Time pressure in human cybersecurity behavior: Theoretical framework and countermeasures

Abstract

Cybersecurity is a growing concern for private individuals and professional entities. Reports have shown that the majority of cybersecurity incidents occur because users fail to behave securely. Research on human cybersecurity (HCS) behavior suggests that time pressure is one of the important driving factors behind non-secure HCS behavior. However, there is limited conceptual work to guide researchers and practitioners in this regard. Against this backdrop, we investigate how the impact of time pressure on HCS behavior can be conceptualized within an integrative framework and which countermeasures can be used to reduce its negative impact. Altogether, we conducted 35 interviews with cybersecurity experts, non-security professionals, and private users. The results of our study shed light on the theoretical pathways through which time pressure can affect different types of security behaviors and identify a range of operational, human, technical, and physical countermeasures with important implications for research and practice.