Feeling secure is a fundamental need for all beings, and humans are no exception. However, a sense of security doesn't just appear magically. It has to be thoughtfully designed and created. This research paper delves into various aspects of perceived security, exploring the basic principles, identifying patterns and anti-patterns.
When faced with tough choices, humans often make emotional decisions and then try to back them up with data to convince themselves that they made an intellectual decision. Kids, schools, corporations, elections, nations—all are driven by people, and therefore heavily influenced by emotions.
When encountering new-age products and services, how does a typical person differentiate them? Factors such as cost, quality, pride, and loyalty come into play. This research paper focuses on one particular factor: security. But not just any security. We focus on the kind of security that the general population perceives. Most people don't know if your systems are running the latest version of Moonlight with ten firewalls. Instead, they judge the security of your products based on a feeling — an emotion. It's heavily based on their perception and sense of security.
The feeling of security cannot be created overnight. It needs to be built over time. In the modern world, this feeling must be carefully mastered through iterations and evolution. It needs to be ingrained into the product, the parent organization, the individuals, your online and offline presence, and your communications.
When it comes to perceived security, there are five guiding principles. All these aspects need to blend together to provide absolute comfort to the individual.
The five principles are:
- Perceived Safety
- Perceived Security
- Perceived Privacy
- Perceived Ease of Use
- Perceived Usefulness