An important concept in Usable Security is whether a given UI represents a “security surface.” Formally, a security surface is a User Interface component in which the user is presented with information they rely upon to make a security decision. For example, in the browser, the URL in the address bar is a security surface.Continue reading “Security Surfaces”
Category Archives: security
Defensive Technology: Ransomware Data Recovery
In a prior installment we looked at Controlled Folder Access, a Windows feature designed to hamper ransomware attacks by preventing untrusted processes from modifying files in certain user folders. In today’s post, we look at the other feature on the Ransomware protection page of the Windows Security Center App — Ransomware data recovery. User-Interface TheContinue reading “Defensive Technology: Ransomware Data Recovery”
Windows Shell Previews – Restricted
Windows users who installed the October 2025 Security Updates may have noticed an unexpected change if they use the Windows Explorer preview pane. When previewing many downloaded files, the preview is now replaced with the following text: While it also occurs when viewing files on remote Internet Zone file shares, the problem doesn’t occur forContinue reading “Windows Shell Previews – Restricted”
AI Injection Attacks
A hot infosec topic these days is “How can we prevent abuse of AI agents?” While AI introduces awesome new capabilities, it also entails an enormous set of risks from the obvious and mundane to the esoteric and elaborate. As a browser security person, I’m most often asked about indirect prompt injection attacks, whereby aContinue reading “AI Injection Attacks”
Security Product Efficacy
I’ve written about security products previously, laying out the framing that security products combine sensors and throttles with threat intelligence to provide protection against threats. As a product engineer, I spend most of my time thinking about how to improve sensors and throttles to enhance protection, but those components only provide value if the threatContinue reading “Security Product Efficacy”
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