How demographic and appearance cues of a potential social engineer influence trust perception and risk-taking among targets?
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to investigate how the demographics and appearance cues of potential social engineers influence the likelihood that targets will trust them and accept security risk.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through an online survey of 635 participants, including 322 participants from Arab countries and 313 participants from the UK. The survey presented scenarios with 16 personas who offered participants the use of their mobile internet hotspot. These personas were characterized by combinations of age (young vs aged), gender (male vs female), ethnicity (Arab vs UK) and look formality (casual vs formal). The study measured both participants’ offer acceptance and trust in the persona.
Findings
Results indicated a higher likelihood of offer acceptance from female and aged personas, as well as a greater trust in these groups. Arab participants showed a preference for personas with Arabian ethnic features. In both samples, trust and acceptance were influenced by the persona’s appearance, which was found to be gender-dependent; with female personas in casual attire and male personas in formal attire being trusted more in comparison to female with formal attire and male with informal, respectively.
Practical implications
Findings highlight the importance of incorporating awareness of appearance-based biases in cybersecurity training, suggesting the need for culturally sensitive training programs to enhance defense against social engineering.
Originality/value
This study distinguishes itself by elucidating the influence of social engineers’ demographic and appearance cues on the likelihood of individuals to take security risks, thus addressing a significant gap in the literature which has traditionally emphasized the profiles of targets.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research was made possible by an NPRP-14-Cluster Grant # NPRP 14C-0916-210015 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The findings herein reflect the work of the authors and are solely their responsibility.
Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Citation
Abuelezz, I., Barhamgi, M., Nhlabatsi, A., Khan, K.M. and Ali, R. (2024), "How demographic and appearance cues of a potential social engineer influence trust perception and risk-taking among targets?", Information and Computer Security, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/ICS-03-2024-0057
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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