"I’m Surprised So Much Is Connected": A Study on Users’ Online Accounts

Sven  Hammann; Michael Crabb; Saša Radomirović; Ralf Sasse; David Basin

doi:10.1145/3491102.3502125

"I’m Surprised So Much Is Connected": A Study on Users’ Online Accounts

Sven Hammann, Michael Crabb, Saša Radomirović, Ralf Sasse, David Basin

Computing

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

3 Citations (Scopus)

240 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

A person's online security setup is tied to the security of their individual accounts. Some accounts are particularly critical as they provide access to other online services. For example, an email account can be used for external account recovery or to assist with single-sign-on. The connections between accounts are specific to each user's setup and create unique security problems that are difficult to remedy by following generic security advice. In this paper, we develop a method to gather and analyze users' online accounts systematically. We demonstrate this in a user study with 20 participants and obtain detailed insights on how users' personal setup choices and behaviors affect their overall account security. We discuss concrete usability and privacy concerns that prevented our participants from improving their account security. Based on our findings, we provide recommendations for service providers and security experts to increase the adoption of security best practices.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI 2022 - Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Number of pages	14
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450391573
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3502125
Publication status	Published - 29 Apr 2022
Event	CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - New Orleans, United States Duration: 13 Apr 2022 → 14 Apr 2022 https://chi2022.acm.org/

Publication series

Name	Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference	CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Country/Territory	United States
City	New Orleans
Period	13/04/22 → 14/04/22
Internet address	https://chi2022.acm.org/

Keywords

Security and privacy
aspects of security and privacy
Human-centered computing
User studies
Account Graph
security setup
user interviews

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Software
Human-Computer Interaction
Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

Access to Document

10.1145/3491102.3502125

Author Accepted Manuscript
This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive Version of Record was published in CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’22), April 29-May 5, 2022, New Orleans, LA, USA, https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3502125.
Accepted author manuscript, 530 KB

Cite this

Hammann, S., Crabb, M., Radomirović, S., Sasse, R., & Basin, D. (2022). "I’m Surprised So Much Is Connected": A Study on Users’ Online Accounts. In CHI 2022 - Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Article 620 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3502125

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author = "Sven Hammann and Michael Crabb and Sa{\v s}a Radomirovi{\'c} and Ralf Sasse and David Basin",

year = "2022",

month = apr,

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doi = "10.1145/3491102.3502125",

language = "English",

series = "Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",

booktitle = "CHI 2022 - Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems",

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Hammann, S, Crabb, M, Radomirović, S, Sasse, R & Basin, D 2022, "I’m Surprised So Much Is Connected": A Study on Users’ Online Accounts. in CHI 2022 - Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems., 620, Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, Association for Computing Machinery, CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 13/04/22. https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3502125

"I’m Surprised So Much Is Connected": A Study on Users’ Online Accounts. / Hammann, Sven ; Crabb, Michael; Radomirović, Saša et al.
CHI 2022 - Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery, 2022. 620 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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T1 - "I’m Surprised So Much Is Connected"

T2 - CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

AU - Hammann, Sven

AU - Crabb, Michael

AU - Radomirović, Saša

AU - Sasse, Ralf

AU - Basin, David

PY - 2022/4/29

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AB - A person's online security setup is tied to the security of their individual accounts. Some accounts are particularly critical as they provide access to other online services. For example, an email account can be used for external account recovery or to assist with single-sign-on. The connections between accounts are specific to each user's setup and create unique security problems that are difficult to remedy by following generic security advice. In this paper, we develop a method to gather and analyze users' online accounts systematically. We demonstrate this in a user study with 20 participants and obtain detailed insights on how users' personal setup choices and behaviors affect their overall account security. We discuss concrete usability and privacy concerns that prevented our participants from improving their account security. Based on our findings, we provide recommendations for service providers and security experts to increase the adoption of security best practices.

KW - Security and privacy

KW - aspects of security and privacy

KW - Human-centered computing

KW - User studies

KW - Account Graph

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"I’m Surprised So Much Is Connected": A Study on Users’ Online Accounts

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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