Abstract

Phishing emails are a continuing threat in today's society—this study aimed to unpeel the layers on why certain people are prone to phishing emails than others. Participants were presented with twenty legitimate emails as well as twenty phishing emails in random order and were asked to be phishing or not. They were also asked to explain why they chose the answer they believed was right in a couple of sentences. Data was compiled and collected via a Qualtrics survey and analyzed using JASP. Results obtained indicated little to no correlation between the number of features mentioned in the study and classifying and email accuracy as phishing. Studies like this help understand the cognitive constructs that lead to people unknowingly falling in traps set out by phishers and what prompts susceptible victims to think such emails are legitimate rather than seeing the dangers behind them.

Thesis Completion

2021

Semester

Spring

Thesis Chair/Advisor

Bohil, Corey

Degree

Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Psychology

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Release Date

5-1-2021

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Included in

Psychology Commons

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