Security Messages: Or, How I Learned to Stop Disregarding and Heed the Warning

Attacks on information security continue to be reported in the media, and result in large losses for organizations. While some attacks are the result of sophisticated threats, others can be traced to failures by organizational insiders to observe basic security policies such as using caution when opening unsolicited email attachments. Faced with the challenges and time demands of everyday stressors, security policy compliance can be costly for individuals; security actions require time and distract attention from other primary tasks. This costliness can lead individuals to ignore prompts to perform security updates, scan their computers for threats, or reboot their computers to apply security updates. This dissertation contains three studies that address the following overarching research question: How can end-user adherence to security messages be better understood and improved, and how can theory inform security-message design? First, two complementary studies are presented that examine the integration of media naturalness theory into a security message context using field study and fMRI designs. Study 1, the field study, unobtrusively captures objective measures of attention from Amazon Mechanical Turk users (N=510) as they perform a between-subjects deception protocol. Study 2, the fMRI study, examines neural activations from a within-subjects participant design (N=23) in response to different security message designs with integrated emotive human facial expressions. Data from studies 1 and 2 show that warnings with integrated facial expressions of threat (fear, disgust) generally elicited greater adherence rates and higher evidence of cognition and elaboration than did warnings with integrated neutral facial expressions or than did warnings with no integrated facial expressions, supporting our hypotheses. Study 3 explores the pattern of risk taking and analysis that users engage in when interacting with interruptive security messages. The corroboration of multiple behavioral dependent variables suggests that users predominantly use a bimodal risk tradeoff paradigm when interacting with interruptive security messages. All three studies address the overarching research question of understanding and improving end user adherence to security messages

Mean annual solar radiation (W/m²) and temperature (DT; °C) values of the sampled populations.

<p>DT sensors (I-Button DS1921H, Maxim Integrated Products), were placed at the sampling location, at 5–7 m depth in each population. Solar radiation (W/m²) was collected from MFG satellites. The sites are arranged in order of increasing DT; SE, standard error.</p

Oocyte size/frequency distribution in the recruitment and maturity periods.

<p>Distribution of the oocytes size during gamete recruitment period (solid line) and gamete maturity period (dashed line).</p

Mean fecundity, gonadal index and diameter of oocytes in each population.

<p>Mean fecundity, gonadal index and diameter of oocytes in each population for both reproductive periods. The sites are arranged in order of increasing DT; SE, standard error. N, polyp number for fecundity and gonadal index, oocyte number for diameter.</p

Reproductive Efficiency of a Mediterranean Endemic Zooxanthellate Coral Decreases with Increasing Temperature along a Wide Latitudinal Gradient

<div><p>Investments at the organismal level towards reproduction and growth are often used as indicators of health. Understanding how such energy allocation varies with environmental conditions may, therefore, aid in predicting possible responses to global climatic change in the near future. For example, variations in seawater temperature may alter the physiological functioning, behavior, reproductive output and demographic traits (e.g., productivity) of marine organisms, leading to shifts in the structure, spatial range, and abundance of populations. This study investigated variations in reproductive output associated with local seawater temperature along a wide latitudinal gradient on the western Italian coast, in the zooxanthellate Mediterranean coral, <i>Balanophyllia europaea</i>. Reproductive potential varied significantly among sites, where <i>B. europaea</i> individuals from the warmest site experienced loss of oocytes during gametogenesis. Most of the early oocytes from warmest sites did not reach maturity, possibly due to inhibition of metabolic processes at high temperatures, causing <i>B. europaea</i> to reabsorb the oocytes and utilize them as energy for other vital functions. In a progressively warming Mediterranean, the efficiency of the energy invested in reproduction could be considerably reduced in this species, thereby affecting vital processes. Given the projected increase in seawater temperature as a consequence of global climate change, the present study adds evidence to the threats posed by high temperatures to the survival of <i>B. europaea</i> in the next decades.</p></div

Map of the Italian coastline indicating the sites where corals were collected.

<p>Abbreviations and coordinates of the sites in decreasing order of latitude: GN Genova, 44°20′N, 9°08′E; CL Calafuria, 43°27′N, 10°21′E; LB Elba Isle, 42°45′N, 10°24′E; PL Palinuro, 40°02′N, 15°16′E; SC Scilla, 38°01′N, 15°38′E; PN Pantelleria Isle, 36°45′N, 11°57′E.</p

Mean abundance, gonadal index and diameter of spermaries in each population.

<p>Mean abundance, gonadal index and diameter of spermaries in each population for both reproductive periods. The sites are arranged in order of increasing DT; SE, standard error. N, polyps number for abundance and gonadal index, spermaries number for diameter.</p

Spermary frequency distribution in the recruitment and maturity periods.

<p>Distribution of the maturation stages during gamete recruitment period (gray histogram bars) and gamete maturity period (black histogram bars).</p

Age class structures of each population.

<p>The lines indicate the theoretical distributions. The observed (arrow) and theoretical (black square) age class containing the mean age of the individuals of sampled population are indicated. The observed (black column) and theoretical (black circle) age at maximum percentage biomass are indicated. Asterisks indicate the age at sexual maturity. Data for the Calafuria population (CL) are from <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0037848#pone.0037848-Goffredo5" target="_blank">[30]</a>. <i>n</i> number of individuals dated by growth curves.</p

Map of the Italian coastline indicating sites where corals were collected.

<p>Abbreviations and coordinates of the sites in decreasing order of latitude: GN Genova, 44°20′N, 9°08′E; CL Calafuria, 43°27′N, 10°21′E; LB Elba Isle, 42°45′N, 10°24′E; PL Palinuro, 40°02′N, 15°16′E; SC Scilla, 38°01′N, 15°38′E; PN Pantelleria Isle, 36°45′N, 11°57′E.</p