The Sense of Security and a Countermeasure for the False Sense

In this paper, we report the two issues from our recent research on the human aspect of security. One is the sense of security and the other is a warning interface for security threats. We look into the emotional aspect of security technology and investigate the factors of users’ feelings based on the user surveys and statistical analysis. We report the difference in those factors of the sense of security in the U.S.A. and Japan as well. We also introduce the multi-facet concept of trust which includes security, safety, privacy, reliability, availability and usability. According to the results of our surveys, no matter how secure systems and services are, the users may not get the sense of security at all. On the contrary, the users may well feel secure with insecure systems and services. It suggests that we would need another type of protocols and interfaces than merely secure protocols, to provide the users with secure feelings. We propose an interface causing discomfort — a warning interface for insecure situations. A user could be aware of security threats and risks by a slight disturbance. Such an interface has been researched to a great extent in the safety area for protection from human errors.