Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Experimental Study To Assess The Role Of Environment And Device Type On The Success Of Social Engineering Attacks: The Case Of Judgment Errors, Tommy Pollock

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Phishing continues to be an invasive threat to computer and mobile device users. Cybercriminals continuously develop new phishing schemes using e-mail and malicious search engine links to gather the personal information of unsuspecting users. This information is used for financial gains through identity theft schemes or draining victims' financial accounts. Many users of varying demographic backgrounds fall victim to phishing schemes at one time or another. Users are often distracted and fail to process the phishing attempts fully, then unknowingly fall victim to the scam until much later. Users operating mobile phones and computers are likely to make judgment errors …

A Universal Cybersecurity Competency Framework For Organizational Users, Patricia A. Baker

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The global reliance on the Internet to facilitate organizational operations necessitates further investments in organizational information security. Such investments hold the potential for protecting information assets from cybercriminals. To assist organizations with their information security, The National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Cybersecurity Workforce Framework (NCWF) was created. The framework referenced the cybersecurity work, knowledge, and skills required to competently complete the tasks that strengthen their information security. Organizational users’ limited cybersecurity competency contributes to the financial and information losses suffered by organizations year after year. While most organizational users may be able to respond positively to a cybersecurity threat, …

Pause For A Cybersecurity Cause: Assessing The Influence Of A Waiting Period On User Habituation In Mitigation Of Phishing Attacks, Amy Antonucci

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Social engineering costs organizations billions of dollars a year. Social engineering exploits the weakest link of information security systems, the people who are using them. Phishing is a form of social engineering in which the perpetrator depends on the victim’s instinctual thinking towards an email designed to create a fear or excitement response. It is well-documented in literature that users continue to click on phishing emails costing them and their employers significant monetary resources and data loss. Training does not appear to mitigate the effects of phishing much; other solutions are necessary to mitigate phishing.

Kahneman introduced the concepts of …

Human Errors In Data Breaches: An Exploratory Configurational Analysis, Gabriel A. Cornejo

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Information Systems (IS) are critical for employee productivity and organizational success. Data breaches are on the rise—with thousands of data breaches accounting for billions of records breached and annual global cybersecurity costs projected to reach $10.5 trillion by 2025. A data breach is the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information—and can be achieved intentionally or unintentionally. Significant causes of data breaches are hacking and human error; in some estimates, human error accounted for about a quarter of all data breaches in 2018. Furthermore, the significance of human error on data breaches is largely underrepresented, as hackers often capitalize on organizational users’ …

An Empirical Assessment Of Users' Information Security Protection Behavior Towards Social Engineering Breaches, Nisha Jatin Patel

CCE Theses and Dissertations

User behavior is one of the most significant information security risks. Information Security is all about being aware of who and what to trust and behaving accordingly. Due to technology becoming an integral part of nearly everything in people's daily lives, the organization's need for protection from security threats has continuously increased. Social engineering is the act of tricking a user into revealing information or taking action. One of the riskiest aspects of social engineering is that it depends mainly upon user errors and is not necessarily a technology shortcoming. User behavior should be one of the first apprehensions when …

Sns Use, Risk, And Executive Behavior, Andrew Green

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Andrew Green April 2020 Personal social networking sites (SNS) are popular outlets for people to share information about themselves, their family and friends, and their personal and professional lives. On the surface, the information shared may seem to be innocuous or nonthreatening. However, prior studies have shown that cybercriminals can take information shared via personal SNS and use it to conduct attacks against organizations. Organization executives are of particular interest to cybercriminals because they have access to sensitive data, and they also have the ability to command actions from their subordinates. The purpose of this study was to explore what …

An Empirical Assessment Of Audio/Visual/Haptic Alerts And Warnings To Mitigate Risk Of Phishing Susceptibility In Emails On Mobile Devices, Molly Marie Cooper

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Phishing emails present a threat to both personal and organizational data. Phishing is a cyber-attack using social engineering. About 94% of cybersecurity incidents are due to phishing and/or social engineering. A significant volume of prior literature documented that users are continuing to click on phishing links in emails, even after phishing awareness training. It appears there is a strong need for creative ways to alert and warn users to signs of phishing in emails.

