‘Over Time Everyone’s Gonna Be Open to It’: User Attitudes Toward Security and Privacy in Continuous Authentication for Smart Homes
Continuous authentication (CA), a user authentication approach that continuously verifies a person’s identity without requiring explicit input, is increasingly being deployed in smart homes to maintain security posture throughout user sessions. However, prior research has overlooked user...
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| Format: | Article |
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IEEE
2025-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Access |
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| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11117540/ |
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| author | Heting Wang Yu-Peng Chen Dinank Bista Rodrigo Calvo Niriksha Regmi Xuanpu Zhang Tempestt Neal Jaime Ruiz Lisa Anthony |
| author_facet | Heting Wang Yu-Peng Chen Dinank Bista Rodrigo Calvo Niriksha Regmi Xuanpu Zhang Tempestt Neal Jaime Ruiz Lisa Anthony |
| author_sort | Heting Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Continuous authentication (CA), a user authentication approach that continuously verifies a person’s identity without requiring explicit input, is increasingly being deployed in smart homes to maintain security posture throughout user sessions. However, prior research has overlooked user attitudes toward the increased data collection and surveillance associated with CA in smart homes. To bridge this gap, we conducted a focus group study with 33 participants, using a design probe video to simulate various CA implementation scenarios in smart homes. We explored participants’ current authentication methods (e.g., passwords and physiological biometrics) and examined their perceptions of CA. Through affinity diagramming, we found that participants perceive smart-home CA as presenting privacy and security challenges yet possessing great potential for enhanced usability. Participants also envisioned CA systems that offer more granular permission controls over personal data. Our findings indicate the contextual dependencies in balancing usability with privacy and security concerns. Our contributions include a comprehensive empirical dataset featuring the design probe video, participant transcripts, and a conceptual model of users’ nuanced understanding. We provide design recommendations for smart home CA systems, emphasizing transparency as a bridging factor that connects user perceptions with design features related to technology, implementation flexibility, and user interface. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4ddb880c8f2a447ab6e797e71bc8abd8 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2169-3536 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Access |
| spelling | doaj-art-4ddb880c8f2a447ab6e797e71bc8abd82025-08-20T03:43:52ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362025-01-011314062914064310.1109/ACCESS.2025.359651211117540‘Over Time Everyone’s Gonna Be Open to It’: User Attitudes Toward Security and Privacy in Continuous Authentication for Smart HomesHeting Wang0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6918-4827Yu-Peng Chen1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2654-9048Dinank Bista2Rodrigo Calvo3https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1017-6856Niriksha Regmi4Xuanpu Zhang5Tempestt Neal6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6807-6277Jaime Ruiz7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9139-6172Lisa Anthony8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9617-2952Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USADepartment of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USADepartment of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USADepartment of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USADepartment of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USADepartment of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USABellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USADepartment of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USADepartment of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USAContinuous authentication (CA), a user authentication approach that continuously verifies a person’s identity without requiring explicit input, is increasingly being deployed in smart homes to maintain security posture throughout user sessions. However, prior research has overlooked user attitudes toward the increased data collection and surveillance associated with CA in smart homes. To bridge this gap, we conducted a focus group study with 33 participants, using a design probe video to simulate various CA implementation scenarios in smart homes. We explored participants’ current authentication methods (e.g., passwords and physiological biometrics) and examined their perceptions of CA. Through affinity diagramming, we found that participants perceive smart-home CA as presenting privacy and security challenges yet possessing great potential for enhanced usability. Participants also envisioned CA systems that offer more granular permission controls over personal data. Our findings indicate the contextual dependencies in balancing usability with privacy and security concerns. Our contributions include a comprehensive empirical dataset featuring the design probe video, participant transcripts, and a conceptual model of users’ nuanced understanding. We provide design recommendations for smart home CA systems, emphasizing transparency as a bridging factor that connects user perceptions with design features related to technology, implementation flexibility, and user interface.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11117540/Affinity diagrammingbehavioral biometricscontinuous authenticationfocus group studyqualitative analysissecurity and privacy |
| spellingShingle | Heting Wang Yu-Peng Chen Dinank Bista Rodrigo Calvo Niriksha Regmi Xuanpu Zhang Tempestt Neal Jaime Ruiz Lisa Anthony ‘Over Time Everyone’s Gonna Be Open to It’: User Attitudes Toward Security and Privacy in Continuous Authentication for Smart Homes IEEE Access Affinity diagramming behavioral biometrics continuous authentication focus group study qualitative analysis security and privacy |
| title | ‘Over Time Everyone’s Gonna Be Open to It’: User Attitudes Toward Security and Privacy in Continuous Authentication for Smart Homes |
| title_full | ‘Over Time Everyone’s Gonna Be Open to It’: User Attitudes Toward Security and Privacy in Continuous Authentication for Smart Homes |
| title_fullStr | ‘Over Time Everyone’s Gonna Be Open to It’: User Attitudes Toward Security and Privacy in Continuous Authentication for Smart Homes |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘Over Time Everyone’s Gonna Be Open to It’: User Attitudes Toward Security and Privacy in Continuous Authentication for Smart Homes |
| title_short | ‘Over Time Everyone’s Gonna Be Open to It’: User Attitudes Toward Security and Privacy in Continuous Authentication for Smart Homes |
| title_sort | x2018 over time everyone x2019 s gonna be open to it x2019 user attitudes toward security and privacy in continuous authentication for smart homes |
| topic | Affinity diagramming behavioral biometrics continuous authentication focus group study qualitative analysis security and privacy |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11117540/ |
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