Authors :
Freyha A. Bahari; Tadzmera A. Daud; Mhesi D. Arabbi; Noralyn I. Jalah; Nuralyn O. Adjid; Fatmahal Abah; Sitti Aiman A. Amiddin; Ayang A. Ibno; Alsanoh S. Abduhail; Masukud Ajijul; Riza M. Sali; Shernahar K. Tahil
Volume/Issue :
Volume 9 - 2024, Issue 12 - December
Google Scholar :
https://tinyurl.com/4x9tj3jm
Scribd :
https://tinyurl.com/3zj2z4mr
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14610632
Abstract :
Phishing emails are type of Social Engineering
attacks which are currently among the most widespread
cybersecurity threat due to their impact on human
psychology. These attacks aim to gain sensitive
information from the user such as passwords, banking
details, or personal information. This research aims at
identifying the psychological factors that make users
vulnerable to phishing including, manipulation of trust
and credibility, cognitive biases and heuristics, emotional
triggers, social proof, and scarcity. Through the
evaluation of these factors, this paper offers information
on how phishing schemes exploits authority, self-control
bias, and scarcity. Based on the findings of the present
research, it concerns the increased user awareness and the
developing tools to prepare individuals to stand against
any phishing attacks. This study contributes to the
understanding on how and why phishing occurs, as well
as it offers suggestions for addressing the problem.
Keywords :
Susceptibility, Psychological Vulnerabilities, Phishing, Heuristics.
References :
- Alseadon, A. (2014). The impact of personality traits on phishing susceptibility: The case of Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Computer Application.
- Butavicius, M., Parsons, K., Pattison, M., & McCormac, A. (2016). Breaching the human firewall: Social engineering in phishing and spear phishing e – mails.
- Diaz, A., Sherman, A. T., & Joshi, A. (2018). Phishing in an academic community: A study of user susceptibility and behaivior.
- Luo, X., Zhang, W., Burd, S., & Seazzu, A. (2013). Investigating phishing victimization with the phishing heuristic – semantic model: A theoretical framework and an explanation. Computer & Security.
- Robert Cialdini: “Dr. Robert Cialdini’s seven principles of persuasion, IAW”. Influence work retrieved 18 May 2022.
- Desolda, G., Ferro, L. S., Marella, A., Catarci, T., & Costabile, M. F. (2020). Human factors in phishing attacks: A systematic literature review., AMC Computing surveys.
- Jain. A. K., & Gupta, B. B. (2017). Phishing detection: Analysis of visual similarity – based approaches. Security and communication network.
- Alkhalil., Z., Hewage, C., Nawaf, L., & Khan, I. (2021). Phishing attacks: A recent comprehensive study and a new anatomy.
- Frontiers in computer science. 3.
- McAlaney, J., & Hills, P. J. (2020). Understanding phishing email processing and perceived trustworthnes through eye tracking. Frontiers in psychology.
- PositivePsychology.co. (2020, April 4). What is cognitive bias? 7 examples & resources (Incl. Codex).
Phishing emails are type of Social Engineering
attacks which are currently among the most widespread
cybersecurity threat due to their impact on human
psychology. These attacks aim to gain sensitive
information from the user such as passwords, banking
details, or personal information. This research aims at
identifying the psychological factors that make users
vulnerable to phishing including, manipulation of trust
and credibility, cognitive biases and heuristics, emotional
triggers, social proof, and scarcity. Through the
evaluation of these factors, this paper offers information
on how phishing schemes exploits authority, self-control
bias, and scarcity. Based on the findings of the present
research, it concerns the increased user awareness and the
developing tools to prepare individuals to stand against
any phishing attacks. This study contributes to the
understanding on how and why phishing occurs, as well
as it offers suggestions for addressing the problem.
Keywords :
Susceptibility, Psychological Vulnerabilities, Phishing, Heuristics.