A Sloppy Interface Is a Security Liability 

In his talk “Why AI Is Breaking Software Security As We Know It” (my notes here), Feross Aboukhadijeh talks about the Axios npm incident and how the maintainer got phished by succumbing to (amongst other things) a faux Microsoft Teams interface: this is the kind of thing that AI makes easy to do, because it can vibe code that whole fake Microsoft Teams interface pretty trivially You’ve probably seen these: interfaces designed to look like some other product in order to provide a facade of authenticity and exploit someone. What struck me in listening to Feross was this idea of how the quality of your interfaces can be a protection mechanism against attackers. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard someone say that out loud — interface and interaction design as a security control — but I’m saying it. Now, of course, not everyone will consciously notice the level of polish that world-class professionals imbue in digital interfaces. But some will. Personally, I’ve always used the quality and…