A Call for the Consideration of Individual Difference in Cyber

Security

John E. Buckner Tilman L. Sheets

Louisiana Tech University

Security Breach Unintentional

• Naïve Employees Intentional

• Hackers• “Insiders”

Training

UnintentionalBreach

Unintentional Breach Cyber Security Training

• Educational Programs for Cyber Security Explosion of popularity and offerings (Newman,

2007) Increased demand

• Training to increase Security Providing information to employees Increasing awareness

Training

UnintentionalBreach

Selection

Selection Personality traits and Individual

Differences• Job “Fit”• Creating teams to maximize performance

Cognitive Abilities• Determining key dimensions that predict job

success

Training

UnintentionalBreach

Selection

Intentional

Breach

Prevention/

Detection

Intentional Breach Prevention and Detection

• Building hardware and software systems Beyond the scope of our presentation

• Training to increase Security Providing information to “honest “employees Increasing vigilance for identification of

potential threats (activities & behaviors)

Training

UnintentionalBreach

Selection

Intentional

Breach

Prevention/

Detection

Selection Individual Differences

• Profiling Motives Professionalism and Ethicality (honesty/integrity) (Doty & O’Connor, 2010)

• Hacker Personality white-hat vs black-hat hackers

• “Insiders” Privileged information Motivation

Selection Personality Framework:

• The BIG 5 Extraversion, Emotional Stability, Openness,

Conscientiousness, Agreeableness

Extraversion

Emotional Stability

Openness

ConscientiousnessAgreeableness

Selection Personality Framework:

• The BIG 5 Extraversion, Emotional Stability, Openness,

Conscientiousness, Agreeableness• The BIG 5 + 1

Integrity: Honesty/Humility Correlated with the ‘‘Dark Triad’’ traits of Machiavellianism,

Narcissism,and Primary Psychopathy (Lee & Ashton, 2005).

• Intrinsic/Extrinsic Motivation

Largely absent in Cyber Security

Summary Individual Differences

• Predicting “at-risk” employees Naïve Employees “Insiders”

• Identify those most capable of performing in the field Individual personality tied to performance Selecting team members based on personality

• Profiling personality of malicious hackers Identify potential threat

Questions or Comments