Avoiding the hook : influential factors of phishing awareness training on click-rates and a data-driven approach to predict email difficulty perception

Phishing attacks are still seen as a significant threat to cyber security, and large parts of the industry rely on anti-phishing simulations to minimize the risk imposed by such attacks. This study conducted a large-scale anti-phishing training with more than 31000 participants and 144 different simulated phishing attacks to develop a data-driven model to classify how users would perceive a phishing simulation. Furthermore, we analyze the results of our large-scale anti-phishing training and give novel insights into users’ click behavior. Analyzing our anti-phishing training data, we find out that 66% of users do not fall victim to credential-based phishing attacks even after being exposed to twelve weeks of phishing simulations. To further enhance the phishing awareness-training effectiveness, we developed a novel manifold learning-powered machine learning model that can predict how many people would fall for a phishing simulation using the several structural and state-of-the-art NLP features extracted from the emails. In this way, we present a systematic approach for the training implementers to estimate the average “convincing power” of the emails prior to rolling out. Moreover, we revealed the top-most vital factors in the classification. In addition, our model presents significant benefits over traditional rule-based approaches in classifying the difficulty of phishing simulations. Our results clearly show that anti-phishing training should focus on the training of individual users rather than on large user groups. Additionally, we present a promising generic machine learning model for predicting phishing susceptibility

Web content signing with service workers

Securing the communication between a web server and a browser is a fundamental task of securing the World Wide Web. Websites today rely heavily on HTTPS to set up secure connections. In recent years, several incidents undermined this trust and therefore the security of the HTTPS system. In this paper we introduce an approach allowing to secure JavaScript files in case a HTTPS connection between web server and browser is compromised. Our paper presents a solution to safeguard the user's browser so that it only processes content (e.g., JavaScript or HTML) that was genuinely provided by the web application service providers themselves. Our solution makes use of service workers, a recently proposed W3C Candidate Recommendation enabling applications to take advantage of persistent background processing, including hooks to enable bootstrapping of web applications while offline. It demonstrates how service workers are able to validate the integrity of JavaScript files within the client's browser and how service workers are used to detect and mitigate malicious JavaScript files

Search for invisible Higgs boson decays in e+ e- collisions at center-of-mass energies up to 184-GeV

In a data sample of 78.3 pb^-1 collected in 1996 and 1997 by the ALEPH detector at centre-of-mass energies from 161 to 184 GeV, invisible decays of a Higgs boson have been searched for in the reaction e+e- --> hZ, where the Z can decay into e+e-, mu+mu- or qqbar. No evidence for a signal is found and limits on the production cross section are derived as a function of the Higgs boson mass. These results are combined with those obtained in an update of the analyses of the ALEPH data taken at LEP 1. For a production cross section equal to that of the minimal standard model Higgs boson, masses below 80 GeV/c^2 are excluded at 95% C.L

Measurement of the W mass in e+ e- collisions at 183-GeV

The mass of the W boson is obtained from reconstructed invariant mass distributions in W-pair events. The sample of W pairs is selected from 57 pb-1 collected with the ALEPH detector in 1997 at a centre-of-mass energy of 183 GeV. The invariant mass distributions of reweighted Monte Carlo events are fitted separately to the experimental distributions in the qq\uafqq\uaf and all l\u3bdqq\uaf channels to give the following W masses:where the theory error represents the possible effects of final state interactions. The combination of these two measurements, including the LEP energy calibration uncertainty, give

Analysis of transverse momentum correlations in hadronic Z decays

In a recent paper, evidence was presented for a significant, positive correlation between the total transverse momenta of particles on opposite hemispheres of hadronic events. A new, model independent analysis of the data has been made. Two components can be distinguished in the correlation, and quantitative estimates of each are given. The results form a significant test of Monte Carlo models and some of the physics behind them

Search for charginos and neutralinos in e+e−e^+ e^- collisions at center-of-mass energies near 183-GeV and constraints on the MSSM parameter space

Searches for charginos and neutralinos are performed with the data collected by the ALEPH detector at LEP at centre-of-mass energies near 183 GeV. In these searches, it is assumed that R-parity is conserved and that the lightest neutralino is the LSP. No evidence of a signal is observed in the 57 pb −1 accumulated, which excludes chargino and associated neutralino production up to the kinematic limit over large regions of the MSSM parameter space. Under the assumptions of common gaugino and common sfermion masses at the unification scale, the interplay between the chargino, neutralino and slepton exclusion limits allows a lower bound of 27 GeV/ c2 to be set on the mass of the lightest neutralino. Tighter constraints on the MSSM parameter space are obtained using in addition exclusions in the Higgs sector. Finally, the results are interpreted within the framework of minimal supergravity

Search for charged Higgs bosons in e+e−e^+ e^- collisions at S(1/2)S^(1/2) = 181-GeV - 184-GeV

Data collected at centre-of-mass energies of 181-184 GeV by ALEPH at LEP, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 56.9 pb^-1, are analysed in a search for pair-produced charged Higgs bosons H+-. Three analyses are employed to select the tau nu tau nu, tau nu c s and c s c s final states. No evidence for a signal is found. Mass limits are set as a function of the branching fraction B( H+ -> tau+ nu ). Under the assumption that the decay modes considered cover the totality of the possible final states, charged Higgs bosons with masses below 59 GeV/c^2 are excluded at 95% C.L. independently of B( H+ -> tau+ nu )