Field Studies on the Impact of Cryptographic Signatures and Encryption on Phishing Emails

Stefanie Pham, Matthias Schopp, Lars Stiemert, Sebastian Seeber, Daniela Pöhn, Wolfgang Hommel

2021

Abstract

Phishing is a type of scam designed to steal users’ personal information, e.g. passwords, credit card information, or other account details. Phishing websites look similar to legitimate ones, making it difficult for users to differentiate between them. Phishing attacks are constantly being improved and the range of techniques used are continuously expanded. Signatures and encryption in emails are security mechanisms that phishers could attempt to misuse. This paper analyses the potential of these methods. Two comparative studies on the effect of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signatures and encryption in phishing mails were conducted. The effect was analysed in social and security-related contexts and with computer-savvy as well as regular recipients. We examined the factors computer experience, signature, encryption, signature and encryption, as well as interaction between computer experience and signatures. The results indicate a potential for misuse. Observations made during this study are stated along with future work.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Pham S., Schopp M., Stiemert L., Seeber S., Pöhn D. and Hommel W. (2021). Field Studies on the Impact of Cryptographic Signatures and Encryption on Phishing Emails.In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Information Systems Security and Privacy - Volume 1: ICISSP, ISBN 978-989-758-491-6, pages 384-390. DOI: 10.5220/0010206003840390

in Bibtex Style

@conference{icissp21,
author={Stefanie Pham and Matthias Schopp and Lars Stiemert and Sebastian Seeber and Daniela Pöhn and Wolfgang Hommel},
title={Field Studies on the Impact of Cryptographic Signatures and Encryption on Phishing Emails},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Information Systems Security and Privacy - Volume 1: ICISSP,},
year={2021},
pages={384-390},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0010206003840390},
isbn={978-989-758-491-6},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Information Systems Security and Privacy - Volume 1: ICISSP,
TI - Field Studies on the Impact of Cryptographic Signatures and Encryption on Phishing Emails
SN - 978-989-758-491-6
AU - Pham S.
AU - Schopp M.
AU - Stiemert L.
AU - Seeber S.
AU - Pöhn D.
AU - Hommel W.
PY - 2021
SP - 384
EP - 390
DO - 10.5220/0010206003840390