It's like an "American Idol" for security geeks. Students at the Georgia Institute of Technology prep, sweat and show their stuff while a panel of critics decides their fates. But unlike the popular "reality" TV show, judges aren't determining who can best carry a tune. Instead they weigh students' ideas for making information security more user-friendly, with $50,000 -- enough cash to fund a project for 12 months -- hanging in the balance.

"People are the weakest link in any security systems," Georgia Tech associate professor Keith Edwards said. "You can have the strongest technology in the world, but individuals will intentionally find a way to work around the security technology to make their lives easier." So the school's College of Computing, Information Security Center and its Graphics, Visualization and Usability Center created the "Tiger Team" competition to search for security technology that would be simple to use and easy to understand.

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