Expert Sources in Warnings May Reduce the Extent of Identity Disclosure in Cyber Contexts

ABSTRACT

Identity theft is an increasing threat to individuals, institutions, and the economy. People are often not adequately cautious with the disclosure of their personal information in digital contexts and may make poor decisions to reveal private information. Warnings reduce unnecessary information exposure, but the effectiveness may depend on source credibility and expertise on influencing risk perceptions and attitudes. The warnings must be designed for users acting in a digital context. The current research was conducted to determine whether adding a trustworthy and expert source to a message that warned individuals not to disclose their personal information would impact decisions to disclose. First, a survey (pilot study) was conducted to identify the source considered the most trustworthy (among Google, FBI Cyber Division, and Department of Justice) and competent with respect to online security. Google received the highest ratings. In a later experiment, warnings with sources did reduce the extent of disclosure, with the FBI Cyber Division (not Google) being the most effective source. The results indicate that warnings need to be tested with respect to the actual target behavior (in this case, disclosure), rather than relying on individuals’ perceptions of trust, risk, or influence of a warning message when designing effective warnings.

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Notes on contributors

Sandra Carpenter

Sandra Carpenter is a Professor of Psychology at The University of Alabama in Huntsville. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in Personality and Social Psychology. Her research interests include cyber privacy and teamwork dynamics.

Feng Zhu

Feng Zhu received his Ph.D. degree in computer science and engineering from Michigan State University in 2006. He is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at The University of Alabama in Huntsville. His research interests include security and privacy, pervasive computing, psychology and security, and distributed systems.

Mini Zeng

Mini Zeng is a Ph.D. student at The University of Alabama in Huntsville. She has a master’s degree from The University of Alabama in Huntsville, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology on Information Management and System. Her research interests include cyber security and privacy.

Michael Shreeves

Michael Shreeves received his BA and MA in Experimental and I/O Psychology from The University of Alabama in Huntsville, where he worked in disaster behavior, risk communication, and cyber privacy research. He is currently a Ph.D. student in Human Factors Psychology at Clemson University.