About
About psysec.io
psysec.io is the home of Psychological Security (PsySec) and the PsySec Research Database: an open, citable collection of the research on how people recognize, resist, and report manipulation.
Why a research database?
Security awareness is full of confident claims and thin evidence. Practitioners, researchers, and buyers deserve one place to see what studies actually found, including when the findings are inconvenient. The database connects each behavior PsySec recommends to the research for and against it.
Who maintains it
psysec.io is an open initiative maintained by Hook Security, a security awareness training and phishing simulation company based in Lakeland, Florida. Hook's co-founders originated the PsySec approach: Adam Anderson coined the term in 2018, and Zach Eikenberry developed the body of work from 2019 onward.
Because Hook has a commercial interest in PsySec, the methodology sets out how we handle that conflict of interest.
Use and licensing
Database content, including summaries, tags, behaviors, and ratings, is licensed CC BY 4.0. You may reuse it with attribution. The studies themselves belong to their authors and publishers; we link to them and do not host their full text.
Get involved
- Submit a study, especially one that challenges PsySec.
- Request a correction if you are an author and think your work is mischaracterized.
- Researchers interested in reviewing entries or collaborating on research can say so in the submission form.