Allison
The Struggling Amateur
Primary
“I think I worry most about my bank account being hacked,
but seeing the awards they have won makes me feel better”
Profile
• Makes decisions based on known
Allison has recently become an aunt, but unfortunately she lives
concerns and second hand knowledge
about 3 hours away from her niece. She’s recently got on to
Skype and it’s been nice to see the family every once in a while
• Feels she is not a target for most
(when the computer cooperates). Allison wouldn’t really say
crimes, but is unsure of what her
she’s tech savvy but she has been using a computer since high
concerns are
school, and bought her own when she left for university. She’s
has recently spent a lot of her time surfing around on Facebook,
• Likes to censor the information she puts
but isn’t very active about posting on it. She’s also currently
online
looking for a new job and is a little concerned about putting her
phone number and address out there but she knows its
necessary.
Since Allison is one of the managers at work, when she logs into the computer she has special privileges like
being able to change the schedule or make check out overrides possible. She was told to log out every time
she walks away from the computer. However they have found it’s really more convenient for everyone if she
just says logged in and so far no problems.
Personal Information
Age: 28
Allison maintains three somewhat similar passwords that are usually a word or date that is meaningful to her. Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Most things about security she learned from her friend Henry, who she still relies on for advice even though he Profession: Retail Assistant Manager
lives far away. Recently, Allison was going to buy some custom made clothes for her new niece but wasn’t too Home Life: Married, Buying a house
Hobbies: Being a new aunt, Cooking
sure about the site. She ended up asking Henry about it and he told her that the site looked too sketchy and
to look somewhere else. Usually she doesn’t like to online shop just because the shipping costs so much and Personality: Warm, inquisitive, friendly
she would rather just go to a store and pick it up. Overall her main concern is online banking but she has faith
in her bank to be secure.
Motivators and Fears
Allison cares most about...
• Being able to use the computer without breaking it
• Being able to connect with her friends and family
Allison worries about...
• Not really knowing what to worry about
• Putting her niece in danger by posting photos of her
online
• Her online bank account being hacked
Helping Allison
• There are a number of ways that Allison
could improve her security or privacy
measures but they have to be easy to
implement.
• She receives a lot of her security
information from her ‘geeky computer friend’
Henry. So helping him will help her.
Internet Usage
Primary Uses: Facebook, looking for a
new job
Favorite Sites: Monster.com, Picasa
Number of Online Accounts: 12
Online Shopping: Sometimes
Hours online per week: 18 hours
Work to Home Ratio: All at home
Primary Computer: Desktop, XP, Firefox
Password Scheme:Three Passwords,
may0781
Henry
Profile
The Lazy Expert
“I’m sure hackers are still a concern, just more for
major corporations and not the average person”
Henry can vividly remember his first computer. He was only 13
but was completely addicted to Starcraft for a number of years.
By the time he was 18 he attempted to build his own computer
to take to university with him, and although it worked it seemed
like more trouble than it was worth. From then on he always
bought his PC custom made but assembled. While he enjoyed
computers Henry found that he didn’t really like programming
all day long on pieces of code that people would never ever
know about. He turned his attention to design and found it to be
really interesting work.
• Knows all the rules but prefers
convenience over all else
• Is responsible for helping others
with their computer woes
• Is more secure and protective at
work than at home
Now Henry is a web designer at a large company in Ottawa. He was sad to have to move away from his
family but thought the job was too good to give up. His work place is fairly strict on their security rules
which Henry is happy to comply with even though he thinks some of them are unnecessary. Some people
give him a funny look when he puts his laptop in the trunk instead of the empty seat beside him but he’s
okay with that.
To Henry’s parents and friends he’s still considered the computer fix-it guy. His mom seems to have a new
virus every other week, and it’s always Henry’s job to fix it. Over the years Henry has given out lots of
security advice to his friends and family, but some of it he doesn’t follow himself. For instance, he doesn’t
even have a virus scanner on his computer. When talking about security Henry may not know everything
but he is fairly confident that he is not a target for any attacks. He tries to maintain a professional image
on anything that is directly tied to his name, and everything else he’s just a face in the crowd.
Motivators and Fears
Helping Henry
Henry cares most about...
• It’s important that Henry can easily explain
• Doing only the amount of work necessary to be secure how and why his friends should change their
while he’s at home.
online habits.
• Keeping his work information safe and secure
• Henry is most effective when he can see
• Being able to help his mom over the phone
how a threat will actually impact his life.
