Human Errors and Learnability Evaluation of Authentication System

Abstract: Usability studies are important in today’s context. However, the increased security level of authentication systems is reducing the usability level. Thus, to provide secured but yet usable authentication systems is a challenge for researchers to solve till now. Learnability and human errors are influential factors of the usability of authentication systems. There are not many specific studies on the learnability and human errors concentrating on authentication systems. The authors’ aim of this study is to explore the human errors and the learnability situation of authentication systems to contribute to the development of more usable authentication systems. The authors investigated through observations and interviews to achieve the aim of this study. A minimalist portable test lab was developed in order to conduct the observation process in a controlled environment. At the end of the study, the authors showed the list of identified human errors and learnability issues, and provided recommendations, which the authors believe will help researchers to improve the overall usability of authentication systems. To achieve the aim of the study, the authors started with a systematic literature review to gain knowledge on the state of art. For the user study, a direct investigation, in form of observations and interviews was then applied to gather more data. The collected data was then analyzed and interpreted to identify and assess the human errors and the learnability issues.