, C).  The tools developed should be reusable and efficient.

The expected outcome from these experiments is a set of design recommendations that factor usability into relevant security products.

The candidate is expected to gain -
Knowledge of IT security concepts
Knowledge of human factors experimentation
Deserving candidates who successfully demonstrate the concepts/prototype would be funded to attend a relevant overseas/local conference

Pre-requisite:
Non-technical
- Natural sense of curiosity, like to spend time outside curriculum requirement to explore how things work.
- Self driven to learn things that are not taught.
- Strong independent thinking and initiative – like to think about what need to be done and propose a plan without waiting for instructions.

Technical
- Networking knowledge
- Strong programming experience and interests