Dissecting the Security and Usability Alignment in the Industry

Abstract

Security and usability are two important characteristics often in conflict with each other. This paper presents challenges related to alignment between security and usability in the industry. The challenges were identified after analyzing the data from 12 semi-structured interviews. There were nine different challenges in industrial practices which were identified after the interviews, moreover, two recommendations for future solutions were also identified. The paper also presents a framework for addressing the identified challenges within the industry context. The framework presented in the paper has been tailored for the agile development context and aims at identifying minimal trade-offs between security and usability.