ALIGNING INFORMATION SYSTEMS SECURITY AND USABILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR COMPUTER BASED INFORMATION SYSTEMS

摘要

With extensive usage of information systems in the day-to-day business operations, organizations have been encountering several security and usability challenges. One such challenge is the alignment of information systems security and usability requirements while developing computer based information systems.Information systems security and usability have been dominating several aspects of information systems research including systems development. Moreover, in the information systems development processes, information systems security and usability have traditionally been considered as add-on features and are not integrated into the systems development process. Yee (2004), argues that "security and usability elements cannot be sprinkled on a product like pixie due." Highlighting the current research gaps, Yee (2004) also emphasizes the compelling need for aligning information systems security and usability by incorporating both security principles and usability principles throughout the information systems development and design process. Since the information systems security and usability aspects have not been integrated into the systems development process, the end users have to make certain choices between information systems security and usability features, which would result in unwarranted trade-offs between information systems security and usability. It is well known that if computer-based information systems are made more secure, they are less usable and if the systems are less secure, they are more usable (Cranor and Garfinkel 2005). Though the users choose between information systems security and usability by maximizing one component and compromising the other, there will certainly be a point where either information systems security or usability cannot be compromised any more than what they already are. Such a trade-off depends on information systems security and usability as dependent on individual users' values and cognitive beliefs, which in turn influence the security objectives and usability objectives. The current state of information systems literature and research has little focus on the user trade-offs between information systems security and usability.