The main goal of the experiments in this study was to measure participants’ time for recognizing signs of phishing in emails, thus, reducing susceptibility to phishing …

Protecting The Protector: Mapping The Key Terrain That Supports The Continuous Monitoring Mission Of A Cloud Cybersecurity Service Provider, Chris Bush

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Key terrain is a concept that is relevant to warfare, military strategy, and tactics. A good general maps out terrain to identify key areas to protect in support of a mission (i.e., a bridge allowing for mobility of supplies and reinforcements). Effective ways to map terrain in Cyberspace (KT-C) has been an area of interest for researchers in Cybersecurity ever since the Department of Defense designated Cyberspace as a warfighting domain. The mapping of KT-C for a mission is accomplished by putting forth efforts to understand and document a mission's dependence on Cyberspace and cyber assets. A cloud Cybersecurity Service …

The Social Media Machines: An Investigation Of The Effect Of Trust Moderated By Disinformation On Users’ Decision-Making Process, Zulma Valedon Westney

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Social media networking sites (SMNS) have become a popular communications medium where users share information, knowledge, and persuasion. In less than two decades, social media's (SM) dominance as a communication medium can't be disputed, for good or evil. Combined with the newly found immediacy and pervasiveness, these SM applications' persuasive power are useful weapons for organizations, angry customers, employees, actors, and activists bent on attacking or hacking other individuals, institutions, or systems. Consequently, SM has become the preferred default mechanism of news sources; however, users are unsure if the information gathered is true or false. According to the literature, SMNS …

Cybersecurity Risk-Responsibility Taxonomy: The Role Of Cybersecurity Social Responsibility In Small Enterprises On Risk Of Data Breach, Keiona Davis

CCE Theses and Dissertations

With much effort being placed on the physical, procedural, and technological solutions for Information Systems (IS) cybersecurity, research studies tend to focus their efforts on large organizations while overlooking very smaller organizations (below 50 employees). This study addressed the failure to prevent data breaches in Very Small Enterprises (VSEs). VSEs contribute significantly to the economy, however, are more prone to cyber-attacks due to the limited risk mitigations on their systems and low cybersecurity skills of their employees. VSEs utilize Point-of-Sale (POS) systems that are exposed to cyberspace, however, they are often not equipped to prevent complex cybersecurity issues that can …

A Comprehensive Cybersecurity Defense Framework For Large Organizations, Willarvis Smith

CCE Theses and Dissertations

There is a growing need to understand and identify overarching organizational requirements for cybersecurity defense in large organizations. Applying proper cybersecurity defense will ensure that the right capabilities are fielded at the right locations to safeguard critical assets while minimizing duplication of effort and taking advantage of efficiencies. Exercising cybersecurity defense without an understanding of comprehensive foundational requirements instills an ad hoc and in many cases conservative approach to network security. Organizations must be synchronized across federal and civil agencies to achieve adequate cybersecurity defense. Understanding what constitutes comprehensive cybersecurity defense will ensure organizations are better protected and more efficient. …

Comprehending The Safety Paradox And Privacy Concerns With Medical Device Remote Patient Monitoring, Marc Doyle

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Medical literature identifies a number of technology-driven improvements in disease management such as implantable medical devices (IMDs) that are a standard treatment for candidates with specific diseases. Among patients using implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICD), for example, problems and issues are being discovered faster compared to patients without monitoring, improving safety. What is not known is why patients report not feeling safer, creating a safety paradox, and why patients identify privacy concerns in ICD monitoring.

