An Empirical Assessment on the Role of Persuasion Principles and Cybersecurity Skills Training on Senior Citizens' SMiShing Susceptibility

Cyber and phishing incidents have cost billions of dollars to senior citizens. Cybercriminals often employ different attack vectors over different mediums to deliver phishing attacks. For example, a phishing email, SMiShing message, or vishing attack uses the Internet, Short Message Service (SMS) messages, and voice mediums to deliver their attacks. Phishing attacks are often successful because attackers use different principles of persuasion to increase a person's susceptibility. These principles include authority; social proof; liking, similarity, deception; commitment, reciprocation, consistency; and distraction. Attackers often use combinations of these principles in dyads and triads to make their attacks more persuasive. In addition, phishing attacks can use social engineering techniques to manipulate victims and make them perform actions against their best interest.