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We are not equipped to identify the first signs of cyber–physical attacks: emotional reactions to cybersecurity breaches on domestic internet of things devices

Budimir, S., Fontaine, J. R. J., Huijts, N. M. A., Haans, A., IJsselsteijn, W. A., Oostveen, A.-M., Stahl, F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4860-0203, Heartfield, R., Loukas, G., Bezemskij, A., Filippoupolitis, A., Ras, I. and Roesch, E. B. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8913-4173 (2024) We are not equipped to identify the first signs of cyber–physical attacks: emotional reactions to cybersecurity breaches on domestic internet of things devices. Applied Sciences, 14 (24). 11855. ISSN 2076-3417

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To link to this item DOI: 10.3390/app142411855

Abstract/Summary

The increasing number of domestic Internet of Things (IoT) devices in our lives leads to numerous benefits, but also comes with an increased risk of cybersecurity breaches. These breaches have psychological consequences for the users. We examined the nature of the psychological impact of cybersecurity breaches on domestic IoT by investigating emotional experiences in a scenario study (Study 1) and a field experiment (Study 2) using the five emotion components of the Compo- nent Process Model (CPM) and emotion regulation as a framework. We replicated a three-dimen- sional structure for emotional experiences found in a previous study, with an addition of an ancil- lary fourth dimension in the second study. The first dimension represents emotional intensity. The second bipolar dimension describes constructive vs. unconstructive action tendencies. On the third dimension, also bipolar, cognitive and motivational emotion features are opposed to affective emo- tion features. The fourth dimension, labeled distress symptoms, mainly reflects negative emotions. In Study 2, most of the introduced frequent irregularities on IoT devices were not noticed, and the intensity of emotional reactions and tendencies to react in a constructive way decreased throughout the phases of the experiment. These findings reveal that we are not emotionally equipped to identify potential threats in the cyber world.

Item Type:Article
Refereed:Yes
Divisions:Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN)
Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Neuroscience
Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Perception and Action
ID Code:119950
Uncontrolled Keywords:cybersecurity breach; IoT devices; emotions; componential process model
Publisher:MDPI

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