A Generic Cognitive Dimensions Questionnaire to Evaluate the Usability of Security APIs

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new evaluation methodology based on an improved Cognitive Dimensions framework to assess the usability of security APIs, aiming to reduce vulnerabilities caused by usability issues.

Contribution

It introduces a tailored Cognitive Dimensions questionnaire specifically designed for security APIs, filling a gap in usability evaluation methods.

Findings

Developed a specialized questionnaire for security API usability assessment.

Enhanced the Cognitive Dimensions framework for security API evaluation.

Provided a systematic approach to identify usability issues in security APIs.

Abstract

Programmers use security APIs to embed security into the applications they develop. Security vulnerabilities get introduced into those applications, due to the usability issues that exist in the security APIs. Improving usability of security APIs would contribute to improve the security of applications that programmers develop. However, currently there is no methodology to evaluate the usability of security APIs. In this study, we attempt to improve the Cognitive Dimensions framework based API usability evaluation methodology, to evaluate the usability of security APIs.