• Henry should learn to rely less on security
Henry worries about...
through obscurity.
• Letting other people use his computer
• Maintaining a accurate image of himself online
• Suddenly becoming a target for the internet population
to attack
Personal Information
Age: 26
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Profession: Web Designer
Home Life: Dating, Recently moved
Hobbies: Video Games, Listening to Music
Personality: Cynical but friendly and helpful
Internet Usage
Primary Uses: Work, Email, Twitter
Favorite Sites: SmashingMag, Something
Awful
Number of Online Accounts: 35
Online Shopping: Often for deals
Hours online per week: 12 hours a day
Work to Home Ratio: 9 at work : 3 at
home
Primary Computer: Desktop, Vista,
Firefox
Password Scheme: 8 Passwords,
fuffy3march
Mark
The Obviously Target
“I only changed my password because when I was
signing up it wouldn’t let me use my normal one.”
Profile
Mark started using the internet in high school and signed up for
his hotmail account when he was 16, even though at the time he
wasn’t sure what he might end up using it for. Later when he
secretly download MSN messenger on his parents computer he
was on it most nights talking to friends. Nowadays he finds he’s
too busy for MSN but occasionally likes to keep in touch with his
university friends on Facebook and through email.
• Does the minimum amount of
work to get around the rules
• Rarely worries about security
• Occasionally worries about
privacy from specific people
At work, Mark is always so busy she barely has time access to a
computer. If he’s able to steal a moment on the school’s computer he’s usually blocked from the sites he
likes to visit. What is most frustrating about using the computer at work is having to log into their system-they’ve made the password much more complicated than his regular password and require him to change
it too often for, what feels like, no apparent reason. He likes to switch back and forth between two easy
passwords that he can remember. At least the system always gives him a few tries if he can’t remember it
the first time.
Generally when he’s using the computer he doesn’t really think about security or privacy until someone
brings it up (and even then it’s a fleeting thought). There was this one, time when he didn’t have his own
internet access so he was borrowing wifi from someone in the apartment building. As Mark was closing
the browser after he had checked his online banking he thought to himself “Oh... maybe I shouldn’t have
done that.” Mark has only being using Facebook for a little while and worries about his ex-girlfriends (and
his mom) being able to find him on it. He remembers trying to set his Facebook page to private like 3 years
ago but isn’t completely sure that it worked and keeps forgetting to check it again.
Motivators and Fears
Mark cares most about ...
• Remembering his password.
• Being able to access his websites quickly.
• Keeping his parents and students at his school out
of his Facebook profile.
Mark worries about...
• Controlling who sees his online activities
• Not much else...
Helping Mark
• It’s most important to Mark that he isn’t
inconvenienced by security measures or is
required to learn how computers works to
make himself secure.
• He could benefit from learning why his old
security habits are not effective anymore.
• When Mark does change his settings he’s
not always sure they are effective or that he
did it the right way, he requires more
feedback.
Personal
Information
Age: 23
Location: London, Ontario
Profession: Education Assistant
Home Life: Recently engaged, Renting
an apartment.
Hobbies: Mountain Biking, Swimming
Personality: Cheerful and Easy-Going
Internet Usage
Primary Uses: Email and Facebook
Favorite Sites: bikeforum.net
Number of Online Accounts: 6 maybe?
Online Shopping: Rarely
Hours online per week: 5 - 7
Work to Home Ratio: All at home
Primary Computer: Laptop, Windows XP,
IE
Password Scheme: One Password,
123456a
Robert
The Paranoid Expert
“I try not to use any websites that might store my
personal information in plaintext.”
Profile
When Robert was growing up he was known as the
neighborhood computer wiz. He’s never really lived without a
computer and spell check easily became his best friend during
high school english class. He went to university for software
engineering and got some really cool co-op placements around
the country. In his last year of university (even though he loved
programming), his cyber ethics course really struck a cord with
him. Since then he’s added some security blogs and the privacy
commissioner’s blog to his RSS feeds.
• Very technically inclined and
trained
• Actively looking for security tips
and tricks
• Works hard to obey most rules
that don’t contradict each other
Durning the day Robert works as an application developer at an
independent software company in San Francisco. There is only about five developers there so for the most
part they are pretty relaxed about everything. In fact, Robert is the only one who consistently locks his
computer when he is not sitting at it. Years ago, Robert has noticed people attempting some of the lesser
known social engineering scams on him and is very careful with his information now. He tries to be diligent
with regards to security and privacy within a reasonable degree (since he still uses Facebook and Google).
