Patterns
- Active Warnings
- Attractive Options
- Complete Delete
- Conveying Threats & Consequences
- Create a Security Lexicon
- Create Keys When Needed
- Delayed Unrecoverable Action
- Detailed Notifications About Security
- Direct Access to UI Components
- Disable by Default
- Disable of Services
- Disclose Significant Deviations
- Distinguish Between Run and Open
- Distinguish Internal Senders
- Distinguish Security Levels
- Email-Based Identification and Authentication
- Explicit Item Delete
- Explicit User Audit
- Failing Safely
- General Notifications About Security
- Immediate Notifications
- Immediate Options
- Indirect Access to UI Components
- Informative Dialogues
- Install Before Execute
- Key Continuity Management
- Levels of Severity
- Leverage Existing Identification
- Localization of Specific Areas
- Migrate and Backup Keys
- Noticeable Contextual Indicators
- Providing Recommendations
- Quick Description of UI Components
- Redundant Notifications
- Reset to Installation
- Restricted Areas Notification
- Security Features Used by the System
- Security Features Used by the User
- Send S/MIME-Signed Email
- Separating Content
- Sequential Access to UI Components
- Suggestive Dialogues
- System’s Security Tasks
- The Absence of Indicators
- Track Received Keys
- Track Recipients
- Warn When Unsafe
Patterns are based on scientific sources.
Usable Security Pattern - Explicit Item Delete
Luigi Lo Iacono, Peter Nehren
December 21, 2015
Explicit Item Delete
| Name | Explicit Item Delete |
| Sources | (Garfinkel, 2005) |
| Synonyms | None |
| Context | This is a combination of the fourth Fair Information Practice principle (United States Dept. of Health and Automated Personal Data Systems, 1973) and the concept of “direct manipulation” (Shneiderman, 1984) to personal information in computer systems. |
| Problem | Sometimes it is hard for the user to find the way to delete his personal information. |
| Solution | Give the user a way to delete what is shown, where it is shown. |
| Examples | Safari has a “Clear History” menu item in “History” and a “Clear Search History” menu item in the “Recent Searches” menu. Apple’s NSSearchFieldCell automatically implements this functionality for recent searches. Internet Explorer allows the user to right-click on a history item and select “Delete”, although this functionality is not obvious.  Source: (Garfinkel, 2005) |
| Implementation | Where the user is shown personal information in the computer interface, the user should be given a control for removing that information. For example, the last item in the menu should read “clear history”. If the user is not authorized to delete a log file, the system should provide contact information for a responsible party that can perform the action (an application of the OECD Accountability Principle (OECD, 2002)). |
| Consequences | Once a user sees information that they want removed, they don’t have to hunt around and try to figure out how to do it. |
| Dependencies | None |
| Relationships | [Complete Delete] [Delayed Unrecoverable Action] |
| Principles | [Locatability] |
| Guidelines | None |
| Check lists | None |
| Use cases | None |
| Tags | Explicit Item Delete, Complete Delete, Unrecoverable Action, Confidentiality, Privacy, Controllability |
| Log history | [12/21/2015]: Added to repository |
References
Garfinkel, S.L., 2005. Design principles and patterns for computer systems that are simultaneously secure and usable (PhD thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
OECD, 2002. OECD guidelines on the protection of privacy and transborder flows of personal data. OECD Publishing.
Shneiderman, B., 1984. The future of interactive systems and the emergence of direct manipulation, in: Proc. of the NYU Symposium on User Interfaces on Human Factors and Interactive Computer Systems. Ablex Publishing Corp., Norwood, NJ, USA, pp. 1–28.
United States Dept. of Health, Education, Automated Personal Data Systems, W.S.A.C. on, 1973. Records, computers, and the rights of citizens: Report, DHEW publication, no. (oS) 73-94. U.S. Department of Health, Education; Welfare.