Название: Human Factors Analysis of 23 Cyberattacks
Автор: Abbas Moallem
Издательство: CRC Press
Год: 2025
Страниц: 199
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf (true), epub, mobi
Размер: 10.1 MB

As cyber threat actors have become more sophisticated, data breaches, phishing attacks, and ransomware are increasing, and the global cybercrime damage in 2021 was $16.4 billion a day. While technical issue analyses are fundamental in understanding how to improve system security, analyzing the roles of human agents is crucial. Human Factors Analysis of 23 Cyberattacks addresses, through examples, the human factors behind cybersecurity attacks.

Focusing on human factors in individual attack cases, this book aims to understand the primary behaviors that might result in the success of attacks. Each chapter looks at a series of cases describing the nature of the attack through the reports and reviews of the experts, followed by the role and human factors analysis. It investigates where a human agent's intervention was a factor in starting, discovering, monitoring, or suffering from the attacks. Written in an easy-to-understand way and free from technical jargon, the reader will develop a thorough understanding of why cyberattacks occur and how they can be mitigated by comparison to the practical examples provided.

The first three chapters define and review attackers, hackers’ motivations, and humans’ roles at each phase. In the following 24 chapters, I will review each famous case, and in the final chapter, I will summarize factors shaping vulnerable behaviors.

Extensions in web browsers like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox present a novel opportunity for hackers to compromise the users’ data. Browser extensions pose a significant threat to user data because even the most widely used on‑host installed anti‑virus security software struggles to detect malicious activity within web browsers. This issue is especially critical because a web browser is the most used application by nearly all computer users. Therefore, if a hacker gets access to the web browser on the system, it is like having keys to all users’ systems. Everything, including the user’s email, screenshots, clipboard, credential tokens stored in cookies or parameters, and user keystrokes, is susceptible to theft or modification. Google’s lack of oversight of its Chrome browser resulted in several extensions going undetected when they surreptitiously compromised the data of millions of users. These extensions performed a legitimate function to gain the users’ confidence but then siphoned off data from their computers, including email addresses, payroll stubs, and credit card information.

This title will appeal to students and practitioners in the fields of ergonomics, human factors, cybersecurity, computer engineering, industrial engineering, and Computer Science.