Password policy languages: usable translation from the informal to the formal

Published

July 21, 2015

Author(s)

Michelle P. Steves, Mary F. Theofanos, Celia Paulsen, Athos Ribeiro

Abstract

Password policies – documents which regulate how users must create, manage, and change their passwords – can have complex and unforeseen consequences on organizational security. Since these policies regulate user behavior, users must be clear as to what is expected of them. Unfortunately, current policies are written in language that is often ambiguous. To tackle ambiguity, we previously developed a formal language for stating what behavior is and is not allowed when creating, managing, and changing passwords. Unfortunately manual translation of the policy to this formal language is time consuming and error prone. This work focuses on providing an interface for end users to generate accurate models of their interpretations of a password policy to aid in password policy research, formalization, and ultimately more usable password policies. This paper describes the requirements, design, high-level application features, application validation, user testing, and a discussion of how this work is expected to progress.

Proceedings Title

3rd International Conference on Human Aspects of Information Security, Privacy and Trust

Conference Dates

August 2-7, 2015

Conference Location

Los Angeles, CA

Conference Title

17th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction

Pub Type

Conferences

Download Paper

DOI Link

Keywords

Usable security, password policy, question-answer system, policy workbench, formal language, XML

Citation

Steves, M. , Theofanos, M. , Paulsen, C. and Ribeiro, A. (2015), Password policy languages: usable translation from the informal to the formal, 3rd International Conference on Human Aspects of Information Security, Privacy and Trust, Los Angeles, CA, [online], https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20376-8_11 (Accessed April 30, 2024)