The Influences of Social Networks on Phishing Vulnerability

Phishing is a form of electronic deception in which an attacker tries to cause the recipient to do something or disclose data that they likely would not normally do by mimicking a trustworthy entity. These attacks have been increasing at an alarming rate and can cause damages in the form of identity theft, financial losses, and compromised security for organizations and governmental institutions. Additionally, phishing attacks have become very sophisticated and even more successful because of the lack of vigilance by computer users. Successful phishes have particularly strong implications for military populations, and have the potential to threaten national security. In an attempt to reduce the overall success rate of a phishing attack, this paper applies the foundations of social network analysis to identify how social network structures among a military company of future US Army officers. are most influential in reducing the spread of a phish. This experimental study collected empirical and survey data in an effort to analyze the flow of information and influence of people in phishing awareness within an organization.