Research / Studies
Peer-reviewed research and foundational works, each summarized in plain English and tagged to PsySec principles, tactics, and the belief chain.
4 studies match your filters
Susceptibility and intervention effectiveness varied sharply by staff group, and risk from a few phishing emails lingered about three days. Technical measures (filtering, in-email warnings) worked best, generic [EXTERNAL] tags did little, and some staff reacted to the simulation with fear, shame, guilt, and hostility.
43% of participants clicked at least one simulated phishing email, with older women most susceptible. Young users' susceptibility dropped over the 21 days while older users' stayed flat, and the effectiveness of each persuasion technique and life-domain topic varied by age group. Older users also rated their own susceptibility lower than it was.
Fear appeals did increase people's intentions to adopt recommended security actions, but the effect varied across people and depended partly on self-efficacy, response efficacy, perceived threat severity and social influence.
Threat severity, response efficacy, self-efficacy and response costs shaped attitudes to security policy. Organisational commitment and social influence significantly drove compliance intentions, and available resources boosted self-efficacy. Employees underestimated how likely breaches were.