Cybercriminals exploit these cognitive biases the most
In the hustle and bustle of modern life, our mental energy is the most important currency we have. To preserve cognitive resources, the human brain subconsciously takes mental shortcuts, called cognitive biases, whenever and wherever it can. While these preconceptions do not necessarily reflect reality or rationality, we rely on them to expedite and simplify information processing. These biases influence and affect not only the way we think and behave, but also our decision-making process. Unfortunately, hackers exploit these cognitive biases to target employees with phishing attacks in order to gain access to corporate data.
To better understand the cognitive biases used, SecurityAdvisor assessed more than 500,000 malicious emails targeting senior leaders, mid-managers, and entry level employees, as well as IT, finance, human resources, and legal teams. The report reveals how cybercriminals are using cognitive bias techniques to target employees in social engineering attacks, as well as which cognitive biases are most popular by the role, department, and industry employees work in.