Security mechanisms, no matter how robust the design is intended to be, can not assure information security if they are not easily usable and accessible by the general public. A large number of existing security techniques and tools are developed without considering the actual needs and capabilities of the user. Despite the fact that the government requires accessibility in their computing systems (www.section508.gov) and the trend to require accessibility for private companies, the majority of faculty who teach security courses are not familiar with the topics of usability and accessibility, and do not incorporate these topics into their classes. We invite faculty members to join our effort to address this challenge by integrating usability and accessibility in Information Assurance (IA) education. This project is supported by National Science Foundation (NSF).
This website provides two sets of teaching materials for free download. One set focuses on accessibility and Information Assurance, the other focuses on usability and Information Assurance. Both sets of materials were developed with the support of NSF. We invite faculty to share your materials via this website. We also invite faculty to share ideas and comments through the discussion board.