The Fine Line Between Security and Usability

SkiifGeek writes to ask, "Where should vendors be required to draw the line when supporting deprecated file formats and technology? In a recent case independent security researcher cocoruder found a critical bug with the JET engine, via the .mdb (Access) file format, he reported it to Microsoft, but Microsoft's response came as a surprise to him — it appears that Microsoft is not inclined to fix a critical arbitrary code execution vulnerability with a data technology that is at the heart of a large number of essential business and hobby applications."

Comments

Re:I always go with OpenBSD.

[TheRaven64]

OpenBSD is also one of the most useable UNIX systems I've encountered. It doesn't have oversimplified GUIs, but it does have a remarkably consistent userland feel. Why? Because the team regard usability as part of security. A security system that is so hard to use that people turn it off is a useless security system. The best security system is a competent administrator and a good user interface lowers the bar for competence.