There is a major gap in the literature regarding the factors that contribute to perceived safety and privacy in remote patient monitoring (RPM). To address this …

An Examination Of User Detection Of Business Email Compromise Amongst Corporate Professionals, Shahar Sean Aviv

CCE Theses and Dissertations

With the evolution in technology and increase in utilization of the public Internet, Internet-based mobile applications, and social media, security risks for organizations have greatly increased. While corporations leverage social media as an effective tool for customer advertisements, the abundance of information available via public channels along with the growth in Internet connections to corporate networks including mobile applications, have made cyberattacks attractive for cybercriminals. Cybercrime against organizations is a daily threat and targeting companies of all sizes. Cyberattacks are continually evolving and becoming more complex that make it difficult to protect against with traditional security methods. Cybercriminals utilize email …

Assessing The Presence Of Mindfulness Within Cyber And Non-Cybersecurity Groups, Christopher Wilder

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Corporations and individuals continue to be under Phishing attack. Researchers categorizes methods corporations and individuals can employ to reduce the impact of being caught in a Phishing scheme. Corporation enable technical mechanisms such as automated filtering, URL blacklisting, and manipulation of browser warning messages to reduce phishing susceptibility costing billions of dollars annually. However, even with robust efforts to educate employees about phishing techniques through security awareness training the abundance of attacks continues to plague organizations. This study aims to identify whether a correlation exists between mindfulness and phishing susceptibility. The goal of this research is to determine if mindful …

Cyber Situational Awareness And Cyber Curiosity Taxonomy For Understanding Susceptibility Of Social Engineering Attacks In The Maritime Industry, Guillermo Francisco Perez

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The maritime information system (IS) user has to be prepared to deal with a potential safety and environmental risk that can be caused by an unanticipated failure to a cyber system used onboard a vessel. A hacker leveraging a maritime IS user’s Cyber Curiosity can lead to a successful cyber-attack by enticing a user to click on a malicious Web link sent through an email and/or posted on a social media website. At worst, a successful cyber-attack can impact the integrity of a ship’s cyber systems potentially causing disruption or human harm. A lack of awareness of social engineering attacks …

Perceptions Of Female Cybersecurity Professionals Toward Factors That Encourage Females To The Cybersecurity Field, Kembley Kay Lingelbach

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Despite multiple national, educational, and industry initiatives, women continue to be underrepresented in the cybersecurity field. Only 11% of cybersecurity professionals, globally, are female. This contributes to the growing overall shortage of workers in the field. This research addressed the significant underrepresentation of females in the cybersecurity workforce. There are many practitioner and industry studies that suggest self-efficacy, discrimination and organizational culture play important roles in the low rate of women in the cybersecurity field. A limited number of scholarly studies identify causal factors; however, there is not a general consensus or framework to explain the problem thoroughly. Moreover, there …

Development And Validation Of A Proof-Of-Concept Prototype For Analytics-Based Malicious Cybersecurity Insider Threat In A Real-Time Identification System, Angel L. Hueca

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Insider threat has continued to be one of the most difficult cybersecurity threat vectors detectable by contemporary technologies. Most organizations apply standard technology-based practices to detect unusual network activity. While there have been significant advances in intrusion detection systems (IDS) as well as security incident and event management solutions (SIEM), these technologies fail to take into consideration the human aspects of personality and emotion in computer use and network activity, since insider threats are human-initiated. External influencers impact how an end-user interacts with both colleagues and organizational resources. Taking into consideration external influencers, such as personality, changes in organizational polices …

A Novel Cooperative Intrusion Detection System For Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, Adam Solomon

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) have experienced rapid growth in their use for various military, medical, and commercial scenarios. This is due to their dynamic nature that enables the deployment of such networks, in any target environment, without the need for a pre-existing infrastructure. On the other hand, the unique characteristics of MANETs, such as the lack of central networking points, limited wireless range, and constrained resources, have made the quest for securing such networks a challenging task. A large number of studies have focused on intrusion detection systems (IDSs) as a solid line of defense against various attacks targeting …

Conservation Of Limited Resources: Design Principles For Security And Usability On Mobile Devices, Ann-Marie Horcher

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Mobile devices have evolved from an accessory to the primary computing device for an increasing portion of the general population. Not only is mobile the primary device, consumers on average have multiple Internet-connected devices. The trend towards mobile has resulted in a shift to “mobile-first” strategies for delivering information and services in business organizations, universities, and government agencies. Though principles for good security design exist, those principles were formulated based upon the traditional workstation configuration instead of the mobile platform. Security design needs to follow the shift to a “mobile-first” emphasis to ensure the usability of the security interface. The …

