An Investigation into Students Responses to Various Phishing Emails and Other Phishing-Related Behaviours

Abstract

Reports continue to testify that the problem of phishing remains pertinent in many industries today. This descriptive study investigated 126 university students’ responses to various forms of phishing emails and other security-related behaviours through a self-designed questionnaire. The majority of the participants reported having an average experience in using computers and the Internet. Most participants chose to respond to phishing emails purportedly originating from Facebook and university contexts thus supporting that users are more likely to fall victim to phishing if the message is of interest or has relevance to their context. However, susceptibility was significantly reduced when users were presented with emails that imitate well-known South African banking institutions. This may suggest that users are either aware of phishing schemes that impersonate banking institutions, or they feel uncomfortable giving up personal information when they feel more at risk to be affected financially. The results from this study offer insights on behavioural aspects that can assist the information security community in designing and implementing more efficient controls against phishing attacks. Furthermore, this study suggests that researchers should consider exploring the behaviour of social media users as they can be vulnerable to phishing.