Security teams love to say they’re protecting the business. UX specialists want to make things easy for users. IT departments get caught in the middle, trying to balance these seemingly opposing forces. But here’s the thing: treating user experience and security as a necessary trade-off is not just wrong, it’s actively making your organization less secure.
The idea that good security requires bad user experience is one of the most persistent myths in IT. It’s also one of the most dangerous.
The Real Cost of Security vs. UX Thinking
When security feels like punishment, people rebel. And they’re really good at it.
Research shows that 31% of office workers aged 18-24 have tried to bypass security policies. A Harvard Business Review study found that 67% of participants failed to fully adhere to cybersecurity policies at least once during a 10-day period, with an average failure rate of once out of every 20 job tasks.
This isn’t because people don’t care about security. Studies reveal that 92% of people are aware of the security risks of reusing passwords, but 65% do it anyway. The problem isn’t awareness, it’s what researchers call “security fatigue.”
NIST defines security fatigue as “a weariness or reluctance to deal with computer security” that leads to risky behavior. When users feel bombarded by security requirements, they don’t become more secure. They become creative problem-solvers who find ways around your carefully crafted policies.
Some numbers to put things into perspective:
- The average user now manages 100 passwords across different accounts
- Password reuse happens 14 times on average per user
- The FBI received a record number of cybercrime complaints, with potential losses exceeding $6.9 billion
Each password change request, each multi-factor authentication prompt, each security warning adds to the cognitive load until something breaks. And when it breaks, users don’t just stop using the system. They find ways to make it work that completely bypass your security controls.
How Bad UX Creates Security Holes
Poor user experience doesn’t just annoy people. It actively undermines security in predictable ways.
The Password Problem
Complex password requirements lead to predictable patterns. Users forced to create “SecurePassword123!” this month will use “SecurePassword124!” next month. They’ll write passwords on sticky notes. They’ll use the same “complex” password across multiple systems. The very policies designed to enhance security end up creating new vulnerabilities.
Shadow IT Explosion
When official tools are clunky, users find unofficial ones. They’ll use personal cloud storage for work files, share credentials through messaging apps, or find “simpler” software that lacks proper security controls. This shadow IT problem costs organizations an average of $2.9 million annually in security incidents.
MFA Bombing Success
Attackers increasingly use “MFA bombing” tactics, overwhelming users with repeated authentication requests until they approve one just to make it stop. The 2022 Uber breach happened exactly this way when a frustrated employee approved an MFA request after being bombarded with notifications, giving attackers access to internal systems.
The pattern is always the same: when security gets in the way of getting work done, security loses. Users aren’t trying to be malicious, just productive. But the result is the same: carefully designed security policies become worthless the moment they conflict with business needs.
The Psychology Behind Security Rebellion
Understanding why users circumvent security requires understanding human psychology. Decision fatigue plays a huge role here; the quality of decision-making decreases when users are asked to make many security decisions in a row.
Consider your own behavior:
- After entering your password for the fifth time in an hour, how carefully are you really reading that security warning?
- After the tenth MFA prompt of the day, how thoroughly are you considering whether this request is legitimate?
- When faced with a complex approval process for routine software, how tempting is that “simpler” unauthorized alternative?
Learned helplessness also factors in. When security measures feel arbitrary or constantly changing, users stop trying to understand them and start looking for ways around them. If the “secure” way to do something is unclear, unreliable, or constantly broken, users will create their own solutions.
The most dangerous part is that this rebellion often looks like compliance from the outside. Users learn to give the appearance of following security policies while actually working around them. They’ll have weak passwords that technically meet complexity requirements. They’ll approve MFA requests without reading them. They’ll use approved software incorrectly rather than learn how to use it properly.
UX Is Security
The best security is invisible security. When security measures feel natural and helpful rather than burdensome, compliance goes up dramatically.
Modern smartphones demonstrate this perfectly. Biometric authentication feels effortless to users, but it’s incredibly secure. Automatic app updates happen in the background without user intervention. App store reviews and automatic malware scanning protect users without requiring any security knowledge.
These aren’t security features that happen to have good UX. The good UX is what makes them effective security features.
Banking apps provide another excellent example. The most secure mobile banking apps don’t feel like security applications. They feel like convenience applications. One-touch payments, instant notifications, and seamless authentication create an experience that users actively prefer over less secure alternatives like cash or checks.
The same principle applies to enterprise security, but most organizations haven’t figured this out yet. They’re still thinking about security as something that happens to users rather than something that works with them.
How Admin By Request Solves the False Dilemma
Admin By Request’s approach to endpoint privilege management demonstrates how security and user experience can work together instead of against each other. Rather than forcing organizations to choose between security and productivity, our Zero Trust Platform makes security feel like a productivity enhancement.
