Fishing for phishers. Improving Internet users' sensitivity to visual deception cues to prevent electronic fraud

Reactions to Problematic Internet Use Among Adolescents: Inappropriate Physical and Mental Health Perspectives

Although numerous studies have examined the factors influencing problematic Internet use (PIU), few studies have investigated the interactions between inappropriate physical and mental health (e.g., cyberbullying, Internet pornography, and Internet fraud) as factors facilitating PIU and examined the moderating effect of community bond. Thus, this study analyzed the moderating role of community bond in the relationship between cyberbullying, Internet pornography, Internet fraud, and PIU. Using a cross-sectional survey, adolescents were surveyed through self-report questionnaires. A total of 5,211 responses were received from participant students at 60 senior high schools in Taiwan. Statistical analyses were performed using structural equation modeling. The results indicated that cyberbullying, Internet pornography, Internet fraud, and community bond have significant positive effects on PIU. Community bond has a significant moderating effect in the relationship between cyberbullying, Internet fraud, and the PIU of adolescents. Parental Internet attitude and behavior were found to significantly moderate the relationship between inappropriate physical and mental health, community bond, and PIU. The results suggest that public health and education policies should focus more on adolescents who require additional assistance. Furthermore, school policies could be more informed in regard to relevant psychosocial variables and patterns of Internet use. Finally, this study may serve as a reference for parents, schools, and government education authorities.

Susceptibility to phishing on social network sites: A personality information processing model

Today, the traditional approach used to conduct phishing attacks through email and spoofed websites has evolved to include social network sites (SNSs). This is because phishers are able to use similar methods to entice social network users to click on malicious links masquerading as fake news, controversial videos and other opportunities thought to be attractive or beneficial to the victim. SNSs are a phisher's “market” as they offer phishers a wide range of targets and take advantage of opportunities that exploit the behavioural vulnerabilities of their users. As such, it is important to further investigate aspects affecting behaviour when users are presented with phishing. Based on the literature studied, this research presents a theoretical model to address phishing susceptibility on SNSs. Using data collected from 215 respondents, the study examined the mediating role that information processing plays with regard to user susceptibility to social network phishing based on their personality traits, thereby identifying user characteristics that may be more susceptible than others to phishing on SNSs. The results from the structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis revealed that conscientious users were found to have a negative influence on heuristic processing, and are thus less susceptible to phishing on SNSs. The study also confirmed that heuristic processing increases susceptibility to phishing, thus supporting prior studies in this area. This research contributes to the information security discipline as it is one of the first to examine the effect of the relationship between the Big Five personality model and the heuristic-systematic model of information processing.

Email fraud: The search for psychological predictors of susceptibility

Decisions that we make about email legitimacy can result in a pernicious threat to security of both individuals and organisations. Yet user response to phishing emails is far from uniform; some respond while others do not. What is the source of this diversity in decision-making? From a psychological perspective, we consider cognitive and situational influences that might explain why certain users are more susceptible than others. Alongside an email judgment task employed as a proxy for fraud susceptibility, 224 participants completed a range of cognitive tasks. In addition, we manipulated time pressure for email legitimacy judgments. We identify cognitive reflection and sensation seeking as significant, albeit modest, predictors of susceptibility. Further to this, participants asked to make quicker responses made more judgment errors. We conclude there are cognitive signatures that partially contribute to email fraud susceptibility, with implications for efforts to limit online security breaches and train secure behaviors.

Predicting susceptibility to cyber-fraud victimhood

Purpose

This paper aims to develop a theoretical framework to predict susceptibility to cyber-fraud victimhood.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was constructed to examine whether personality, socio-demographic characteristics and online routine activities predicted one-off and repeat victimhood of cyber-fraud. Overall, 11,780 participants completed a survey (one-off victims, N = 728; repeat victims = 329).

Findings

The final saturated model revealed that psychological and socio-demographic characteristics and online routine activities should be considered when predicting victimhood. Consistent with the hypotheses, victims of cyber-frauds were more likely to be older, score high on impulsivity measures of urgency and sensation seeking, score high on addictive measures and engage in more frequent routine activities that place them at great risk of becoming scammed. There was little distinction between one-off and repeat victims of cyber-frauds.

Originality/value

This work uniquely combines psychological, socio-demographic and online behaviours to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework to predict susceptibility to cyber-frauds. Importantly, the work here challenges the current utility of government websites to protect users from becoming scammed and provides insights into methods that might be used to protect users from becoming scammed.

Human Resources and their Tendency to Information Security Crimes Based on Holland Theory

Security systems are often the target of cyber-criminals and professional hackers, but often they fail in hiding all traces of the attack, thereby leaving critical evidence that could lead to identifying and arresting the criminal. However, hacking skills vary from one hacker to another depending on the hacker's personal traits, behavior, and intellectual tendencies. The aim of this study is to develop a proposed descriptive model of the behavioral patterns and motives of hackers based on programmable psychological theories, modeled using object-oriented programming models. The study proposes a descriptive model of an inverse algorithm that simulates Holland's Theory of Behavioral Patterns. Findings show that this descriptive model is applicable to be produced as a code map for the human resources of an investigative nature.