Users’ Psychopathologies: Impact on Cybercrime Vulnerabilities and Cybersecurity Behavior

Abstract

The internet and digital technologies have become an integral part of people’s daily lives. The online world provides many benefits to billions of users globally. However, it also brings risks too, because it is easy for criminals to reach their victims and exploit their online behavior. Nevertheless, users often perform risky security behaviors for convenience and usability, and because of their inadequate security awareness. With around 25% of the world’s population experiencing mental and/or neurological disorders, it is important to understand how users’ psychopathologies manifest themselves in the context of cybersecurity. This chapter has reviewed the symptoms of several mental disorders while considering the online benefits and risks, and these symptoms have been applied to evaluate users’ vulnerability to cybercrimes and cybersecurity practices. The findings reveal how the complexity of each mental disorder influences users’ online engagement and susceptibility to cybercrimes, and how uniquely, to varying degrees, they affect different cybersecurity behaviors.