Exploring User Risk Factors and Target Groups for Phishing Victimization in Pakistan

2025-10-10

AI Summary

This study identifies key risk factors and vulnerable demographics contributing to phishing susceptibility among the Pakistani population. Method: A survey-based study employing convenience sampling collected data from 164 participants; multivariate statistical analysis examined the effects of demographic attributes, technical proficiency, prior victimization, and phishing email characteristics—including sender domain (e.g., Gmail, LinkedIn), authority/urgency cues, and explicit risk warnings. Contribution/Results: Significant susceptibility was observed among males, individuals aged 25+, employed persons, and frequent online shoppers. Phishing emails originating from commercial platforms (e.g., Gmail, LinkedIn) exhibited markedly higher deception rates than those from governmental or social media domains—challenging prevailing assumptions. Authority and urgency cues increased susceptibility, whereas explicit risk warnings enhanced user vigilance. This work presents the first empirical evidence from a South Asian emerging market revealing critical interaction effects between sender domain and user behavior, thereby informing targeted security awareness programs and context-aware phishing mitigation strategies.

Technology Category

• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Natural Language Processing: Fact-Checking / Misinformation Detection (NLP Focus)
• Humans and AI: Learning Human Values and Preferences

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Trust and reliance of crowd workers and data experts on GenAI
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Attacks and countermeasures in recommendation systems
• Responsible Web: Social and technical mechanisms of refusal for web technologies and applications

Abstract

Phishing attacks pose a significant cybersecurity threat globally. This study investigates phishing susceptibility within the Pakistani population, examining the influence of demographic factors, technological aptitude and usage, previous phishing victimization, and email characteristics. Data was collected through convenient sampling; a total of 164 people completed the questionnaire. Contrary to some assumptions, the results indicate that men, individuals over 25, employed persons and frequent online shoppers have relatively high phishing susceptibility. The characteristics of email significantly affected phishing victimization, with authority and urgency signaling increasing susceptibility, while risk cues sometimes improved vigilance. In particular, users were more susceptible to emails from communication services such as Gmail and LinkedIn compared to government or social media sources. These findings highlight the need for targeted security awareness interventions tailored to specific demographics and email types. A multifaceted approach combining technology and education is crucial to combat phishing attacks.

Problem

• Investigating phishing susceptibility factors in Pakistani population
• Identifying high-risk demographics like employed males over 25
• Analyzing how email characteristics influence phishing victimization

Innovation

• Surveyed phishing susceptibility via demographic questionnaires
• Analyzed email characteristics impact on victimization rates
• Proposed targeted awareness interventions for high-risk groups