Eyes on the Phish(er): Towards Understanding Users' Email Processing Pattern and Mental Models in Phishing Detection

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Zhuo, Sijie, Biddle, Robert, Recomendable, Jared Daniel, Russello, Giovanni, Lottridge, Danielle
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Zhuo, Sijie
Biddle, Robert
Recomendable, Jared Daniel
Russello, Giovanni
Lottridge, Danielle
author_facet Zhuo, Sijie
Biddle, Robert
Recomendable, Jared Daniel
Russello, Giovanni
Lottridge, Danielle
contents Phishing emails typically masquerade themselves as reputable identities to trick people into providing sensitive information and credentials. Despite advancements in cybersecurity, attackers continuously adapt, posing ongoing threats to individuals and organisations. While email users are the last line of defence, they are not always well-prepared to detect phishing emails. This study examines how workload affects susceptibility to phishing, using eye-tracking technology to observe participants' reading patterns and interactions with tailored phishing emails. Incorporating both quantitative and qualitative analysis, we investigate users' attention to two phishing indicators, email sender and hyperlink URLs, and their reasons for assessing the trustworthiness of emails and falling for phishing emails. Our results provide concrete evidence that attention to the email sender can reduce phishing susceptibility. While we found no evidence that attention to the actual URL in the browser influences phishing detection, attention to the text masking links can increase phishing susceptibility. We also highlight how email relevance, familiarity, and visual presentation impact first impressions of email trustworthiness and phishing susceptibility.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_07717
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Eyes on the Phish(er): Towards Understanding Users' Email Processing Pattern and Mental Models in Phishing Detection
Zhuo, Sijie
Biddle, Robert
Recomendable, Jared Daniel
Russello, Giovanni
Lottridge, Danielle
Human-Computer Interaction
Cryptography and Security
Phishing emails typically masquerade themselves as reputable identities to trick people into providing sensitive information and credentials. Despite advancements in cybersecurity, attackers continuously adapt, posing ongoing threats to individuals and organisations. While email users are the last line of defence, they are not always well-prepared to detect phishing emails. This study examines how workload affects susceptibility to phishing, using eye-tracking technology to observe participants' reading patterns and interactions with tailored phishing emails. Incorporating both quantitative and qualitative analysis, we investigate users' attention to two phishing indicators, email sender and hyperlink URLs, and their reasons for assessing the trustworthiness of emails and falling for phishing emails. Our results provide concrete evidence that attention to the email sender can reduce phishing susceptibility. While we found no evidence that attention to the actual URL in the browser influences phishing detection, attention to the text masking links can increase phishing susceptibility. We also highlight how email relevance, familiarity, and visual presentation impact first impressions of email trustworthiness and phishing susceptibility.
title Eyes on the Phish(er): Towards Understanding Users' Email Processing Pattern and Mental Models in Phishing Detection
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Cryptography and Security
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.07717