"New Method Makes Digital Services Safer for the User"

Services are increasingly becoming digital as many people now do their banking, grocery shopping, and ticket booking online. Many people rely entirely on digital services in their personal and professional lives. As a result of societal digitization, crime has also moved to the digital world, and the number of cyberattacks on organizations and individuals is increasing. Cybersecurity often focuses on cryptography, firewalls, and anti-virus software. However, reports from research and practice indicate that most cybersecurity incidents result from, or start with, an attack on human users. A threat actor can simply use basic human functions to obtain information or persuade a user to perform actions that result in an incident. According to Joakim Kävrestad, a Ph.D. student in Informatics at the University of Skövde, this includes phishing and using weak passwords. Kävrestad's research focuses on developing a method to help users who find themselves in risky situations on the Internet. According to Kävrestad, the methods commonly used today to provide users with security information have several flaws. Delivering lectures, sending information via email, or directing users to a web portal is common. The main challenge is getting users to participate in the training and absorb the information. Another issue, according to Kävrestad, is that increased knowledge does not always result in better behavior. Many users, for example, are aware that they should not click on links from unknown senders, but phishing remains an effective attack method. In the training method developed by Kävrestad, the user has an application that detects when they require assistance and then provides it. The result is that the user receives information while also being reminded to be cautious. He has demonstrated that this method is more effective than other security training methods in improving behavior. Kävrestad and his colleagues also created working software that provides this type of training. This article continues to discuss Kävrestad's research on cybersecurity training methods for users and how to help them act more securely when in risky online situations. 

University of Skövde reports "New Method Makes Digital Services Safer for the User"