# Google: Usable Security ## Introduction :::info Hi Alex, in the following Document we tried to sum up our work process since our last meeting. We split it into the following five parts. ::: - Needfinding - Affinity Cluster - Personas - Definition of "Account Sanity" - Ideation - Brainstorming - Finding 3 Ideas :::info The Goal of the following meeting would be to show you what we did in the last three weeks. The main focus there lies on presenting the 3 ideas we came up with to you. In the next step, we would then discuss the 3 ideas together with you. ::: :::success **So we would appreciate it if you could give us feedback on the three ideas.** ::: ## Affinity Cluster :::info After our first meeting, we came together and looked at everything we learned and created an affinity cluster. This is supposed to help us once again by narrowing down our problem statement and needs. ::: <div style="text-align:center;margin-bottom:20px" ><img width="400" src="https://i.imgur.com/loWE5nP.jpg" /></div> ## Personas :::info After we made the Affinity Cluster we tried to create multiple personas for our target audience. We tried to cover everything from the casual user to the hardcore user and also from the tech layman to the expert. We came up with the following four: ::: <div style="text-align:center;margin-bottom:20px" ><img width="400" src="https://i.imgur.com/bbdLwh0.png" /></div> <div style="text-align:center;margin-bottom:20px" ><img width="400" src="https://i.imgur.com/M1jIlXt.png" /></div> <div style="text-align:center;margin-bottom:20px" ><img width="400" src="https://i.imgur.com/38e91Hp.png" /></div> <div style="text-align:center;margin-bottom:20px" ><img width="400" src="https://i.imgur.com/CuophN4.png" /></div> ## Account Sanity :::info We thought it would be helpful to have a clear definition of account sanity. Therefore we tried to write one down, using the information we gained at the interview and also our personal understandings. ::: #### Account Sanity There are two layers of account sanity that are deeply connected. First, we have the sanity of an individual account. - how secure/complex is the password the account uses - being aware of the possibilities of improving account protection (usage of biometric scanners, 2FA etc.) - being aware of the general usage of the account. (How often do you log in? Do you still use it? Is it inactive?) and on the other side, we have the sanity of the collection of all individual accounts. - being aware of how many accounts one has - knowing of the existence of accounts - being aware of possible (security) dependencies between accounts. this can include username, mail, password ... #### (Security) Dependencies between accounts Accounts that use the same username, mail and/or password can be shown as a dependency graph. If any node of the dependency graph would experience a security breach, then it is possible that all the other nodes will have their security compromised. ## Ideas ### Brainstorming :::info We brainstormed, first individually, then together as a group to come up with three ideas: ::: <div style="text-align:center;margin-bottom:20px" ><img width="400" src="https://i.imgur.com/PtH87oN.jpg" /></div> ### 1 Disposable Account Manager :::warning Summary: Like temporary e-mails, but for accounts. The temporary e-mail is generated and linked to the user's disposable account and active e-mail if desired and the disposable e-mail will be deleted after a time period, with the possibility to extend its life. ::: #### 1.1 Motivation: Often a person tends to have many inactive accounts on various services that they will likely never use again, most of the time, the accounts may even only be used once, to make a post or download a file as one of many examples. The problem is that these accounts can contain sensible information, even if they were created with the intention to not be used frequently, like the mail address. Another problem that can occur is that a lot of people tend to reuse their password for accounts like this. #### 1.2 Description: The solution to this problem is a Tool that can create a "disposable account", which contains as little backtrackable and minimal information as the user requires to create an account. <div style="text-align:center" ><img width="400" src="https://i.imgur.com/S4fnhw0.jpg?2"/></div> <br/> The Disposable Account Manager has the ability to generate some dummy information and if desired by a template, a temporary e-mail address to go with it and if the website allows it, automatically fill out a registration form. The temporary e-mail address will redirect the mails to the user's e-mail address for a specified time period. Afterwards, the temporary address will go inactive and after some reactivation grace period (if desired) will delete itself and its contents. Another feature that may be desired is the ability to extend the lifespan of the account or to upgrade it in a permanent account. This will virtually give the benefits of a one-time-use and disposable account which can be easily created, should not be backtrackable to any sensible information and can simply be forgotten without any worries. #### 1.3 Goals: There are two problems this solution solves. The first one being the total number of accounts, by reducing the number of inactive accounts. This will also reduce the number of accounts the user has to manage, making account sanity easier for the user. The second problem is unnecessary account information and dependencies that get removed this way. Overall account security will be improved. ### 2 Statistics Tool :::warning Summary: Collect statistics about the account and password usage, give input and raise awareness about behavioural patterns (usage of a single password, login times, login amounts, login length ...). It's a Tool where information about accounts is gathered and managed. It helps to keep track of the sanity of your accounts. ::: #### 2.1 Motivation: The following solution is a more passive approach. Sometimes even if you decide to "clean up" your accounts, you end up in a state where you don't know where to start, because you don't have a clear overview and have to start searching everywhere. It's really easy to miscalculate your online behaviour, therefore the tool would suggest minor optimizations that would improve your online experience. #### 2.2 Description: The following tool would most likely come in the form of an app. It gathers data about account information, security, behaviour and usage. It then uses the data is collected to make optimizations, take actions or visualize certain information using different views. <div style="text-align:center" ><img width="400" src="https://i.imgur.com/YypyL8L.png" /></div> First of all, the initial onboarding should offer multiple easy to use methods to import already existing accounts. Also, later on, it should be possible to add accounts by either detecting them on the device or by adding them manually. The general view should have a notification widget which shows recommendations (e.g. delete inactive accounts, change password ...) and warnings (e.g. password on site X has leaked ...) to the user. There should also be a timeline that shows the usage (times logged in, ...) and finally a list with all of the accounts. It's possible to apply various filters to the list to group/find exactly what you need. There is also a view for each individual account, which includes a timeline, a field with account information (username, creation date, email, recovery email, ...), an option to export the account (using GDPR) and an overview on how secure the account is (2FA, biometrics, ...). The tool may take actions or ask the user for permission to do so. The actions it takes could be like deleting an inactive account, import a new account. The more important task the tool has to do is give recommendations for optimizing the user's experience. It may recommend stuff like to enable 2FA, change a password after a certain amount of time or when one has been leaked ... Another useful feature is a dependency graph that visualizes dependencies like (email, username, password) between all accounts. #### 2.3 Goals: This tool tries to simplify account management and raise awareness about one's usage of accounts and data. It especially solves the problem of giving an overview of all the accounts and their number, but it also tries to improve the state of an individual account. It achieves this by just analyzing data and recommend actions to the user. ### 3 Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) proxy :::warning Summary: Some websites do not offer 2FA. Create a service that requires 2FA to get the password (or session/token) for another service that does not provide 2FA. ::: #### 3.1 Motivation: A lot of people tend to reuse their password, therefore adding a 2nd Factor would increase the security level of their account. the origin of password reuse is most of the time just the user being lazy. We want to make something that increases overall security but still makes the log-in process fast and simple. #### 3.2 Description: The 2FA proxy would store and manage secret credentials. When a user would like to enhance the security of his non-2FA account, it can register it with the proxy service. The proxy service changes the password (regularly/after every use). When the user wants to access a service, the user can then enter their simple password and together with the second factor, the more complex and hopefully more secure password can be retrieved from the proxy and used to automatically log in. #### 3.3 Goals: This tool increases the security of account that does not support 2FA, it therefore touches the aspect of individual account sanity. With 2FA enabled in more accounts, it is harder for a malicious party to get access to the account since it now has to do more work. Since the account tool also stores some basic information about the account, this service also helps keep track of one's accounts (at least the ones using it)