Abstract

Despite improved spam filtering technology, phishing continues to be a prevalent threat for college students. The current study found that approximately 4-in-10 of the students surveyed (N = 462) indicate they do not know what phishing is and the threat it poses. Students also report initially overestimating their confidence to successfully recognize phishing attempts, and underestimating their susceptibility to being the victim of an attack. By completing an interactive online phishing quiz, which explained what to look for in both counterfeit and legitimate email messages, students' self-efficacy to identify phishing attempts increased, as did their perceived susceptibility to phishing attacks, their perceptions of the severity of phishing, their intentions to learn more about the topic, and their intentions to discuss phishing with others. These results indicate that a simple, interactive online phishing quiz could be used as an effective teaching tool to supplement existing educational attempts regarding phishing on college campuses.

Citation

Perrault, E.K. (2018). Using an Interactive Online Quiz to Recalibrate College Students' Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions about Phishing. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 55(8), 1154-1167. Retrieved August 6, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/189790/.

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Keywords

• College Students
• Computer Security
• cost effectiveness
• electronic learning
• information literacy
• Information Security
• Intention
• Likert Scales
• online courses
• Pretests Posttests
• student attitudes
• Student Behavior
• Student Surveys
• undergraduate students