Forest or trees? Evidence for global processing via an information board study into cues utilised in phishing identification

Conway, D; Yu, K; Butavicius, M; Chen, F; Hepworth, A

Forest or trees? Evidence for global processing via an information board study into cues utilised in phishing identification

Conway, D Yu, K

Butavicius, M Chen, F

Hepworth, A

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Publisher:: TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, ahead-of-print, (ahead-of-print)

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Conway, D
dc.contributor.author	Yu, K https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5138-6749
dc.contributor.author	Butavicius, M
dc.contributor.author	Chen, F https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4971-8729
dc.contributor.author	Hepworth, A
dc.date.accessioned	2025-08-06T04:33:35Z
dc.date.available	2025-08-06T04:33:35Z
dc.identifier.citation	BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, ahead-of-print, (ahead-of-print)
dc.identifier.issn	0144-929X
dc.identifier.issn	1362-3001
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/189271
dc.description.abstract	We examined the patterns of cues people utilised as they attempted to classify emails as legitimate or phishing via a novel approach – an information board study. In this paradigm, participants had to click on email elements to examine them, revealing which cues are utilised in the decision-making process as well as viewing duration. An online email classification task (87 Ps) was presented, including a between-subjects’ manipulation of cognitive load. This revealed consistent patterns of behaviour associated with identification of legitimate emails such as more time spent looking at signoffs aiding in identification, whereas more time spent looking at logo and greetings was associated with worse performance. We also found no-load condition participants with lower intuitive decision-making style scores identified more phishing emails correctly suggesting elaborative processing as an important determinant of good decision-making. However, none of; cyber security experience, impulsivity, and checking the sender’s address corresponded to higher rates of phishing email identification. Furthermore, we found no behavioural, cue-based patterns associated with correct decisions for phishing emails. We speculate that this decision-making process may be based on a global, holistic interpretation of the stimuli. This has important implications for awareness campaigns suggesting a more holistic approach to email evaluation.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
dc.relation.ispartof	BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1080/0144929X.2025.2530012
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	08 Information and Computing Sciences, 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
dc.subject.classification	Human Factors
dc.subject.classification	3503 Business systems in context
dc.subject.classification	4608 Human-centred computing
dc.subject.classification	5204 Cognitive and computational psychology
dc.title	Forest or trees? Evidence for global processing via an information board study into cues utilised in phishing identification
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.for	08 Information and Computing Sciences
utslib.for	17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/UTS Groups
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/UTS Groups/Data Science Institute (DSI)
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/UTS Groups/The Trustworthy Digital Society
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.rights.license	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.date.updated	2025-08-06T04:33:33Z
pubs.publication-status	Published online

Abstract:

We examined the patterns of cues people utilised as they attempted to classify emails as legitimate or phishing via a novel approach – an information board study. In this paradigm, participants had to click on email elements to examine them, revealing which cues are utilised in the decision-making process as well as viewing duration. An online email classification task (87 Ps) was presented, including a between-subjects’ manipulation of cognitive load. This revealed consistent patterns of behaviour associated with identification of legitimate emails such as more time spent looking at signoffs aiding in identification, whereas more time spent looking at logo and greetings was associated with worse performance. We also found no-load condition participants with lower intuitive decision-making style scores identified more phishing emails correctly suggesting elaborative processing as an important determinant of good decision-making. However, none of; cyber security experience, impulsivity, and checking the sender’s address corresponded to higher rates of phishing email identification. Furthermore, we found no behavioural, cue-based patterns associated with correct decisions for phishing emails. We speculate that this decision-making process may be based on a global, holistic interpretation of the stimuli. This has important implications for awareness campaigns suggesting a more holistic approach to email evaluation.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/189271