IEEE Security & Privacy Wins 2017 APEX Award of Excellence

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif., July 27, 2017 – IEEE Computer Society's IEEE Security & Privacy, a leading publication in the security technology industry, has been awarded the APEX 2017 Award of Excellence in the “Magazines, Journals & Tabloids – Electronic” category.

IEEE Security & Privacy magazine offers peer-reviewed articles and research on the most critical cybersecurity technologies and topics impacting the world. It provides articles with both a practical and research bent by the top thinkers in the field along with case studies, tutorials, columns, and in-depth interviews and podcasts for the information security industry.

APEX 2017, the 29th Annual Awards for Publication Excellence, is an international competition that recognizes outstanding publications from newsletters and magazines to annual reports, brochures and websites.

"At a time when issues of information security and personal privacy in a digital age are very much on people's minds, it's great that a publication like IEEE Security & Privacy is there to cut through the noise and focus on the science behind the issues. It’s wonderful to be recognized for doing that,” says Evan Butterfield, the IEEE Computer Society’s Director of Products & Services. “The authors, reviewers, editorial board, and editor in chief of IEEE Security & Privacy have done a remarkable job and a lot of work to make the magazine what it is; this award is all about what they've accomplished.”

The winning issue for IEEE Security & Privacy is the September/October 2016 issue, “The Security-Usability Tradeoff Myth”, which debunks the widespread belief that increasing system security inevitably decreases usability.

According to the issue’s guest editors, M. Angela Sasse and Matthew Smith, “Usability problems are the root cause of many of today’s IT security incidents. Security mechanisms are often too time consuming for people to bother with, or so complex that even those willing to use them make mistakes. For more than a decade, usable security researchers and practitioners have tried to address this problem by creating more usable security solutions.” However, an unsettling number of security mechanisms cause user mistakes or noncompliance, ultimately putting individuals and organizations at risk. The guest editors continue, “We need to use scientific research methods to put countermeasures that pass the test on sounder footing, and use measurements to check if we’re doing better or worse when we make changes. And of course, we need to be prepared to bury the beliefs that turn out to be incorrect.”