Segmentation analysis of susceptibility to cybercrime: Exploring individual differences in information security awareness and personality factors

Abstract

The present article aimed to explore if susceptibility to cybercrime can be linked to information security awareness and personality factors. A total of 1,054 participants aged between 18 and 84 years took part in an online survey consisting of a recently developed segmentation analysis tool designed to explore an individual's susceptibility to cybercrime. Alongside this, two other scales measuring information security awareness and the personality trait of impulsivity were also included. In total, 60% of the population surveyed presented as being in the higher risk categories for susceptibility to cybercrime. Furthermore, individuals in the higher risk categories for susceptibility to cybercrime also presented poorer information security awareness, as well as having higher levels of trait impulsivity. It was also noted that certain demographic factors also linked to susceptibility to cybercrime, including age and current employment status, with the unemployed and student populations being less well represented in lower risk categories. This work is seen as being critical while designing effective intervention strategies that are designed to target specific at-risk populations, as well as presenting a key tool that could be widely used by organizations to examine risk within their own specific populations.