Sensitive Data? Now That's a Catch! the Psychology of Phishing

Abstract

Humans are generally well adapted to handle a majority of threats that they are faced with. The issue is that behaviors that are adaptive and useful for most human interactions do not always transfer well to the digital world. In fact, our brains seem to be hardwired to fall prey to phishing. But why is that? Phishing takes advantage of the manners in which we make decisions, how we handle our emotions, and the ways we can subconsciously be persuaded. No one is immune from these attacks, and given that our brains likely will not rewire anytime soon, phishing looks like it is around to stay. However, humans are not entirely helpless when it comes to phishing. This thesis proposes behavioral, technological, and societal mitigations that can help to decrease the susceptibility to phishing and the damage it causes when it is successful.