Human Factors Considerations for User Identification on Air Traffic Control Systems

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airway facilities (AF) workforce maintains the automation, surveillance, navigation, and communications systems that make up the National Airspace System (NAS). NAS systems employ a variety of user identification techniques and policies which place cognitive and social pressures on the AF workforce. This poster describes ongoing FAA research examining the human factors issues AF personnel face in the use of information technology (IT) security. Issues include the number of passwords personnel must remember, the complexity and frequency by which passwords must be changed, and employee accountability. This poster provides an analysis of ways in which the AF environment, tasks, and users differ from the common IT environment described in the literature. We discuss ways that these differences may affect decisions regarding passwords and other IT security techniques.