Recent research from Michigan State University in the US reveals that impulse online shopping, downloading music and compulsive e-mail use are all signs of a certain personality trait that make people a potential target for cybercrimes such as Trojans, viruses and malware.
The study examines the behaviours – both obvious and subtle – that lead to someone falling victim to cybercrime. “People who show signs of low self-control are the ones we found more susceptible to attacks,” says Tomas Holt, professor of criminal justice and lead author of the research.
“An individual’s characteristics are critical in studying how cybercrime perseveres, particularly the person’s impulsiveness and the activities that they engage in while online that have the greatest impact on their risk.”
A person with low self-control is described – by the study – as someone that show signs of short-sightedness, negligence and an inability to delay gratification.
“Self-control is an idea that’s been looked at heavily in criminology in terms of its connection to committing crimes. But we find a correlation between low self-control and victimisation; people with this trait put themselves in situations where they are near others who are motivated to break the law.”
A total of 6 000 people participated in the research, answering a series of questions about how they might react in certain situations such as:
* Computers struggling with slower processing;
* Computers crashing;
* Unexpected pop-ups; and
* The homepage changing on their web browser.
“The situations, outlined in the Michigan State University research, are tell-tale signs of cybercrime activity. Slower process speed, for example, could be a sign of cryptojacking which is basically the unauthorised use of a computer to mine cryptocurrency. Hackers either get victims to click on a malicious link through a phishing-type e-mail that loads crypto mining code, or they infect a website or online ad with JavaScript code that auto-executes once loaded in the browser,” explains Leo Meyer from Bitdefender country partner, southern Africa.
“The crypto mining code then works in the background as unsuspecting victims continue with their daily tasks. The only sign is the CPU usage is higher which leads to slower performance or lags in execution.”
Meyer adds the Internet is unfortunately a platform that enables people to quickly get what they want. This instant gratification can lead to questionably decision making with dire consequences.
Hackers know that people with low self-control are easy prey. Understanding the psychological side of self-control and the types of people whose computers become infected with malware is critical in fighting cybercrime, says Holt.
Breaking the barrier between computer and social sciences to allow a holistic school of thought about fighting cybercrime is essential, he believes.
“If we can identify risk factors, we can work in tandem with technical fields to develop strategies that then reduce the risk factors for infection. It’s a pernicious issue we’re facing, so if we can attack from both fronts, we can pinpoint the risk factors and technical strategies to find solutions that improve protection for everyone,” Holt concludes.