Why Johnny the Developer Can't Work with Public Key Certificates: An Experimental Study of OpenSSL Usability

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14330%2F18%3A00100813" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14330/18:00100813 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-76953-0_3" target="_blank" >https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-76953-0_3</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76953-0_3" target="_blank" >10.1007/978-3-319-76953-0_3</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Why Johnny the Developer Can't Work with Public Key Certificates: An Experimental Study of OpenSSL Usability

Original language description

There have been many studies exposing poor usability of security software for the common end user. However, only a few inspect the usability challenges faced by more knowledgeable users. We conducted an experiment to empirically assess usability of the command line interface of OpenSSL, a well known and widely used cryptographic library. Based on the results, we try to propose specific improvements that would encourage more secure behavior. We observed 87 developers/administrators at two certificate-related tasks in a controlled environment. Furthermore, we collected participant opinions on both the tool interface and available documentation. Based on the overall results, we deem the OpenSSL usability insufficient according to both user opinions and standardized measures. Moreover, the perceived usability seems to be correlated with previous experience and used resources. There was a great disproportion between the participant views of a successful task accomplishment and the reality. A general dissatisfaction with both OpenSSL interface and its manual page was shared among the majority of the participants. As hinted by a participant, OpenSSL gradually “turned into a complicated set of sharp kitchen knives” – it can perform various jobs very well, but laymen risk stabbing themselves in the process. This highlights the necessity of a usable design even for tools targeted at experienced users (Supplementary material available at crocs.fi.muni.cz/papers/rsa2018).

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

D - Article in proceedings

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10201 - Computer sciences, information science, bioinformathics (hardware development to be 2.2, social aspect to be 5.8)

Project

<a href="/en/project/GBP202%2F12%2FG061" target="_blank" >GBP202/12/G061: Center of excellence - Institute for theoretical computer science (CE-ITI)</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)<br>S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach

Publication year

2018

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Article name in the collection

Topics in Cryptology – CT-RSA 2018: The Cryptographers' Track at the RSA Conference 2018

ISBN

9783319769523

ISSN

0302-9743

e-ISSN

—

Number of pages

20

Pages from-to

45-64

Publisher name

Springer International Publishing

Place of publication

Švýcarsko

Event location

San Francisco, USA

Event date

Apr 16, 2018

Type of event by nationality

WRD - Celosvětová akce

UT code for WoS article

000445246500003