Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason

Security When People Matter: Structuring Incentives for User Behavior (Download full paper)

MacKie-Mason, Jeffrey K. and Wash, Rick

Published on: January, 2007

Abstract: Humans are “smart components” in a system, but cannot be directly programmed to perform; rather, their autonomy must be respected as a design constraint and incentives provided to induce desired behavior. Sometimes these incentives are properly aligned, and the humans don’t represent a vulnerability. But often, a misalignment of incentives causes a weakness in the system that can be exploited by clever attackers. Incentive-centered design tools help us understand these problems, and provide design principles to alleviate them. We describe incentive-centered design and some tools it provides. We provide a number of examples of security problems for which Incentive Centered Design might be helpful. We elaborate with a general screening model that offers strong design principles for a class of security problems.

Incentive-Centered Design for Information Security (Download full paper)

Rick Wash and Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason

Published on: July, 2006

Abstract: Humans are "smart components" in a system, but cannot be directly programmed to perform; rather, their autonomy must be respected as a design constraint and incentives provided to induce desired behavior. Sometimes these incentives are properly aligned, and the humans don't represent a vulnerability. But often, a misalignment of incentives causes a weakness in the system that can be exploited by clever attackers. Incentive-centered design tools help us understand these problems, and provide design principles to alleviate them. We describe incentive-centered design and some tools it provides. We provide a number of examples of security problems for which incentive- centered design might be helpful. We elaborate with a general screening model that offers strong design principles for a class of security problems.