A software assistant for the development of secure, usable and economically meaningful software

Software developers of IT security solutions commonly focus on subjects of privacy and security and fail to consider other relevant aspects of the development such as the dimensions of socio-economics and usability. However, these aspects are as important as security factors in order to be successful in the market. Especially software, which requires user action in order to set up customized security configurations to protect their systems, needs to provide a very good usability in order to support the users in the decision making process in a meaningful way. Similarly, neglecting socio-economic factors renders even the most secure software meaningless, if only few people are actually using it. Currently, there is no reliable and holistic approach for the development of security-focused, usable and economically meaningful software, to avoid common failures of software development. To fill this gap, the project CUES has developed a software assistant called 'the Wizard' which guides the developers of IT security solutions through the whole software development process. The Wizard assists the developers by identifying present and possible problems and by deriving adequate solutions for these problems. An example for a solution provided by the Wizard for developers who are experienced in the development of security systems but need to create a user interface for the very first time might be to apply Norman's Design Principles.