The Connection between Emotional Reactions and Successful Cyber Attacks – a Measurement Prototype

Abstract

The cybersecurity landscape is increasingly complex. Many researches show that the root cause of a successful cyberattack is a lack of cybersecurity awareness. This is because the human is the weakest link in the Information Technology ecosystem. There are multiple articles covering the methods of measuring cybersecurity awareness, but captures an incomplete knowledgebase. This paper provides a measurement prototype for cybersecurity awareness, a combination of knowledgebase measurement with emotional reactions. This article demonstrates that by examining the individuals’ emotional reactions to cyberattacks, differentiation can be observed between aware and not aware persons. We also examine what kind of basic emotions may be associated with successful cyberattacks.