Cyber Risk Beliefs: Are you staying safe online?
Is a PDF safer than a Word doc? Is opening an attachment on your phone safer than doing it on your computer? What do you believe is safer, more secure, better to do?
Cybersecurity expert Arun Vishwanath has asked such questions in surveys the world over and the responses have always surprised him—as they will you.
Not only do they reveal what people know about apps and software, but they also reveal how users form ideas about online risk—Cyber Risk Beliefs. It's these beliefs that determine how cavalier you are in your online actions and how vulnerable you are to cyber attacks.
Test your beliefs about cybersecurity here.
Strong Cyber Risk Beliefs
You have strong risk beliefs. Your beliefs about the inherent risk of online actions are superior. Armed with these beliefs and with supportive cyber hygiene, you can defend against most cyber attacks.
In The Weakest Link, cybersecurity expert Arun Vishwanath explains how organizations can build a culture of cyber safety. He presents a Cyber Risk Survey (CRS) to help managers understand which users are at risk and why. Underlying CRS is the Suspicion, Cognition, Automaticity Model (SCAM), which specifies the user thoughts and actions that lead to either deception by or detection of phishing come-ons. He describes in detail how to implement these frameworks, discussing relevant insights from cognitive and behavioral science, and then presents case studies of organizations that have successfully deployed the CRS to achieve cyber resilience.
Learn more in The Weakest Link by Arun Vishwanath, now available from the MIT Press.
