What Usability Means to Security Pros
The last thing cybersecurity executives and practitioners need are even more tools that are difficult to operate. Here's what they look for when assessing new tools.
June 4, 2020
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Solid detection algorithms and whiz-bang defensive technologies are important in the cat-and-mouse game of cyberdefense. But even the most perfect back-end engines are useless if the tools themselves are clunky and difficult to operate.
Usability plays a huge role in the effectiveness of security tooling, and not just when the tool faces the end user. With too many dashboards to handle and mushrooming portfolios of security products to manage, security administrators, analysts, and other stakeholders already have their hands full when it comes to using their tools effectively. The last thing they need are even more tools that are hard to operate.
Dark Reading caught up with security executives and long-time product designers to better understand the most important traits they look for when evaluating the user experience of a new tool. Here's what they had to say.
"If we have to wait for outage windows, network changes, or deploying agents, there will be serious demarks in the evaluation. We need solutions that drop in and run cleanly. We just implemented a new anti-spam/phishing/malware solution that was fully deployed in less than 10 minutes. We didn't have to drop devices inline of network traffic or deal with outage windows. We simply connected our email platform to the new service and, within minutes, tens of thousands of users from 14 different countries were being protected. That is how a solution should deploy."
--John Masserini, global CISO, Millicom Telecommunications
"I'm sure there are some seasoned security professionals who don't care about the GUI. They prefer to just work in the command line -- if available -- as they see it as more efficient. However, from what I see, even the higher-level security experts who don't need the GUI still see the value as it allows for easier and broader adoption of tools, and that increases visibility and reduces risk.
Solid detection algorithms and whiz-bang defensive technologies are important in the cat-and-mouse game of cyberdefense. But even the most perfect back-end engines are useless if the tools themselves are clunky and difficult to operate.
Usability plays a huge role in the effectiveness of security tooling, and not just when the tool faces the end user. With too many dashboards to handle and mushrooming portfolios of security products to manage, security administrators, analysts, and other stakeholders already have their hands full when it comes to using their tools effectively. The last thing they need are even more tools that are hard to operate.
Dark Reading caught up with security executives and long-time product designers to better understand the most important traits they look for when evaluating the user experience of a new tool. Here's what they had to say.
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