Let the User Figure It Out. Revisiting Usability and Security of eGates in Laboratory Research

The integration of biometrics into automated border control emerged as a prominent field of study in the early 2000s, in which questions surrounding their security performance were intrinsically tied to concerns about their usability. Today, as the use of eGates has become a routine aspect of travel, usability issues have largely receded into the background and security and vulnerability concerns dominate laboratory-based research. Against the backdrop of the still-ambiguous concept of “usable security,” this article critically examines this apparent research stagnation by evaluating the limitations of their usability research methodologies and presents results from a technographic study of laboratory-based security testing of eGates in Germany. As they reveal that not only usability issues persist despite systems’ perceived effectiveness, but also that the research of the interactivity of human and system can uncover significant security vulnerabilities, these insights underscore the potential of laboratory research to advance usable security’s promise.