Secure Tangible User Interfaces

Concepts related to security and privacy are often complex and difficult to understand for users. This inherently leads to usability and trust barriers, in particular for less tech-savvy or less experienced users. Moreover, researchers observed mistrust in software controls and a desire for physical, unambiguous and easy to use alternatives.

We investigate how privacy and security mechanisms can be created in a tangible way so as to make them truly engaging, trust enhancing and intuitive. Such tangible interactions enable direct, integrated and meaningful control and communication of data, making them the ideal basis for both, awareness and control functionalities of security and privacy assistants. Such tangible mechanisms materialize the abstract concepts of security and privacy, making them physically graspable and directly manipulable. Thereby they support the formation of mental models and reduce cognitive load.