Exploring the propagation of fake cyber news: An experimental approach

Abstract

The rising trend of fake news in cyberspace has escalated with increasing velocity of information exchange and an explosion of information sources. Combating fake news in the cyber security context is important due to its use as a content-based social engineering attack, or weaponization of information to compromise corporate information assets. This research aims to explore the proliferation of this type of threat through initial empirical analysis of propagation of cyber news with particular emphasis on potential for generation of weaponized information in the form of fake cyber news. Antecedents of the propagation of cyber news were examined using the Theory of Engagement. An exploratory experiment was conducted with 84 subjects in the field of cyber security on a social network platform. An analysis of the data showed that aesthetics and readability were important factors at the point of entry, but after initial engagement with the news, only novelty influenced propagation.