Personality affects susceptibility of people to cybercrime

Personality type is a major factor in people’s vulnerability to cybercrime, a Stellenbosch University (SU) researcher has established. People with an “agreeable” personality were more vulnerable than others to “social engineering” cyberattacks. The research was carried out by systems analyst Vian Smit, who recently graduated with a Master's in Socio-Informatics from SU. Smit surveyed nearly 700 people for his research. They were divided into five “personality types” – conscientious, extravert, agreeable, open, and neurotic. (These categorisations were those used in cybersecurity.) His survey addressed the likeliness of the people in these categories responding to social engineering attacks (in which cybercriminals try and trick people into revealing private information or passwords or into clicking on harmful links).