From a previous study we have determined that commercial security
products can suffer from a usability perspective, lacking the necessary attention
to design in relation to their alert interfaces. The aim of the paper is to assess
the usability of alerts in some of the leading Internet security packages, based
upon a related set of usability criteria. The findings reveal that the interface
design combined with the user’s relative lack of security knowledge are two
major challenges that influence their decision making process. The analysis of
the alert designs showed that four of the criteria are not addressed in any of the
selected security measures and it would be desirable to consider the user’s
previous decisions on similar alerts, and modify alerts according to the user’s
previous behaviour.