Cybersecurity Awareness Training : Using ContextBased MicroTraining to teach senior citizens about phishing

Abstract: While most Swedish citizens take advantage of the numerous benefits and conveniences today’s digitalized society offers, many senior citizens are digitally excluded. It is considered that a lack of digital technological knowledge is a big contributing factor. The lack of knowledge and experience with digital technology manifests into different types of fear, where fear of falling victim to cybercrime is the most prevalent. Phishing is a common cybercrime, which is still successfully employed by cybercriminals regardless of the various security measures and information available. Senior citizens are especially vulnerable, as phishing can be hard to recognize for less technical people. To combat this, education designed for increasing a user’s cybersecurity awareness is crucial. However, as cybersecurity can be a complex topic, there is a need for simplifying it and delivering related education in a meaningful way. This is where the method ContextBased MicroTraining (CBMT) comes in. For this thesis, a browser add-on called WebSec Coach, which utilizes the CBMT framework, is used as a tool to investigate how CBMT can support Swedish senior citizens in increasing their cybersecurity awareness regarding phishing. This was examined by conducting semi-structured interviews with eight respondents, from the age of 65 and up, that possessed some level of previous computer literacy. The results were then analyzed using thematic analysis, which showed that CBMT implemented in an embedded learning tool, like WebSec Coach, increased the cybersecurity awareness regarding phishing for all respondents. Regardless of the small sample size, the results in combination with previous research point to CBMT being a directly effective method in increasing cybersecurity awareness. Furthermore, the results showed that all respondents perceived WebSec Coach positively and were interested in using it themselves after the interviews. This indicates a potential acceptance amongst senior citizens, provided that the application reaches that target group.