Emics and Etics of Usable Security: Culturally-Specific or Culturally-Universal?

Aniqa Alam, Robert Biddle, Elizabeth Stobert

Abstract: This paper explores how cultural attitudes and practices affect the design and usability of security software. Cultural differences cause users from eastern and western cultures to behave differently and sometimes insecurely with the same security tools because of dissimilar beliefs and understanding. Using the emics-etics framework to guide our examination of cultural differences, we review the literature on three areas of security: software piracy, password sharing, and mobile device sharing. We suggest that security tools need to acknowledge emics, or insider, perspectives to become culturally inclusive. We propose how security software and business strategies can be designed to create culturally appropriate security tools.