The usability of security devices

An increasing number of hardware devices help users achieve a higher level of security in authentication systems. The usability of these devices, however, is lacking research studies and experimental evaluations. The goal of this chapter is to start meeting this need. After briefly reviewing security devices, we define an experimental approach suitable for their usability evaluation. We apply this approach to the class of cryptographic smart card devices and we report and comment the results, including the impact of usability on security. We conclude by presenting general recommendations to minimize usability problems while deploying security devices.