The traditional approach to admin rights creates a genuine dilemma. Give users permanent admin access and you’re exposing your network to malware, ransomware, and insider threats. Remove admin rights entirely and you’re creating helpdesk bottlenecks that frustrate users and slow down business operations.
Admin By Request’s EPM solution eliminates this trade-off through several key design principles.
Just-in-Time Access That Feels Instant
Users can request admin privileges when they need them, and the system grants access immediately for pre-approved applications or workflows. There’s no waiting for IT approval for routine tasks like installing approved software or updating drivers.
The magic happens in the details:
- Users can right-click any application and select “Run as Admin” just like they always have
- Pre-approved applications elevate instantly
- Unknown applications trigger a quick approval workflow
- Time-limited admin sessions prevent persistent exposure
The security is stronger than permanent admin rights because access is limited in scope and duration. The user experience feels smoother because Admin By Request handles elevation seamlessly in the background, eliminating the UAC prompts and permission conflicts that plague permanent admin accounts during daily tasks.
Learning from User Behavior
The machine learning capabilities observe which applications users regularly request elevation for and can automatically approve them after a threshold number of manual approvals. This means the system gets more convenient over time while maintaining security oversight.
Here’s what this looks like in practice:
- Developer needs to install Node.js for the first time → manual approval required
- After several manual approvals across the team → Node.js installer becomes pre-approved
- Future Node.js installations → instant elevation with full audit trail
Users don’t feel like they’re fighting the system. They feel like the system is learning to help them work more efficiently.
Transparent Approval Processes
When manual approval is required, users know exactly what’s happening and why. Clear notifications explain the approval process, estimated wait times set proper expectations, and business reasoning helps users understand security decisions. Real-time status updates keep everyone informed.
Mobile-First Approval Workflows
IT administrators can approve or deny requests from their mobile devices, meaning users rarely have to wait for approvals even when manual review is required. The mobile app provides full context about requests, including application details, user justification, and security recommendations, enabling quick but informed decisions.
Seamless Offline Operation
The system works whether endpoints are online or offline, using cached policies and PIN code systems for disconnected scenarios. Users traveling or working from remote locations don’t lose productivity due to connectivity issues, and security policies remain enforced regardless of network status.
The result? A system where the secure choice is also the convenient choice. Users prefer working with Admin By Request compared to having permanent admin rights because it eliminates many of the permission conflicts and UAC prompts that make admin accounts frustrating to use daily.
Security Fatigue Is a Design Problem
NIST research identifies three ways to combat security fatigue:
- Limit the number of security decisions users need to make
- Make it simple for users to choose the right security action
- Design for consistent decision-making whenever possible
Notice that none of these solutions involve more security training or stricter policies. They’re all design solutions.
Context-aware systems exemplify this approach perfectly. If someone’s logging in from their usual location during normal hours, why make them jump through hoops? But if they’re accessing sensitive data from a new country at 3 AM, additional verification makes sense to everyone involved.
Reducing decision points means automating what you can and simplifying what you can’t. Automatic patching removes update decisions. Centralized certificate management eliminates SSL confusion. Single sign-on reduces authentication friction. Pre-approved software lists speed up installation requests.
When users do need to make security decisions, the secure option should be the obvious one. Pre-approved software lists, one-click secure file sharing, and streamlined approval workflows all make compliance the path of least resistance.
Consistency matters more than most security teams realize. Users shouldn’t have to relearn security procedures for every system. Different authentication methods for different applications, varying approval processes across departments, and inconsistent interfaces all contribute to decision fatigue and increase the likelihood of mistakes.
Building Security That Users Actually Want
The most successful security implementations feel helpful rather than restrictive. This requires a fundamental shift in how security teams think about their role.
Instead of asking “How can we prevent users from doing dangerous things?” the question becomes “How can we help users accomplish their goals safely?” This isn’t just semantic. It leads to completely different solutions.
Start by understanding what security-related frustrations your users actually have:
- Slow VPN connections
- Forgotten passwords
- Complicated file sharing
- Delayed software approvals
These are all security problems disguised as productivity problems. Solve these issues first, and users will trust you to implement additional security measures later.
,” the problem might be with your system design rather than user training. Every security violation is data about how to improve your approach.
The Path Forward
The organizations with the strongest security don’t achieve it by making things harder for users. They achieve it by making the secure choice the easy choice.
This requires security teams to think like product managers, UX designers to understand threat models, and IT departments to measure success by user behavior rather than just policy compliance.
When security feels seamless and helpful, users become your strongest defense. When it feels burdensome and arbitrary, they become the very vulnerability you’re trying to protect against.
The choice isn’t between security and user experience. The choice is between security that works and security that doesn’t. And security that doesn’t work with users simply doesn’t work at all.
