The impact of information security threat awareness on privacy-protective behaviors. (June 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mamonov, Stanislav; Benbunan-Fich, Raquel
• Is Part Of: Computers in human behavior. Volume 83(2018)
• Page Start: 32
• Page End: 44
• Publication Date: 2018-06
• Subjects: Security -- Privacy -- Protective behaviors -- Passwords -- Self-disclosure; Interactive computer systems -- Periodicals; Man-machine systems -- Periodicals; 004.019
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2018.01.028
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0747-5632

Abstract

Abstract: In this study, we examine how to motivate computer users to protect themselves from potential security and privacy threats. We draw on the Information Processing framework which posits that threat mitigation commonly occurs before full cognitive threat assessment and we conduct an empirical study to evaluate the effects of an exposure to general information security threats on the strength of passwords and the disclosure of personal information. Through an online experiment, we compare immediate computer user reactions to potential non-individually specific security and privacy threats in an extra-organizational context. We find evidence consistent with automatic security and privacy protective actions in response to these threats. Computer users exposed to news stories about corporate security breaches limit the disclosure of sensitive personal information and choose stronger passwords. The study complements the existing behavior modification research in information security by providing the theoretical and empirical foundation for the exploration of automatic security and privacy threat mitigation strategies across different contexts. Highlights: We explore factors that affect perceptions of privacy breach among mobile app users. We evaluate how the type of information and legal contracts affect perceptions of a privacy breach. We develop and operationalize a new construct: perceived privacy breach. We find that not all privacy breaches are alike. Legal contracts only partially reduce perceptions of a privacy breach.