Design for security

I recently got a new keyboard. My checkboxes were:

• ergonomic
• wireless, and sharing a dongle with my wireless ergonomic mouse
• full-sized, including number pad; arrow key cluster, and the cluster of keys for delete, home, and page-up, page down
• easy-type keys, which probably has an official name that I don't know. These are keys that don't havce to be pushed deeply into the keyboard to register, and can tollerate a certain amount of sideways push - they're buttons, really, more than keys

I ended up getting the Logitech K860. I've had it for a few weeks, so I'm still in the learning curve for the keyboard layout (I've had several ergonomic keyboards over the years, and each has it's keys layed out differently), but one feature stands out. I's the key at the top right, which features a lock symbol, and when pressed, it locks the computer, putitng up the lock screen and requiring me to enter my password if I want to resume using the computer. A year ago, I doubt I would have thought about this key, or ever used it, but I completed a cybersecurity bootcamp in the second half of 2023 and one of the many things I learned was the value of security habits. Being in the habit of locking my computer every time I step away from it closes one avenue of attack against my computer and my network, since no one else can sneak on to my computer during the several minutes that elapse between my last keystroke or mouse movement and when the computer automatically locks.

At home, the liklihood of a threat actor sneaking onto my machine is limited. However, I do recal a colleague of mine whose cat managed to blast her resume out onto a listserve by leaping up onto the keyboard and striking just the right set of keys. Security is about more than just protection against threat actors, and as much as I love my cats, I don't see benefit in giving them free reign over my keyboard.

At work, it's a different situation, of course, and for a several months I had been using a different wireless keyboard there, Logitech's K350. This keyboard also has a lock key, in the same location as the K860. This keyboard belonged to me, however, and was only intended as a stopgap, so when my department got me a new keyboard it came home. And then the value of that lock key really struck me, because my new keyboard doesn't have that key. I had developed the habit of hitting that key every time I stood up from my desk, but now I had to either use [CTRL] + [ALT] + [DELETE], then [ENTER]. or use the mouse to engage the start menu, then select user options, then select lock.

In truth, the extra time and effort is not large. But if you've ever seen someone toss recycling into the garbage can they're standing next to rather than crossing to the recyling bin three steps away, you know that many people are going to take the easiest route. Having a single button to press to lock the computer, and having that button be in a corner (you don't have to hunt for it), is about as easy as you can get. If we want our community members to lock their computers when they leave them unattended (and as security professionals, we do), the few extra dollars for a keyboard that does this is money well spent.