Wunder J (2025)
Publication Type: Thesis
Publication year: 2025
Original Authors: Julia Wunder
The digital landscape is populated by various types of actors, among which security experts and end users, mainly non-experts, are the most important. While security is an important concern for both groups, their perspectives might differ. Many security experts use a wide range of tools and frameworks to address vulnerabilities and thus prevent future exploitation. Their main goal is to maintain security. In contrast, the primary goal for end users is not security itself. However, they still want to protect the two most important factors: their finances and their personal data. To fully understand the challenges and needs of both groups, it is essential to examine them separately.
This thesis is therefore structured in two parts. The first part focuses on the behavior of security experts, particularly in the realm of vulnerability management, which is a core area of their work. We explore three established tools and frameworks that have become standards in this field: (1) the National Vulnerability Database (NVD), (2) Security Advisories and the Common Security Advisory Framework (CSAF), and (3) the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS). We shed light on the everyday use of these tools and what challenges they cause for security experts. The second part shifts attention to end users who are mainly not security experts. We examine how they conduct online transactions and what factors they pay attention to in terms of protecting their finances. Additionally, we investigate how users secure the data on their devices for personal use and the obstacles they encounter in this process, as well as how they recover data in the event of incidents. To explore these topics, qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed, including several surveys and interviews.
The overall findings indicate that none of the security tools and methods investigated can be used without encountering challenges. Both security experts and end users face difficulties when working with these tools and methods. Security experts use their expertise to navigate these hurdles, although doing so requires considerable resources. In contrast, end users often feel overwhelmed by obstacles and struggle to overcome them due to inadequate guidance. Therefore, enhancing the usability of established tools and security measures is crucial to ensuring long-term security for all types of actors in the digital landscape.
APA:
Wunder, J. (2025). "You’ve Met with a Terrible Security Standard, Haven’t You?" Exploring the Challenges and Needs of Security Experts and End Users (Dissertation).
MLA:
Wunder, Julia. "You’ve Met with a Terrible Security Standard, Haven’t You?" Exploring the Challenges and Needs of Security Experts and End Users. Dissertation, 2025.
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