Dancing pigs - Definition

In computer security, dancing pigs or the dancing pigs problem refers to a statement on user attitudes to computer security: that users primarily desire features without considering security, and so security must be designed in without the computer having to ask a technically ignorant user [1] (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/components/reviewguide.html).

The quote is commonly attributed to either Edward Felten or Bruce Schneier. Felten said in Securing Java (1999), chapter one, part seven [2] (http://www.securingjava.com/chapter-one/chapter-one-7.html):

Given a choice between dancing pigs and security, users will pick dancing pigs every time.

A longer version of the quote was given by Schneier in his book Secrets and Lies (2000), p262:

If J. Random Websurfer clicks on a button that promises dancing pigs on his computer monitor, and instead gets a hortatory message describing the potential dangers of the applet — he's going to choose dancing pigs over computer security any day. If the computer prompts him with a warning screen like: "The applet DANCING PIGS could contain malicious code that might do permanent damage to your computer, steal your life's savings, and impair your ability to have children," he'll click "OK" without even reading it. Thirty seconds later he won't even remember that the warning screen even existed.

References

• Gary McGraw and Edward Felten: Securing Java (http://www.securingjava.com/) (John Wiley & Sons, 1999; ISBN 047131952X)
• Bruce Schneier: Secrets and Lies (John Wiley & Sons, 2000; ISBN 0471453803)