Challenges of Online Security for Senior Citizens

Abstract: Senior citizens are among the most vulnerable groups of cyber victimization in today’s contexts. Ensuring online security for the elderly has become extremely critical as the global elderly population is on the rise and the incident of cyber victimization is rapidly growing causing financial and societal problems for them. This study is conducted to identify the challenges faced in ensuring online security to senior citizens and to propose remedies to these identified challenges. A systematic literature review was performed on Google Scholar, IEEEXplore, Pubmed, ScienceDirect and Proquest databases to identify the challenges using appropriate keywords and screening criteria. 29 Review articles (n=29) were found relevant for the challenges of online security for senior citizens and broadly categorized into physical and psychological factors, technological factors, and awareness factors. 14 review articles (n=14) were found to be relevant as remedial measures on IEEEXplore database. Challenges found for physical and psychological factors were health problems such as mobility decline which led to higher use of online services (higher visibility), issues in recalling memory which leads to inability to recall information regarding crime and non-reporting of crime, and cognitive impairment where they are unable to assess the potential choices. Remedial measures which can be applied for these issues include home monitoring systems using beacon technology, path tracking fall detection systems, use of apps like senior book, use of elder friendly web forms. Seniors were also found to be in social isolation where they are exposed to unfamiliar online activities due to the death of the capable partner, less able to seek advice due to lack of network and the possibility of building relationships with strangers allows the fraudsters to target the elders easily. Further, the relative wealth of seniors is high, and they are less likely to check their balances, making them vulnerable. Smart home systems, apps such as SAFER were found to be possible remedial measures for these situations. Also, elders are reluctant to report victimization due to fear of victim blaming and fear of loss of independence which results in repeated victimization. Challenges identified for awareness factors include less awareness of content of scam, trusting communications which are legitimate authorities and limited awareness on cyber security. Information Security Awareness Programs, online courses on security awareness can be used as a remedial measure to enhance the awareness of cyber security among elders. Technological challenges identified include lack of cyber security skills where they do not have the motivation to seek cyber security related information, unable to understand the jargon used and use of unsecured networks and easily imitable passwords. The remedies found were biometrics instead of passwords, participatory approach for the design and development of programs and use of elder friendly internet browsers. This study contributes to the cyber security of senior citizens by understanding the challenges and suggesting remedies for the challenges identified.