SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Companies spend nearly $100 billion on securing computers each year, yet incidents such as ransomware crippling hospitals and personal data leaking online remain common. Anthony Vance thinks that defensive measures could be more effective if we paid more attention to the hardware between our ears.
"Security professionals need to worry not only about attackers but the neurobiology of their users," said Vance, an associate professor at Brigham Young University, this week at the Enigma security conference in Oakland, California. His lab uses functional MRI scans of people's brains to reveal the unconscious mechanisms behind the way they perceive—or ignore—security warnings.
One of Vance's studies led him to collaborate with Google on tests of a new approach to displaying security warnings in the Chrome Web browser that people were less likely to dismiss offhand. Vance says Google's engineers told him they plan to add the feature to an upcoming version of Chrome. Google did not respond to a request for confirmation of when it would be added.
Multitasking is partly to blame. Vance's collaboration with Google grew out of experiments that showed when people reacted to security warnings while also performing another task, brain activity in areas associated with fully engaging with a warning was significantly reduced. People were three times less likely to correctly interpret a message when they reacted to security warnings while also performing another task.
Vance's lab teamed up with Google to test a version of Chrome modified to deliver warnings about a person's computer possibly being infected by malware or adware only when they weren't deeply engaged in something. For example, it would wait until someone finished watching a video, or was waiting for a file to download or upload, to pop up the message.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 5, Interesting) by acid andy on Saturday February 04 2017, @05:01PM
I want my computers to behave predictably and deterministically. I want a user interface to respond to my specific commands. I sure as hell don't want mind reading software that constantly tries to second guess my intentions and change its behavior all the time. They've already ruined all the major search engines with that shit. I'm convinced there are vast areas of the web that are now unreachable to me via search engines because the damn thing won't search for the very specific keywords or phrases I type in. If you're looking for a rare niche or something highly technical, they become useless. Software, like search engines should treat me the same when I've been using them for a year as they would if I had first run them. That's the other problem - if a search engine keeps warping your results to show you only what it thinks you might like to see based on your previous activity, then again it ceases to be an unbiased research tool and begins rendering content unreachable by trapping the user in a sort of echo chamber for their own thoughts!
The only time I want software to learn is if I want to automate a traditionally human task like image processing or something but then only when I tell it to use such an algorithm.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @07:11PM
Get yourself some help, "acid andy"
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Saturday February 04 2017, @07:25PM
Aww thanks for the advice honey.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Sunday February 05 2017, @03:54AM
There's a difference between a computer as a tool and a computer as an appliance (or "app"). 99% of people want appliance computers, they WANT mind reading software that actively caters to their needs. The number of people who want computers as tools are far in the minority. Hell, most of my software engineer coworkers use Linux/command line for work and Chromebook/iPads at home.
Face it, normal people don't want a dumb UI that runs commands exactly, they want it to "just work". (That's not to say normal people don't get frustrated when the mind reading fails.)
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Sunday February 05 2017, @09:47AM
Yeah, you're right. I suppose I'm a sort of luddite when it comes to advances in user interfaces. In some ways it's an extension of the Fuck Beta attitude that I would assume many Soylentils share.
On reflection my post was a bit of a knee jerk excuse to rant about the declining usability of computers as a technical or academic tool but it was barely applicable to the TFA. I mean, I'm all for software suppressing intrusive alerts whilst I'm watching a video though to be honest I'm not sure I want my browser to be responsible for malware detection. There are other tools for that. There's always scope for improvement in the way information is presented so this kind of research could be useful (they mention the use of changes in color to draw attention - useful but not sure this is new) if it's applied in the right way.
The problem comes for techies when user interface "improvements" end up removing old features. If you keep an advanced mode in there so the nerd % can still do what they need to then fine. But hey, this is Google. We can just keep using Linux and compile our own open source tools if the latest "improvements" aren't to our tastes (or even if they are - you wouldn't catch me with a Chromebook or iPad).
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Sunday February 05 2017, @10:11AM
I had to look up the difference between a tool and an appliance:
- Definition of appliance [merriam-webster.com]
So the vibe I am getting from those definitions is that "tools" are general-purpose, while appliances are task-specific.
But then, if you check the definition of "tool", you get the task-specific thing again:
- tool [oxforddictionaries.com]
So I am confused again, but maybe I just need sleep.
(Score: 3, Informative) by darkfeline on Sunday February 05 2017, @09:29PM
One does something with a tool, while an appliance does something for you. For example, you chop onions with a knife, while a food processor chops onions for you. Appliances can be adapted as tools to some extent, but not the other way around. (Hence why people who want computer tools can make do with computer apps, albeit unhappily, but people who want computer apps can't use computer tools.)
Of course definitions aren't exact, so YMMV.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday February 05 2017, @06:22AM
I read your comment, as well as AC's below.
Mind reading computers? I'm trying to imagine that. I sit before my computer, reach out to type in a search, and the computer (not Google) manages to display the characters before I actually type them. It analyzes what I'm actually super-speed-typing against what it can see in my mind. Then it offers up a search term that it believes matches what is in my mind, better than the words I've put in via the keyboard.
Interesting concept. One that could be very very bad - or very very good.
I suppose the important question is, "Who owns the software?" Did I have to agree to a Microsoft EULA to gain access to this software? A Google TOS? Is it open source, and backed by people like Linus Torvalds?
Backing away from actual mind reading - yeah, I agree with you. I don't need or want to live in an echo chamber. Despite efforts to avoid being trapped in an echo chamber, sometimes, it seems the echos keep coming back all the same.