Usability and Security Effects of Code Examples on Crypto APIs - CryptoExamples: A platform for free, minimal, complete and secure crypto examples
Year: 2018
Type: preprint
Abstract: Context: Cryptographic APIs are said to be not usable and researchers suggest to add example code to the documentation. Aim: We wanted to create a free platform for cryptographic code examples that improves the usability and security of created applications by non security experts. Method: We created the open-source web platform CryptoExamples and conducted a controlled experiment where 58 students added symmetric encryption to a Java program. We then measured the usability and security. Results: The participants who used the platform were not only significantly more effective (+73 %) but also their code contained significantly less possible security vulnerabilities (-66 %). Conclusions: With CryptoExamples the gap between hard to change API documentation and the need for complete and secure code examples can be closed. Still, the platform needs more code examples.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Mindermann, Kai, Wagner, Stefan
Institution: University of Stuttgart
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Baden-Württemberg Stiftung
OpenAlex ID: W2811259613