Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) protect confidentiality and integrity of trusted applications by creating an isolated environment for executing code. Prior work has shown that users may feel more comfortable sharing data when they know it will be protected by a TEE, especially if they understand what a TEE is. In this study, we evaluated text-based explanations introducing TEEs to non-experts. We analyzed existing TEE explanations to develop candidate explanations and evaluated them via vignette scenarios with 966 crowdworkers. The explanations that enhanced understanding most were non-technical ones that highlighted specific threats that can be prevented by a TEE. Surprisingly, even the explanations that enhanced understanding had little effect on willingness to use the TEE-enhanced technology. These results provide insights into ways to communicate technical security concepts more effectively but also suggest that explaining security technology might not be enough to address users' privacy concerns.

翻译：可信执行环境（TEE）通过创建隔离的代码执行环境，保护可信应用的机密性与完整性。已有研究表明，当用户知晓数据将由TEE保护时——尤其是当他们理解什么是TEE时——他们可能更乐于分享数据。本研究评估了面向非专家用户介绍TEE的文本解释方案。我们分析了现有TEE解释以开发候选方案，并通过包含966名众包工作者的情景实验进行评估。结果显示，最能提升理解能力的解释是非技术性解释，这些解释重点强调了TEE可防范的具体威胁。令人意外的是，即使是那些提升理解的解释，对用户使用TEE增强技术的意愿影响甚微。这些发现不仅为更有效地传达技术安全概念提供了洞见，也表明仅解释安全技术可能不足以解决用户的隐私关切。