Enhanced Predictive Clustering of User Profiles: A Model for Classifying Individuals Based on Email Interaction and Behavioral Patterns

Peter Wafik, Alessio Botta, Luigi Gallo, Gennaro Esposito Mocerino, Cornelia Herbert, Ivan Annicchiarico, Alia El Bolock, Slim Abdennadher

2025

Abstract

This study introduces a predictive framework to address a gap in user profiling, integrating advanced clustering, dimensionality reduction, and deep learning techniques to analyze the relationship between user profiles and email phishing susceptibility. Using data from the Spamley platform (Gallo et al., 2024), the proposed framework combines deep clustering and predictive models, achieving a Silhouette Score of 0.83, a Davies-Bouldin Index of 0.42, and a Calinski-Harabasz Index of 1676.2 with k-means and Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) for clustering user profiles. The results further highlight the effectiveness of Linear Support Vector Machines (SVM) and neural network models in classifying cluster membership, providing valuable decision-making insights. These findings demonstrate the efficacy of advanced non-linear methods for clustering complex user profile features, as well as the overall success of the semi-supervised model in enhancing clustering accuracy and predictive performance. The framework lays a strong foundation for future research on tailored anti-phishing strategies and enhancing user resilience.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Wafik P., Botta A., Gallo L., Mocerino G., Herbert C., Annicchiarico I., El Bolock A. and Abdennadher S. (2025). Enhanced Predictive Clustering of User Profiles: A Model for Classifying Individuals Based on Email Interaction and Behavioral Patterns. In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Information Systems Security and Privacy - Volume 2: ICISSP; ISBN 978-989-758-735-1, SciTePress, pages 363-374. DOI: 10.5220/0013302800003899

in Bibtex Style

@conference{icissp25,
author={Peter Wafik and Alessio Botta and Luigi Gallo and Gennaro Mocerino and Cornelia Herbert and Ivan Annicchiarico and Alia El Bolock and Slim Abdennadher},
title={Enhanced Predictive Clustering of User Profiles: A Model for Classifying Individuals Based on Email Interaction and Behavioral Patterns},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Information Systems Security and Privacy - Volume 2: ICISSP},
year={2025},
pages={363-374},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013302800003899},
isbn={978-989-758-735-1},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Information Systems Security and Privacy - Volume 2: ICISSP
TI - Enhanced Predictive Clustering of User Profiles: A Model for Classifying Individuals Based on Email Interaction and Behavioral Patterns
SN - 978-989-758-735-1
AU - Wafik P.
AU - Botta A.
AU - Gallo L.
AU - Mocerino G.
AU - Herbert C.
AU - Annicchiarico I.
AU - El Bolock A.
AU - Abdennadher S.
PY - 2025
SP - 363
EP - 374
DO - 10.5220/0013302800003899
PB - SciTePress