Human Factors in Cybersecurity: Understanding Cyberscams

Online fraud, also referred to as cyberscams, is increasingly becoming a cybersecurity problem that technical cybersecurity specialists are unable to effectively detect. Given the difficulty in the automatic detection of scams, the onus is often pushed back to humans to detect. Gamification and awareness campaigns are regularly researched and implemented in workplaces to prevent people from being tricked by scams, which may lead to identity theft or conning individuals out of money. Whilst these interventions hold some promise they often fail due to ignoring human behaviours and predictors of vulnerability. Arguably, cybersecurity scholars need to learn much more about the methods criminals employ to trick victims out of money.

This honours theiss will  support a project that considers one of the following issues:

- Victimology of cyberscam victims

- Innoculation to cyberscams

- Examination of victims' cyberscam journeys

- Effective methods to change behavious to prevent cyberscam victimisation