Big Five Personality Traits of Cybercrime Victims

Integrating Individual Factors to Construct Recognition Models of Consumer Fraud Victimization

Consumer financial fraud has become a serious problem because it often causes victims to suffer economic, physical, mental, social, and legal harm. Identifying which individuals are more likely to be scammed may mitigate the threat posed by consumer financial fraud. Based on a two-stage conceptual framework, this study integrated various individual factors in a nationwide survey (36,202 participants) to construct fraud exposure recognition (FER) and fraud victimhood recognition (FVR) models by utilizing a machine learning method. The FER model performed well (f1 = 0.727), and model interpretation indicated that migration status, financial status, urbanicity, and age have good predictive effects on fraud exposure in the Chinese context, whereas the FVR model shows a low predictive effect (f1 = 0.565), reminding us to consider more psychological factors in future work. This research provides an important reference for the analysis of individual differences among people vulnerable to consumer fraud.

Smartphone Addiction and Cybercrime Victimization in the Context of Lifestyles Routine Activities and Self-Control Theories: The User's Dual Vulnerability Model of Cybercrime Victimization

(1) Background: This paper combines lifestyle-routine activities (L-RAT) and self-control (SCT) theories along with the literature on smartphone addiction in a joint model that addresses the multiple vulnerabilities that make the smartphone user a potential victim of cybercrime. This model, which we call the dual vulnerability model of cybercrime victimization, was subjected to empirical testing on a nationally representative sample of smartphone users. (2) Methods: Data from 2837 participants from a nationally representative sample of Spanish smartphone users were modeled using Mplus causal modeling software. (3) Results: The results of the study confirm the predictions of L-RAT and SCT in explaining cybercrime victimization (higher cybercrime victimization under conditions of high exposure, proximity, and suitability, relative absence of capable guardian, and low self-control). A significant effect of smartphone addiction on cybercrime victimization was also observed above and beyond L-RAT and SCT predictors. (4) Conclusions: The potential victim of cybercrime presents a double vulnerability, on the one hand, those identified by criminological theories such as L-RAT and SCT, and on the other hand, those derived from the deregulated-addicted use of the Internet access device (smartphone in our work).

Organizational science and cybersecurity: abundant opportunities for research at the interface

Cybersecurity is an ever-present problem for organizations, but organizational science has barely begun to enter the arena of cybersecurity research. As a result, the "human factor" in cybersecurity research is much less studied than its technological counterpart. The current manuscript serves as an introduction and invitation to cybersecurity research by organizational scientists. We define cybersecurity, provide definitions of key cybersecurity constructs relevant to employee behavior, illuminate the unique opportunities available to organizational scientists in the cybersecurity arena (e.g., publication venues that reach new audiences, novel sources of external funding), and provide overall conceptual frameworks of the antecedents of employees' cybersecurity behavior. In so doing, we emphasize both end-users of cybersecurity in organizations and employees focused specifically on cybersecurity work. We provide an expansive agenda for future organizational science research on cybersecurity-and we describe the benefits such research can provide not only to cybersecurity but also to basic research in organizational science itself. We end by providing a list of potential objections to the proposed research along with our responses to these objections. It is our hope that the current manuscript will catalyze research at the interface of organizational science and cybersecurity.

Information privacy behavior in the use of Facebook apps: A personality-based vulnerability assessment

The unauthorized use of personal information belonging to users of apps integrated with the Facebook platform affects millions of users. Crucially, although privacy concerns and awareness have increased, the use of these apps, and related privacy behaviors, remain largely unchanged. Given that such privacy behaviors are likely influenced by individuals' personality traits, it is imperative to better understand which personality traits make individuals more vulnerable to such unauthorized uses. We build on a recontextualized version of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to evaluate the influence of the Big Five personality traits on attitudes toward Facebook privacy settings, social norms, and information privacy concerns (IPCs)—all within the context of Facebook app use. To evaluate this study's model, we analyzed 576 survey responses by way of partial least squares path modeling. Results indicate that highly extraverted individuals are particularly vulnerable to privacy violations (e.g., unauthorized use of personal information) because of their negative attitudes toward Facebook privacy settings. Our post hoc analysis uncovered interesting combinations of personality traits that make individuals particularly vulnerable to the unauthorized use of app-based information. In particular, the combination of extraversion and conscientiousness had a negative effect on individuals' attitude toward privacy settings. We also found a significant negative relationship between IPCs and intention to use Facebook apps. Finally, we found a positive relationship between social norms and intentions. Taken together, these results infer that individuals are likely to be influenced by their peers in the use of Facebook apps but that their intentions to use these apps declines as privacy concerns increase.

Virtual Offenses: Role of Demographic Factors and Personality Traits

A number of positive and negative trends are becoming more prevalent, along with the widespread use of information and communication technologies in everyday life—negative ones being virtual offences such as stalking, bullying, identity theft, scamming and abuse or harassment. The article discusses the relations between demographic factors, the occurrence of virtual offenses and personality traits. The next Big Five Inventory (BFI-2) was used for assessment of personality traits. As for the findings, more extraversion, less agreeableness, more negative emotionality, less consciousness and being a man have been found to be associated with at least one of the investigated types of virtual offenses.

Examination of cybercrime and its effects on corporate stock value

Purpose

Cybercrime is a prevalent and serious threat to publicly traded companies. Defending company information systems from cybercrime is one of the most important aspects of technology management. Cybercrime often not only results in stolen assets and lost business but also damages a company’s reputation, which in turn may affect the company’s stock market value. This is a serious concern to company managers, financial analysts, investors and creditors. This paper aims to examine the impact of cybercrime on stock prices of a sample of publicly traded companies.

Design/methodology/approach

Financial data were gathered on companies that were reported in news stories as victims of cybercrime. The market price of the company’s stock was recorded for several days before the news report and several days after. The percentage change in the stock price was compared to the change in the Dow Jones Industrial average to determine whether the stock price increased or decreased along with the rest of the market.

Findings

Stock prices were negatively affected in all time periods examined, significantly so in one period.

Practical implications

This paper describes cases concerning cybercrime, thereby bringing attention to the value of cybersecurity in protecting computers, identity and transactions. Cyber security is necessary to avoid becoming a victim of cybercrime. Specific security improvements and preventive measures are provided within the paper. Preventive measures are generally less costly than repairs after a cybercrime.

Originality/value

This is an original manuscript that adds to the literature regarding cybercrime and preventive measures.

Email fraud: The search for psychological predictors of susceptibility

Decisions that we make about email legitimacy can result in a pernicious threat to security of both individuals and organisations. Yet user response to phishing emails is far from uniform; some respond while others do not. What is the source of this diversity in decision-making? From a psychological perspective, we consider cognitive and situational influences that might explain why certain users are more susceptible than others. Alongside an email judgment task employed as a proxy for fraud susceptibility, 224 participants completed a range of cognitive tasks. In addition, we manipulated time pressure for email legitimacy judgments. We identify cognitive reflection and sensation seeking as significant, albeit modest, predictors of susceptibility. Further to this, participants asked to make quicker responses made more judgment errors. We conclude there are cognitive signatures that partially contribute to email fraud susceptibility, with implications for efforts to limit online security breaches and train secure behaviors.