A model for cultivating resistance to social engineering attacks
- Authors: Jansson, Kenny
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Computer security , Data protection , Human-computer interaction
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
- Identifier: vital:9744 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1588 , Computer security , Data protection , Human-computer interaction
- Description: The human being is commonly considered as being the weakest link in information security. Subsequently, as information is one of the most critical assets in an organization today, it is essential that the human element is considered in deployments of information security countermeasures. However, the human element is often neglected in this regard. Consequently, many criminals are now targeting the user directly to obtain sensitive information instead of spending days or even months trying to hack through systems. Some criminals are targeting users by utilizing various social engineering techniques to deceive the user into disclosing information. For this reason, the users of the Internet and ICT-related technologies are nowadays very vulnerable to various social engineering attacks. As a contribution to increase users’ social engineering awareness, a model – called SERUM – was devised. SERUM aims to cultivate social engineering resistance within a community through exposing the users of the community to ‘fake’ social engineering attacks. The users that react incorrectly to these attacks are instantly notified and requested to participate in an online social engineering awareness program. Thus, users are educated on-demand. The model was implemented as a software system and was utilized to conduct a phishing exercise on all the students of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. The aim of the phishing exercise was to determine whether SERUM is effective in cultivating social engineering resistant behaviour within a community. This phishing exercise proved to be successful and positive results emanated. This indicated that a model like SERUM can indeed be used to educate users regarding phishing attacks.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Jansson, Kenny
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Computer security , Data protection , Human-computer interaction
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
- Identifier: vital:9744 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1588 , Computer security , Data protection , Human-computer interaction
- Description: The human being is commonly considered as being the weakest link in information security. Subsequently, as information is one of the most critical assets in an organization today, it is essential that the human element is considered in deployments of information security countermeasures. However, the human element is often neglected in this regard. Consequently, many criminals are now targeting the user directly to obtain sensitive information instead of spending days or even months trying to hack through systems. Some criminals are targeting users by utilizing various social engineering techniques to deceive the user into disclosing information. For this reason, the users of the Internet and ICT-related technologies are nowadays very vulnerable to various social engineering attacks. As a contribution to increase users’ social engineering awareness, a model – called SERUM – was devised. SERUM aims to cultivate social engineering resistance within a community through exposing the users of the community to ‘fake’ social engineering attacks. The users that react incorrectly to these attacks are instantly notified and requested to participate in an online social engineering awareness program. Thus, users are educated on-demand. The model was implemented as a software system and was utilized to conduct a phishing exercise on all the students of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. The aim of the phishing exercise was to determine whether SERUM is effective in cultivating social engineering resistant behaviour within a community. This phishing exercise proved to be successful and positive results emanated. This indicated that a model like SERUM can indeed be used to educate users regarding phishing attacks.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Using multi-touch interaction techniques to support Collaborative Information Retrieval
- Authors: Sams, Ivan
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Human-computer interaction , Teams in the workplace -- Data processing , Groupware (Computer software) , Interactive computer systems
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:10491 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020156
- Description: Collaborative Information Retrieval (CIR) is a branch of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). CIR is the process by which people search for and retrieve information, working together and using documents as data sources. Currently, computer support for CIR is limited to single user systems. Collaboration takes place either with users working at different times or in different locations. Multi-touch interaction has recently seen a rise in prominence owing to a reduction in the cost of the technology and increased frequency of use. Multi-touch surface computing allows multiple users to interact at once around a shared display. The aim of this research was to investigate how multi-touch interaction techniques could be used to support CIR effectively in a co-located environment. An application architecture for CIR systems that incorporates multi-touch interaction techniques was proposed. A prototype, called Co-IMBRA, was developed based on this architecture that used multi-touch interaction techniques to support CIR. This prototype allows multiple users to retrieve information, using the Internet as a shared information space. Documents are represented as visual objects that can be manipulated on the multi-touch surface, as well as rated, annotated and added to folders. A user study was undertaken to evaluate Co-IMBRA and determine whether the multi-touch interaction techniques effectively supported CIR. Fifteen teams of two users each participated in the user study. High task completion rates and low task times showed that the system was effective and efficient. High levels of user satisfaction were reported in the post-test questionnaires. Participants rated the system as highly useful and several commented that it promoted collaboration and that they enjoyed the test. The successful implementation of Co-IMBRA provides evidence that multi-touch interaction techniques can effectively support CIR. The results of the user evaluation also enabled recommendations for future research to be made.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Sams, Ivan
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Human-computer interaction , Teams in the workplace -- Data processing , Groupware (Computer software) , Interactive computer systems
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:10491 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020156
- Description: Collaborative Information Retrieval (CIR) is a branch of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). CIR is the process by which people search for and retrieve information, working together and using documents as data sources. Currently, computer support for CIR is limited to single user systems. Collaboration takes place either with users working at different times or in different locations. Multi-touch interaction has recently seen a rise in prominence owing to a reduction in the cost of the technology and increased frequency of use. Multi-touch surface computing allows multiple users to interact at once around a shared display. The aim of this research was to investigate how multi-touch interaction techniques could be used to support CIR effectively in a co-located environment. An application architecture for CIR systems that incorporates multi-touch interaction techniques was proposed. A prototype, called Co-IMBRA, was developed based on this architecture that used multi-touch interaction techniques to support CIR. This prototype allows multiple users to retrieve information, using the Internet as a shared information space. Documents are represented as visual objects that can be manipulated on the multi-touch surface, as well as rated, annotated and added to folders. A user study was undertaken to evaluate Co-IMBRA and determine whether the multi-touch interaction techniques effectively supported CIR. Fifteen teams of two users each participated in the user study. High task completion rates and low task times showed that the system was effective and efficient. High levels of user satisfaction were reported in the post-test questionnaires. Participants rated the system as highly useful and several commented that it promoted collaboration and that they enjoyed the test. The successful implementation of Co-IMBRA provides evidence that multi-touch interaction techniques can effectively support CIR. The results of the user evaluation also enabled recommendations for future research to be made.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
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