Mobile device affordance: Explicating how smartphones influence the outcome of phishing attacks

Abstract

Recent research has demonstrated that individuals fall victim to phishing because of the joint and independent influence of email habits and cognitive heuristics. Much of this work has, however, ignored the influence of smartphones and mobile devices—which are now utilized by the majority of the U.S. population—and it remains to be seen whether the manifestation of habits or heuristic processing is heightened on such devices. To this end, the current research conducted simulated phishing attacks that varied in the cues available in the email and examined how the devices used by subjects to access it influenced the outcome of the attack. The overall results point to a moderating role of device affordances on email habits rather than heuristic processing. It appears that the load of emails a person reads potentiates mobile device usage and thusly leads to the strengthening of email habits. The presence of graphical cues in the email heightened heuristic processing but this was not significantly enhanced on mobile devices. The overall results have important implications for our understanding of the affordances of smartphones, and how they enhance the likelihood of online deception.