Who gets phished and why

Washington, Apr 7 (ANI): A study involving Indian-origin researchers has found that if you receive a lot of email, habitually respond to a good portion of it, maintain a lot of online relationships and conduct a large number of transactions online, you are more susceptible to email phishing expeditions than those who limit their online activity.

The study uses an integrated information-processing model to test individual differences in vulnerability to phishing.

Email "phishing" is a process that employs such techniques as using the names of credible businesses (American Express, eBay), government institutions (Internal Revenue Service, Department of Motor Vehicles), or current events (political donations, Beijing Olympic tickets, aiding Katrina victims) in conjunction with statements invoking fear, threat, excitement, or urgency, to persuade people to respond with personal and sensitive information like usernames, passwords and credit card details.

Phishing exploits what are generally accepted to be the poor current web security technologies, but Arun "Vish" Vishwanath, associate professor in the UB Department of Communication, College of Arts and Sciences says, "By way of prevention, we found that spam blockers are imperative to reduce the number of unnecessary emails individuals receive that could potentially clutter their information processing and judgment.

"At the other end," he says, "individuals need to be extra careful when utilizing a single email account to respond to all their emails. An effective strategy is to use different email accounts for different purposes. If one email address is used solely for banking and another is used solely for personal communication with family and friends, it will increase your attention to the details of the email and reduce the likelihood of chance deception because of clutter."

Vishwanath also advocates setting aside time to focus and respond to personal emails separately from work-related emails.

"Our findings suggest that habitual patterns of media use combined with high levels of email load have a strong and significant influence on individuals' likelihood to be phished," Vishwanath said.

The study also showed that a person's competency with computing did not protect them from phishing scams, but their awareness about phishing in conjunction with healthy email habits, helped them avoid online deception.

The study is forthcoming in the journal, Decision Support Systems and Electronic Commerce. (ANI)