Exploring phishing susceptibility attributable to authority, urgency, risk perception and human factors

Security breaches nowadays are not limited to technological orientation. Research in the information security domain is gradually shifting towards human behavioral orientation toward breaches that target weaknesses arising from human behaviors (Workman et al., 2007). Currently, social engineering breaches are more effective than many technical attacks. In fact, the majority of cyber assaults have a social engineering component. Social Engineering is the art of manipulating human flaws towards a malicious objective (Breda et al., 2017). In the likely future, social engineering will be the most predominant attack vector within cyber security (Breda et al., 2017). Human failures, persuasion and social influences are key elements to understand when considering security behaviors. With the increasing concerns for social engineering and advancements in human factors-based technology, phishing emails are becoming more prevalent in exploiting human factors and external factors. Such factors have been researched upon in pairs, not overall. Till date, there is not much research done to identify the collaborative links between authority, urgency, risk perception and human factors such as personality traits, and knowledge. This study investigates about phishing email characters, external influences, human factors influences, and their collaborative effects.