A personality-based behavioural model: Susceptibility to phishing on social networking sites

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Edwin Donald Frauenstein
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Social Engineering ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Phishing Attacks ◽  
Computer Self Efficacy

The worldwide popularity of social networking sites (SNSs) and the technical features they offer users have created many opportunities for malicious individuals to exploit the behavioral tendencies of their users via social engineering tactics. The self-representation and social interactions on SNSs encourage users to reveal their personalities in a way which characterises their behaviour. Frequent engagement on SNSs may also reinforce the performance of certain activities, such as sharing and clicking on links, at a “habitual” level on these sites. Subsequently, this may also influence users to overlook phishing posts and messages on SNSs and thus not apply sufficient cognitive effort in their decision-making. As users do not expect phishing threats on these sites, they may become accustomed to behaving in this manner which may consequently put them at risk of such attacks. Using an online survey, primary data was collected from 215 final-year undergraduate students. Employing structural equation modelling techniques, the associations between the Big Five personality traits, habits and information processing were examined with the aim to identify users susceptible to phishing on SNSs. Moreover, other behavioural factors such as social norms, computer self-efficacy and perceived risk were examined in terms of their influence on phishing susceptibility. The results of the analysis revealed the following key findings: 1) users with the personality traits of extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism are more likely to perform habitual behaviour, while conscientious users are least likely; 2) users who perform certain behaviours out of habit are directly susceptible to phishing attacks; 3) users who behave out of habit are likely to apply a heuristic mode of processing and are therefore more susceptible to phishing attacks on SNSs than those who apply systematic processing; 4) users with higher computer self-efficacy are less susceptible to phishing; and 5) users who are influenced by social norms are at greater risk of phishing. This study makes a contribution to scholarship and to practice, as it is the first empirical study to investigate, in one comprehensive model, the relationship between personality traits, habit and their effect on information processing which may influence susceptibility to phishing on SNSs. The findings of this study may assist organisations in the customisation of an individual anti-phishing training programme to target specific dispositional factors in vulnerable users. By using a similar instrument to the one used in this study, pre-assessments could determine and classify certain risk profiles that make users vulnerable to phishing attacks.

Addiction to Social Networking Sites and User Responses

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 65-91
Author(s):  
Hamed Qahri-Saremi ◽  
Isaac Vaghefi ◽  
Ofir Turel
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Big Five Personality Traits ◽  
Social Networking Site ◽  
Big Five Personality ◽  
User Behaviors ◽  
Person Centered Approach

Prior studies have primarily used "variable-centered" perspectives to identify factors underlying user responses to social networking site (SNS) addiction, their predictors and outcomes. This paper extends this perspective by taking a person-centered approach to examine (1) the prototypical subpopulations (profiles) of users' extent of SNS addiction and responses to it, (2) how affiliations with these profiles can explain user behaviors toward SNS use, and (3) how personality traits can predict affiliations with these profiles. To this end, we propose a typological theory of SNS addiction and user responses to it via two empirical, personcentered studies. Study 1 draws on survey data from 188 SNS users to develop a typology of users based on the extent of their SNS addiction and their responses to it. It further examines the relations between affiliation with these profiles and users' SNS discontinuance intention, as a typical behavioral response to SNS addiction. Study 2 uses survey data from 284 SNS users to validate the user typology developed in Study 1 and investigate its relations to users' Big Five personality traits. Our findings shed light on a typology of five prototypical profiles of SNS users-cautious, regular, consonant, dissonant, and hooked-who differ in their extent of SNS addiction and their cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses to it. Our findings also demonstrate how Big Five personality traits can predict user affiliations with these prototypical profiles.

Distributed Social Platforms for Confidentiality and Resilience

2013 ◽  
pp. 114-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Franchi ◽  
Michele Tomaiuolo
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Denial Of Service ◽  
Social Engineering ◽  
Peer To Peer ◽  
Current Approach ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Hash Tables ◽  
Semantic Data ◽  
Peer To Peer Systems

Social networking sites have deeply changed the perception of the web in the last years. Although the current approach to build social networking systems is to create huge centralized systems owned by a single company, such strategy has many drawbacks, e.g., lack of privacy, lack of anonymity, risks of censorship and operating costs. These issues contrast with some of the main requirements of information systems, including: (i) confidentiality, i.e., the interactions between a user and the system must remain private unless explicitly public; (ii) integrity; (iii) accountability; (iv) availability; (v) identity and anonymity. Moreover, social networking platforms are vulnerable to many kind of attacks: (i) masquerading, which occurs when a user disguises his identity and pretends to be another user; (ii) unauthorized access; (iii) denial of service; (iv) repudiation, which occurs when a user participates in an activity and later claims he did not; (v) eavesdropping; (vi) alteration of data; (vii) copy and replay attacks; and, in general, (viii) attacks making use of social engineering techniques. In order to overcome both the intrinsic defects of centralized systems and the general vulnerabilities of social networking platforms, many different approaches have been proposed, both as federated (i.e., consisting of multiple entities cooperating to provide the service, but usually distinct from users) or peer-to-peer systems (with users directly cooperating to provide the service); in this work the most interesting ones were reviewed. Eventually, the authors present their own approach to create a solid distributed social networking platform consisting in a novel peer-to-peer system that leverages existing, widespread and stable technologies such as distributed hash tables and BitTorrent. The topics considered in detail are: (i) anonymity and resilience to censorship; (ii) authenticatable contents; (iii) semantic interoperability using activity streams and weak semantic data formats for contacts and profiles; and (iv) data availability.

