Exploiting personality traits in social engineering attacks

Abstract

Phishing attacks have become more sophisticated over time, more than any other forms of social engineering attacks, exploiting the end users’ vulnerabilities and weaknesses. This article reviews the literature regarding the connection between three personality models – Five Factor Model, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Dark Triad – and how they can be linked with the susceptibility of individuals to become targets of social engineering attacks. Thus, the focus on evaluating human vulnerabilities in the context of cyber security by identifying both the factors that influence the susceptibility to cyber-attacks, and the human characteristics/traits that can be exploited as a vulnerability in the context of cyber security attacks.

Keywords

• social engineering
• cyber security
• five factor model
• myers-briggs type indicator
• dark triad personality model