The Economics of Social Cybersecurity
Introduction
In the increasingly technical age, online frauds and scams have increased exponentially affecting a wide range of users from different age groups and socio-economical levels. However, citizens under the age of 60 are more susceptible to these types of scams than any other age group. Lifestyle exposure theory presents that individual daily exercises contribute to the factors of victimization. In this study, researchers seek to address the risk factors of victimization regarding the elderly. Additionally, this study shows how different factors such as age, sex, educational levels, and income levels affect the way frauds and scams permeate through people over a wide age range. The report analyzes situational attribution of scams to address sociodemographic, lifestyle, and age-based implications of these frauds.
Research and Experimentation
This study maps out the patterns and practices of victimization online in the case of younger and older adults, and then the results are divided into age groups. The groups are from ages 18-54, and 55 and older with 55 being the “digital divide” considering this age group did not grow up with computers and learned computer literacy later in life. A sample of 2558 people were surveyed with questions pertaining to private information scams, IT scams, grandparent scams, company impersonation scams, advanced fee fraud, and romantic scams. There were six questions asked of the subjects relating to six different types of scams/frauds that were “true”, “a bit true”, or “not true” answers. The questions were all framed with “In the past 12 months have/did you”.
Data and Analysis
The results displayed that age, and gender did play a significant role in online fraud and scams, with younger men having an increased amount of risk online than older men. Younger men with education had a more positive outcome with fraud and scams online, while education had no affect on the outcome for older generations. The strongest effects for younger generations related to private information scams, company impersonation scams, and romance scams. With younger men, they are more susceptible to IT fraud due to the gaming culture and are more susceptible to romantic and grandparent scams because of their presence on dating websites and applications. The results show that older generations can better protect their data as the analysis showed that there was no statistically significant relationship to elders falling for private information scams. The data does show that older generations without firewall protection or antivirus software did have an increase with romance scams. Ultimately, younger generations, especially men were more victimized by online scams and fraud than any other group surveyed. The results show that marginalized communities can be afflicted by different types of attacks. Lower income individuals are more susceptible to attacks when the do not have security software on their computers. Lower educated men have a propensity to be scammed at higher rates.
Social Sciences
This study relates to the social sciences in many ways. Three ways this article relates to social science principles are objectivity, relativism, and parsimony. Scientists exercised objectivity in the study and collection of data. The pool of ages allows for the scientists to address how younger and older citizens can be scammed or defrauded online and address the varying degrees of results. With this neutral stance, the objectivity of the study is highlighted. Relativism directly affects the results captured by the study, as the acts and practices of the surveyed subjects made an impact on the number of scams and frauds encountered. Increased online usage played a big part in increased rates, therefore scientists can conclude that their behaviors are related. Parsimony was the basis for the survey questions, with only three answers choices available: “true”, “a bit true”, or “not true”. The study was kept simple and the results showed. With parsimony, the study was able to display clear and concise results. Four areas of that overlap with social sciences are the human factors, economics, psychological roles of victims, and the experiment strategy of using a survey. This article reinforces the principles of social sciences and relates to cybersecurity by focusing on the human factors of cybersecurity. Humans are the biggest factor which affects how attacks occur and how they are mitigated. This article addresses the economics of attacks and how an individual can be scammed out of money, as well as representing a larger cybercrime industry where attackers are motivated by the money. In the study, the results show that subjects that are older exhibit a higher level of self-control, which inherently reduces their risks. Younger men exhibited a lower propensity of self-control, which increased their risk levels. Sociologists and criminologists regularly use surveys in their experiments to determine outcomes. Surveys provide contextualized information that a researcher might not be able to view otherwise.
Challenges, Concerns, and Contributions
These results can bring solace to an older generation who is commonly demonized for being less internet savvy and capable of being fooled. The concerns for younger men are vast. It should not go unnoticed that educational levels impact the type and frequency of becoming the victim of fraud. This presents challenges for younger men such as are they able to discern frauds and scams from real or meaningful communications. Relating to the PowerPoint presentation, older generations are more adept to making rational choices than younger males. Their best interest is of a higher priority and take more caution when using the internet. Also, the question arises, are younger men able to interpret real information from mis/disinformation online. This study contributes to the greater society with its findings. It shows that education levels greatly affect the number of scams and fraud that people fall for. With age comes more responsibility and apprehension to these crimes, and one can assert that increased online usage promotes vulnerabilities. It shows that a higher-level of self-control reduces the risks of becoming a victim of fraudulent acts. The study also shows that human factors, demographics, and lifestyle choices will dictate the types of frauds that happen the most.
Works Cited
Parti, K. (2022). “Elder Scam” Risk Profiles: Individual and Situational Factors of Younger and Older Age Groups’ Fraud Victimization. International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime, 5(3), 20-40. Retrieved from https://vc.bridgew.edu/ijcic/vol5/iss3/3/