An intelligent agent architecture to influence home users’ risky behaviours

Abstract

Users’ cybersecurity behaviour is very dynamic and changeable at home, and computer security is very challenging because there is no canonical and specific definition of home computer user. Many cybersecurity programs and information security best practices have focused on algorithms, methods and standards that cover main security functions but computer users are limited to perform multitask operations and processing information. These limitations affect their decision and full attention on security tasks. Users’ security decisions are also limited to their technological solutions. These solutions influence the users’ actions by providing security functions and mechanisms, but human factors also affect individual’s decisions. This paper proposes a decision-making process based on cognitive modelling which influences users’ behaviour during computer interaction at home. The cognitive modelling simulates human thinking process by using a software model. An intelligent agent architecture is also provided to gather information to identify users’ risky behaviours during any interaction with computers. This agent evaluates risks and recommends relevant awareness and efficient controls to reduce cybersecurity risks.