Protecting Users from Phishing Email through Awareness and Training

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Most of cyber-attacks start with a phishing emails by deceiving users into acquiring sensitive information. As long human are using the system, there will be a weak part that could be exploited. Many literatures indicates that the main reason of people had been the victim of phishing is a lack of awareness. Several approaches have been used to improve awareness of users; however, the realistic situations in some studies were not applied. Furthermore, environment and organization should be considered when design training methods. Methods/Statistical Analysis: The present study was conducted over three years using formative and summative assessments to evaluate students’ awareness. This study investigated the most common ways in the classroom of educating students about email phishing email. Findings: This study presents the results of email phishing attacks and quizzes conducted to demonstrate how the education can be a powerful tool to increase awareness and protect students from email phishing. This paper also highlights the significance of educational through the classes to increase awareness of email phishing and other security threats. Improvements/ Applications: The work could be extended in the future to use more ways of teaching students against phishing attacks. Keywords: Phishing Email, Formative and Summative Assessments, Cyber Attacks Student Vulnerabilities