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Triggering Empathy out of Malicious Intent: The Role of Empathy in Social Engineering Attacks

Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Conference contribution/Paper › peer-review

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Triggering Empathy out of Malicious Intent: The Role of Empathy in Social Engineering Attacks. / Distler, Verena; Abdrabou, Yasmeen; Dietz, Felix et al.
Proceedings of the 2nd Empathy-Centric Design Workshop, EmpathiCH 2023 - Collocated with ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2023. p. 1-6 2 (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series).

Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Conference contribution/Paper › peer-review

Harvard

Distler, V, Abdrabou, Y, Dietz, F & Alt, F 2023, Triggering Empathy out of Malicious Intent: The Role of Empathy in Social Engineering Attacks. in Proceedings of the 2nd Empathy-Centric Design Workshop, EmpathiCH 2023 - Collocated with ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems., 2, ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), pp. 1-6, EMPATHICH '23:, Hamburg, Germany, 23/04/23. https://doi.org/10.1145/3588967.3588969

APA

Distler, V., Abdrabou, Y., Dietz, F., & Alt, F. (2023). Triggering Empathy out of Malicious Intent: The Role of Empathy in Social Engineering Attacks. In Proceedings of the 2nd Empathy-Centric Design Workshop, EmpathiCH 2023 - Collocated with ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-6). Article 2 (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series). Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). https://doi.org/10.1145/3588967.3588969

Vancouver

Distler V, Abdrabou Y, Dietz F, Alt F. Triggering Empathy out of Malicious Intent: The Role of Empathy in Social Engineering Attacks. In Proceedings of the 2nd Empathy-Centric Design Workshop, EmpathiCH 2023 - Collocated with ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). 2023. p. 1-6. 2. (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series). doi: 10.1145/3588967.3588969

Author

Distler, Verena ; Abdrabou, Yasmeen ; Dietz, Felix et al. / Triggering Empathy out of Malicious Intent: The Role of Empathy in Social Engineering Attacks. Proceedings of the 2nd Empathy-Centric Design Workshop, EmpathiCH 2023 - Collocated with ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2023. pp. 1-6 (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series).

Bibtex

@inproceedings{02659d2f5b444a0783ddf598cf8829d4,
title = "Triggering Empathy out of Malicious Intent: The Role of Empathy in Social Engineering Attacks",
abstract = "Social engineering is a popular attack vector among cyber criminals. During such attacks, impostors often attempt to trigger empathy to manipulate victims into taking dangerous actions, for example, sharing their credentials or clicking on malicious email attachments. The objective of this position paper is to initiate a conversation on the tension between positive and negative aspects of empathy in HCI as it pertains to security-relevant behaviors. To this end, we focus on the malicious ways in which empathy can be instrumentalized in social engineering. We describe examples of such empathy-related social engineering attacks, explore potential solutions (including the automated detection of empathy-triggering communication, or of empathetic communication on the part of a potential victim), and discuss technical, social as well as organizational interventions. We highlight research challenges and directions for future work.",
keywords = "Empathy, Security, Social Engineering",
author = "Verena Distler and Yasmeen Abdrabou and Felix Dietz and Florian Alt",
year = "2023",
month = may,
day = "18",
doi = "10.1145/3588967.3588969",
language = "English",
series = "ACM International Conference Proceeding Series",
publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)",
pages = "1--6",
booktitle = "Proceedings of the 2nd Empathy-Centric Design Workshop, EmpathiCH 2023 - Collocated with ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems",
note = "EMPATHICH '23: : EmpathiCH Workshop ; Conference date: 23-04-2023 Through 23-04-2023",

}

RIS

TY - GEN

T1 - Triggering Empathy out of Malicious Intent: The Role of Empathy in Social Engineering Attacks

AU - Distler, Verena

AU - Abdrabou, Yasmeen

AU - Dietz, Felix

AU - Alt, Florian

PY - 2023/5/18

Y1 - 2023/5/18

N2 - Social engineering is a popular attack vector among cyber criminals. During such attacks, impostors often attempt to trigger empathy to manipulate victims into taking dangerous actions, for example, sharing their credentials or clicking on malicious email attachments. The objective of this position paper is to initiate a conversation on the tension between positive and negative aspects of empathy in HCI as it pertains to security-relevant behaviors. To this end, we focus on the malicious ways in which empathy can be instrumentalized in social engineering. We describe examples of such empathy-related social engineering attacks, explore potential solutions (including the automated detection of empathy-triggering communication, or of empathetic communication on the part of a potential victim), and discuss technical, social as well as organizational interventions. We highlight research challenges and directions for future work.

AB - Social engineering is a popular attack vector among cyber criminals. During such attacks, impostors often attempt to trigger empathy to manipulate victims into taking dangerous actions, for example, sharing their credentials or clicking on malicious email attachments. The objective of this position paper is to initiate a conversation on the tension between positive and negative aspects of empathy in HCI as it pertains to security-relevant behaviors. To this end, we focus on the malicious ways in which empathy can be instrumentalized in social engineering. We describe examples of such empathy-related social engineering attacks, explore potential solutions (including the automated detection of empathy-triggering communication, or of empathetic communication on the part of a potential victim), and discuss technical, social as well as organizational interventions. We highlight research challenges and directions for future work.

KW - Empathy

KW - Security

KW - Social Engineering

U2 - 10.1145/3588967.3588969

DO - 10.1145/3588967.3588969

M3 - Conference contribution/Paper

T3 - ACM International Conference Proceeding Series

SP - 1

EP - 6

BT - Proceedings of the 2nd Empathy-Centric Design Workshop, EmpathiCH 2023 - Collocated with ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

PB - Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

T2 - EMPATHICH '23:

Y2 - 23 April 2023 through 23 April 2023

ER -