Exploring the Effects of Cybersecurity Awareness and Decision-Making Under Risk
- Abstract This paper challenges the conventional assumption in cybersecurity that users act as rational actors. Despite numerous technical solutions, awareness campaigns, and organizational strategies aimed at bolstering cybersecurity, these often overlook the prevalence of non-rational user behavior. Our study, involving a survey of 208 participants, empirically demonstrates this aspect. We found that a significant portion of users (55.3%) would accept a substantial risk (35%) to click on a potentially malicious link or attachment. This propensity increases to 61% when users are led to believe there is a 65% chance of facing no adverse consequences. To address this irrationality, we explored the efficacy of nudging mechanisms within email systems. Our qualitative user study revealed that incorporating a simple colored nudge in the email intably enhance the ability of users to discern malicious emails, improving decision-making accuracy by an average of 10%.
| Author: | Jan HörnemannORCiD, Oskar BraunORCiD, Daniel TheisORCiD, Norbert PohlmannORCiD, Tobias UrbanORCiD, Matteo Große-KampmannORCiD |
|---|---|
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-2417-1_11 |
| Parent Title (English): | Science of Cyber Security. 6th International Conference, SciSec 2024, Copenhagen, Denmark, August 14–16, 2024, Proceedings |
| Publisher: | Springer Nature |
| Document Type: | Conference Proceeding |
| Language: | English |
| Date of Publication (online): | 2025/03/04 |
| Date of first Publication: | 2025/03/04 |
| Embargo Date: | 2026/03/04 |
| Publishing Institution: | Westfälische Hochschule Gelsenkirchen Bocholt Recklinghausen |
| Release Date: | 2025/05/08 |
| Tag: | Behavioral Economics; Economics of Cybersecurity; User Behavior |
| Page Number: | 21 Seiten |
| First Page: | 196 |
| Last Page: | 216 |
| Institutes: | Institute / Institut für Internetsicherheit |
| Licence (German): |


