Security is very difficult to use, and staying safe online is a growing challenge for everyone. It is especially devastating to inexperienced computer users, who may not spot risk indicators and may misinterpret currently implemented textual explanations and visual feedback of risk. This work explores, evaluates, and compares the effectiveness of several online safety education modules for users of various skill levels and the importance and effectiveness of visual feedback when encountering security threats. This interdisciplinary work, with psychologists and computer scientists playing crucial roles, is developing and testing specific user feedback strategies to determine their relative effectiveness in keeping users from making security-critical mistakes, and unambiguously informing users when security failures have occurred. This research is a vital step to determine what works, what does not work, and to get users to pay attention to important risk signals that may otherwise go unnoticed.
