Technology analysis: How easy are infosec products to use?
- Article 32 of 33
- SC Magazine, February 2013
The paradox of information security is that while the best products have necessarily complex functions, they must also be easy to use, writes Rob Buckley.
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Garry Sidaway, global director of security strategy at Integralis, agrees. "Few vendors ask us how we implement [their software] and reduce complexity for our clients. We try to talk to them about their issues, but I don't see it changing," he says.
Good Technology's Jacques insists that his company's software is easy to use. "It has an intuitive look and feel, and more than one million users. People find it instantly familiar," he states. Productivity is an important requirement, he adds, claiming that the too 'heavy' security of rival software restricts workers.
Jacques cannot specify how many Good Technology staff work on ease of use, but says third-party companies carry out user testing, while the good.com forum is another source of feedback and advice. His metric for determining the product's ease of use? "We have more than one million users," he repeats.
Nevertheless, Chris Hewertson, CIO of IT services provider Colt, reports that when he implemented Good Technology's mobile device management software to secure iOS devices and their data, his users rebelled. "They didn't like it because it didn't feel like an Apple app," he says. In other words, the software lacked the ergonomic design that users have come to expect of their consumer products - so Hewertson chose a different solution.
It goes without saying that usability is in the eye of the beholder, and people are notoriously fickle when it comes to technology. It should be no surprise then that vendors put in varying amounts of effort into usability - after all, you cannot please all of the people all of the time.
Steven Hope, technical director at Winfrasoft, says his company makes no formal studies of usability, but "internally, a lot of people are dealing with customers and know what a lot of the common complaints are". New versions are tested among customers as soon as possible, Hope adds, but "we don't do any particular focus groups".
By contrast, Stonesoft's Hämäläinen claims that a third of the company's developers are dedicated to the product's interface and its ease of use. These developers, he says, try to use "known concepts" to make the user interface familiar, admitting: "We've taken many examples from Apple, iTunes, web browsers and social media sites." Stonesoft puts its product through regular testing, not just with existing customers, but also among students with no experience of security software.
Familiarity and expertise
Familiarity is important, since it speeds up the process of finding one's way around new software.
Sian John, security strategist at Symantec, says: "For Symantec, ease of use is a very big focus, although we've not always been as successful as we could have been." She adds that whenever the company acquires a new product, it looks at the interface to see not only if it can be improved and made easier to use, but if it can be made to look like Symantec's other products.
The irony here is that in making these changes, the company risks alienating existing users who are already familiar with the products. John says: "You'll get tech security people who'll say, 'Oh, you've taken things away.' People have spent ages learning this software and to them it's second nature. They'll get focused on a widget, even if it makes the console more confusing."
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