EAGER: Integrating Cognitive and Computer Science to Improve Cyber Security: Selective Attention and Personality Traits for the Detection and Prevention of Risk

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Increasingly, there is a need for better understanding of behavioral and cognitive factors in cyber security. This project is a novel collaboration between computer science cyber security researchers and a cognitive science researcher to generate data on the links between personality traits and cyber security. The broad theoretical premise of the proposed research is that there are particular cognitive preferences and related personality factors that can be assessed in real time, real world scenarios and these may be associated with individual user's secure/insecure cyber behavior. The personality characteristics of trait anxiety and callous unemotional traits are tested via innovative software architecture for immersing subjects in realistic cyber scenarios, to examine the links between response latencies for certain stimuli, personality factors, and cyber behaviors. By studying the links between personality traits and cyber behaviors, it may be possible to develop adaptive software systems, such as user interfaces, alerting systems, and security monitors that tap individual stimuli preferences to substantially reduce the risks or effects of cyber-attacks. The data from the study will inform future work in adaptive cyber security mechanisms, better tailored to individual user traits. The research potentially impacts all sectors of society, since individual citizens, as well as the law enforcement, military, and corporate communities all benefit from research efforts that could facilitate development of better cyber security methods. Furthermore, the psychology and cyber security research communities will benefit from the results of this project and the developed software architecture.