Why Balance Cyber Security & Usability
Both user experience and security are essential for any system. Put simply, they can be thought of as complementary halves of a unified whole — the business. That is why the ultimate measure of security success is the ability to keep daily business activities running smoothly, while keeping sensitive data and mission-critical assets safe. Balancing security and usability should be the primary goal for security practitioners.
The best security solutions are those that not only create rock-solid protection but also avoid undue complexity and enable smooth business processes. When you design security procedures for any organization, striking a harmonious balance between security and usability is vital for long term efficiency. It’s not just about what a tool does, but what experience it offers users in the process.
Balance Matters
Security is a fine balancing act between restricting access to assets and making sure that individuals can still do their job. Think of it as the right integration of business intelligence and threat intelligence, availability, and protection. The goal is to make the user experience as simple and intuitive as possible.
Security is intended to be an enabler for businesses, not a blocker. If you allow a security vs usability mindset to take hold in a company, friction between security teams and employees becomes inevitable. It is counterproductive, unnecessary, and may lead to a workplace where employees resent the corporate security culture. One outcome may be frustration, or even disdain for basic security practices.
Perfect Security is No Access
The strongest security is an environment where nothing is accessible, or accessibility is extremely difficult and process-heavy. Clients and website users value security, but don’t want irksome security controls that impose repeat verification processes. Think of it as a bank vault that almost no one can access and when they do, it requires multiple people and oversight.
Dissonance between security and usability easily creates excessively complex and tight security in a business or website. This can lead to breaches and financial losses. It makes the product slow and cumbersome and leads to unhappy end-users. Consequently, frustrated users will leave your page and search elsewhere. Balancing security and usability should be a key requirement of product design.
Users Circumvent Blockers
When security vs usability is an issue, users will look for ways to circumvent and side-step security protocols, while still overtly complying. Employee priorities are to complete their tasks with a minimum of inconvenience and additional effort. Unfortunately, each employee shortcut exposes business to further risks as more connections to more devices means more vulnerabilities.
For example, users might request access far more than they “need,” or use personal devices to access cloud data for work purposes. They may also share data and resources through uncontrolled back channels.nnYou may also be interested in:n,A Practical Approach to Data Privacy and Compliancen,Insider Threat at The Age of No Perimetern,Privacy Concerns Still Slowing Cloud Adoption n
How to Balance Cyber Security & Usability
1. Create balance by choosing the right software
Security vs usability quickly becomes a problem when organizations purchase the wrong security software, or don’t analyze the potential effect on workflows and routine procedures. When applying security measures, there will always be some impact and restrictions upon implementation.
It is essential to choose data security software that can deliver on the security end with only a minor impact on user experience. Good security tools and programs succeed in balancing security and usability. It’s entirely possible to achieve an optimal security state where there are both solid controls, and a dynamic work environment with accessible resources.
2. Let security enable
We can all agree that strong security is non-negotiable. It is important for keeping data safe from bad actors, it helps meet compliance requirements, and facilitates optimal organizational practices. Overall, security should not compromise user experience, but rather, enable it.
Security vs usability is a non-issue if you have the right software, and invest in employee education and training. Employees who understand security product – and the nature of security threats – are far more compliant with their organizations security standards. Good tools should be able to maximize positive user experience and minimize security breaches.
3. Focus on usability
Creating genuine security and usability in a product is not just about having a good user interface. It is about making sure the end-user can do what they need in a timely fashion. Security, in that sense, should be efficient and should not require radical changes to functioning in order to work.
Instead of involving overly complicated steps that require time and effort, security systems need to motivate and facilitate a positive experience, yielding fast results when attempting to access resources.
Find Out More
Actifile is a valued resource that gives your organization the right balance between security and usability. With Actifile you don’t need to compromise on user experience. It is not only a strong and reliable solution that prevents cybersecurity breaches and protects information but a user-friendly one.
Actifile enables an easy end-user experience that does not get in the way of its needs. The software is intuitive and adaptable, balancing security and usability, and delivering multi-level protection. The focus is on simple management and little effort for users.
Contact Actifile today to schedule a demo and learn more about how Actifile can help your organization build its security foundation.