Taking Risks With Cybersecurity: Using Knowledge and Personal Characteristics to Predict Self-Reported Cybersecurity Behaviors

Individuals’ use of insecure cybersecurity behaviors, including the use of weak passwords, is a leading contributor to cybersecurity breaches. While training individuals on best practices in cybersecurity continues to be implemented, prior research has found that training people in the use of secure passwords has not proven to be effective. Developing profiles of individual who are likely to become victims of password hacking, phishing scams, and other types of breaches would be useful, as they could be used to identify individuals with the highest likelihood of engaging in insecure cybersecurity behaviors. The present research tested the hypothesis that in addition to self-reported cybersecurity knowledge, personal characteristics, such as personality traits and general risk-taking behavior not related to technology use, can predict individual differences in cybersecurity behaviors, as measured by self-report. Our hypothesis was confirmed in a large study involving 325 undergraduates. Participants provided information about their self-reported risky cybersecurity behaviors (e.g., using non-secure Wi-Fi, not logging out of accounts on shared computers, etc.), self-reported knowledge about strong/weak passwords, Big Five personality traits (i.e., extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, and mood instability), sensation-seeking personality traits, and general risk-taking unrelated to using technology. The results of a hierarchical regression indicated that 34% of risky cybersecurity behavior was significantly predicted by the combination of self-reported knowledge about strong/weak passwords, personality traits, and risk-taking in daily life. The results suggest that victim profiles should take into account individual differences in personality and general risk-taking in domains unrelated to cybersecurity in addition to cybersecurity knowledge.