Measuring Cybersecurity Competency: An Exploratory Investigation Of The Cybersecurity Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities Necessary For Organizational Network Access Privileges, Richard Nilsen

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Organizational information system users (OISU) that are victimized by cyber threats are contributing to major financial and information losses for individuals, businesses, and governments. Moreover, it has been argued that cybersecurity competency is critical for advancing economic prosperity and maintaining national security. The fact remains that technical cybersecurity controls may be rendered useless due to a lack of cybersecurity competency of OISUs. All OISUs, from accountants to cybersecurity forensics experts, can place organizational assets at risk. However, that risk is increased when OISUs do not have the cybersecurity competency necessary for operating an information system (IS). The main goal of …

The Efficacy Of Perceived Big Data Security, Trust, Perceived Leadership Competency, Information Sensitivity, Privacy Concern And Job Reward On Disclosing Personal Security Information Online, Iqbal Amiri

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Individuals’ reluctance to provide sensitive personal information online could affect the US Governments’ ability to hire and retain qualified personnel for sensitive cleared positions. The aim of this research study was to show how perceived big data security, trust, perceived leadership competency, information sensitivity, privacy concern and reward of a job play a significant role in limiting an individuals’ willingness of disclosing sensitive personal information online. While a significant volume of research has examined information disclosure in the health care field, there has not been any published studies on the willingness of online disclosure in order to attain a US …

Development Of A Cybersecurity Skills Index: A Scenarios-Based, Hands-On Measure Of Non-It Professionals' Cybersecurity Skills, Melissa Carlton

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Completing activities online are a part of everyday life, both professionally and personally. But, conducting daily operations, interacting, and sharing information on the Internet does not come without its risks as well as a potential for harm. Substantial financial and information losses for individuals, organizations, and governments are reported regularly due to vulnerabilities as well as breaches caused by insiders. Although advances in Information Technology (IT) have been significant over the past several decades when it comes to protection of corporate information systems (IS), human errors and social engineering appear to prevail in circumventing such IT protections. While most employees …

An Empirical Assessment Of Employee Cyberslacking In The Public Sector: The Social Engineering Threat, Wilnelia Hernández, Yair Levy, Michelle M. Ramim

CCE Faculty Articles

Employees spend time during work hours on non – work related activities including visiting e - commerce Websites, managing personal email accounts, and engaging in e - banking. These types of actions in the workplace are known as cyber slacking. Cyber slacking affects employees’ productivity, presents legal concerns, and undermines the security of the employer’s network. This research study addressed the problem of cyber slacking in the public sector, by assessing the ethical severity of cyber slacking activities, as well as how employees perceived that the frequency of such activities occurred by their co - workers. Participants from public sector …

An Electroencephalogram (Eeg) Based Biometrics Investigation For Authentication: A Human-Computer Interaction (Hci) Approach, Ricardo J. Rodriguez

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Encephalogram (EEG) devices are one of the active research areas in human-computer interaction (HCI). They provide a unique brain-machine interface (BMI) for interacting with a growing number of applications. EEG devices interface with computational systems, including traditional desktop computers and more recently mobile devices. These computational systems can be targeted by malicious users. There is clearly an opportunity to leverage EEG capabilities for increasing the efficiency of access control mechanisms, which are the first line of defense in any computational system.

Access control mechanisms rely on a number of authenticators, including “what you know”, “what you have”, and “what you …

Assessing The Role Of User Computer Self-Efficacy, Cybersecurity Countermeasures Awareness, And Cybersecurity Skills Toward Computer Misuse Intention At Government Agencies, Min Suk Choi

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities are causing substantial financial losses for governments and organizations all over the world. Cybersecurity criminals are stealing more than one billion dollars from banks every year by exploiting vulnerabilities caused by bank users' computer misuse. Cybersecurity breaches are threatening the common welfare of citizens since more and more terrorists are using cyberterrorism to target critical infrastructures (e.g., transportation, telecommunications, power, nuclear plants, water supply, banking) to coerce the targeted government and its people to accomplish their political objectives. Cyberwar is another major concern that nations around the world are struggling to get ready to fight. It …