Characterizing the Evolution of Psychological Tactics and Techniques Exploited by Malicious Emails

2024/08/21 by Theodore Longtchi, Longtchi, Theodore, Shouhuai Xu +1
Computer Science · Social Sciences · #Cryptography and Security (cs.CR) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Information and Cyber Security #Misinformation and Its Impacts #Spam and Phishing Detection

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2408.11586

openalex publication_date 2024/08/21 · openalex created_date 2024/12/16 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

The landscape of malicious emails and cyber social engineering attacks in general are constantly evolving. In order to design effective defenses against these attacks, we must deeply understand the Psychological Tactics, PTacs, and Psychological Techniques, PTechs, that are exploited by these attacks. In this paper we present a methodology for characterizing the evolution of PTacs and PTechs exploited by malicious emails. As a case study, we apply the methodology to a real-world dataset. This leads to a number insights, such as which PTacs or PTechs are more often exploited than others. These insights shed light on directions for future research towards designing psychologically-principled solutions to effectively counter malicious emails.

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