When signing up for new accounts Robert is very careful what information to give them and adds filters to
his email address if he thinks he will get junk mail from the site. For the authenticating questions, Robert
will often put in a computer generated password and save the password in keypass with his other
passwords. However, Robert also likes to try all the new web 2.0 services and creates new accounts just to
try things out. He feels that if it is an account that wouldn’t harm him if it was hacked, it’s okay to use his
throwaway password.
Motivators and Fears
Robert cares most about...
• Keeping his information safe if he decides to put it
online
• Networking with other software engineers
• Keeping up with the latest technology
Robert worries about...
• Having his identity stolen in one way or another
• The large companies that make it easy for people to be
not secure online.
• What Google is doing with his information
• Computer surveillance of any kind
Helping Robert
• It’s important to Robert that he can see the
technical details behind the website or
system.
• Robert has a strong reliance on his
password saving system so occasionally it is
hard for him to use other computers.
Personal Information
Age: 25
Location: San Francisco, California
Profession: Software Engineer
Home Life: Single, Subletting a condo
Hobbies: Wine enthusiast, PC Gaming
Personality: Shy, geeky, easy to talk to
(about computers)
Internet Usage
Primary Uses: Work, Email, News
Favorite Sites: Google Reader, StackOverflow
Number of Online Accounts: 50 ? maybe?
Online Shopping: Often
Hours online per week: 9 hours a day
Work to Home Ratio: 7 at work 2 at home
Primary Computer: Desktop, MacOSX and
Windows 7, Safari and Chrome
Password Scheme: Many Passwords (saved in
Keypass), Z\Bt)nBy
Patricia
The Aware Technician
“I’m more worried about what other people are
doing to protect themselves.”
Profile
For years people have described Patricia as down to earth.
• Feels she has it all figured out
She spends a lot of time thinking about any project she does
and worries about other people
even before she starts. She has been using computers since
she knows
she started high school but really only became a heavy user
when she started university. Now that she’s working all day she
• Aims to control her information
back to using it only about 3 hours a day. She tends to read
about computers and the internet in the news a lot and always
• Knows that if anything goes
picks up on the problems that are reported. She is currently
concerned about the people that do data mining like Facebook
wrong, at worst, she’ll be
but in a non-explicit way. To help with this she has her browser reimbursed
delete history and cookies when she closes it.
At the bank, Patricia is lucky enough to have her own computer however a lot of the internet is blocked for
her. She seems to be pretty busy most days so she doesn’t notice too much. When she does have a
minute or on lunch break she uses her blackberry to access Facebook and Twitter. Patricia is pretty sure
the bank’s policy is to lock the computer whenever you walk away from it, but she seems to be the only
one that does it. Last year, Patricia wrote down her work password for her co-worker to use while she was
on vacation, but was quick to change it as soon as she got back to work.
On her own time, Patricia loves to shop online and is always amazed at the good deals. She tries to stick
to trusted sites like Amazon and Best Buy but has recently fallen in love with sites like esty and threadless.
She was a little hesitant at first with these sites but read reviews and knew to look for the padlock before
giving her information. Working for the bank she also has some confidence that if her credit card was
stolen the bank would be able to reimburse her. Patricia feels like she’s got the security privacy thing
figured out and worries about her parents who aren’t as tech savvy.
Motivators and Fears
Patricia cares most about...
• Making reasonable decisions for her when it comes to
security.
• Keeping things simple
Patricia worries about...
• All her friends that are putting crazy pictures of
themselves online.
• The risk of identity theft
Helping Patricia
• It’s important to Patricia that she has an
easy way to learn about new security
measures.
• Patricia is happy to play around with the
settings as long as they are clear and
understandable.
• Patricia needs more feedback to know that
her security measures are worth the extra
work.
Personal Information
Age: 27
Location: Waterloo, Ontario
Profession: Mortgage Specialist
Home Life: Single, Apartment
Hobbies: Yoga and Jogging
Personality: Funny and Down to Earth
Internet Usage
Primary Uses: Facebook, Product Reviews
Favorite Sites: esty.com, Flickr, YogaToday
Number of Online Accounts: 25
Online Shopping: Yes from trusted sites
Hours online per week: 21
Work to Home Ratio: Mostly at home, some
mobile browsing at work
Primary Computer: Laptop, MacOSX, Firefox
Password Scheme: Five Passwords, B4iley