How Is the Personality of Facebook Customers?

2017 ◽  
pp. 191-229
Author(s):  
Juan Jose Delgado
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Clear Correlation ◽  
The People ◽  
Research Gap ◽  
Secondary Information ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Way

This chapter claims to understand the implications of Cloninger´s psychobiological model of temperament in the people behaviour on social networking sites. This study uses secondary information as well as primary data. The author collected and analyzed an online survey with a sample of 365 individuals. The study contributed to bridging the research gap of the correlation between the Cloninger´s psychobiological model of temperament and people behaviour on SNSs. The main findings show that clear correlation exists between Cloninger´s psychobiological temperament dimensions and the way people interacts on Facebook. Mainly, temperament is affecting in almost all the areas that have been tested; Facebook affinity uses of Facebook, motives and barriers of using Facebook.

Web 2.0, Virtual Worlds, and Real Ethical Issues

2010 ◽  
pp. 105-117
Author(s):  
Sue Conger
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Industrial Espionage ◽  
Local Norms ◽  
Illegal Activities

Social networking sites, enabled by Web 2.0 technologies and embodied in role-playing virtual worlds, are gaining in popularity and use both for recreational and business purposes. Behavioral controls can be regulated through program code restrictions, rules of conduct, and local norms. Most vendor hosts of virtual worlds use code restrictions sparingly, restricting only overtly illegal activities. Otherwise, all worlds publish some form of rules of conduct and rely on the development of in-world local norms to regulate behavior. As a result, many unethical forms of behavior have arisen, including griefing, fragging, and industrial espionage. There is no sure method of solving the unethical forms of behavior unless strong social norms develop; therefore, users must take precautions when acting in virtual worlds to understand how to avoid or deflect virtual attacks of different types.

Effects of Computer Self Efficacy on the Use and Adoption of Online Social Networking

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lionel Mew ◽  
William H. Money
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Online Social Networking ◽  
User Characteristics ◽  
End User ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
System Characteristics ◽  
Computer Self Efficacy

Online Social Networking (OSN) systems such as Ning, MySpace, Facebook and Friendster have achieved tremendous popularity. However, little research has been conducted to determine factors motivating users with varying capabilities to use and adopt OSN systems addressing target tasks, with varying system capabilities and characteristics. The relationships between user characteristics and use/performance have not been adequately addressed. This study used a cross-sectional survey of 262 graduate and undergraduate students to examine how end user Computer Self-Efficacy (CSE) affects performance and use of OSN systems and how “fit” determines whether there are user, task and/or systems characteristics associated with the best performance and usage levels. Significant direct and indirect relationships were found between CSE, task and system characteristics as measured by performance and use, and these relationships were further significantly strengthened when there was good “fit” between the variables. Results indicate that users having high self-efficacy “fit” with task or systems characteristics produce higher performance and use.

Fear of Missing Out and Personality as Predictors of Social Networking Sites Usage: The Instagram Case

2020 ◽  
pp. 003329412093618
Author(s):  
Kelly Moore ◽  
Georgiana Craciun
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Personality Factors ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
Activity Data ◽  
Fear Of Missing Out ◽  
Big 5 Personality

With the exponential increase in the number of social networking sites (SNS) users, there is also a significant shift in the popularity of these SNS. Moreover, fear of missing out (FOMO) is often blamed for the growth in SNS addictive tendencies. The current research examines the influence of FOMO and Big 5 personality traits on SNS attitudes, usage, and addictive tendencies in the context of an increasingly popular SNS – Instagram. Participants completed online questionnaires that assessed their personality traits and then be-friended one of the researchers on Instagram, which provided the actual Instagram activity data (e.g., total number of Instagram posts, total number of likes, etc.). Hierarchical regression results showed that personality factors explained significant amounts of variance in terms of attitude towards Instagram, number of likes, total number of Instagram posts since account inception, and social media addictive tendencies. Furthermore, FOMO had a significant positive effect on attitude toward Instagram, the total number of Instagram accounts that respondents followed, and social media addictive tendencies.

scholarly journals Pathological Traits Associated to Facebook and Twitter among French Users

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 2242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Élodie Verseillié ◽  
Stéphanie Laconi ◽  
Henri Chabrol
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Problematic Use ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Pathological Personality Traits

Background: With a growing number of users, social networking sites have been the subject of numerous recent studies, but little investigation has been given to their problematic use. Objectives: Our main objective was to study the relationship between psychopathological variables (i.e., personality traits, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and stress) and problematic Facebook and Twitter use. Participants and method: A sample of 1068 Internet users (Mage = 26.64; SD = 9.5) has been recruited online. Participants completed scales exploring problematic Facebook and Twitter use, and psychopathological variables. Results: Problematic Facebook and Twitter use were predicted by different pathological personality traits, regrouped in clusters in our study. Depressive and anxiety symptoms were also predictive of problematic Facebook and Twitter use but only stress explained problematic Facebook use. Gender differences have been observed. Discussion: This study highlights the relationship between depression, anxiety, stress, pathological personality traits, and problematic Facebook and Twitter use. Significant differences have been retrieved between these two uses and their relationship to psychopathology. Future research should also explore the causal relationship between social networking sites use and psychopathology and consider gender.

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