AVESTA: Research

Project:

CyberCorps: Capacity Building In Social Engineering Penetration Testing

Some Quick Facts About the Project:

Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2017
Title: CyberCorps: Capacity Building In Social Engineering Penetration Testing, National Science Foundation (NSF) (NSF Project Summary). Awarded September 2017, $500,000.00. The project is for three years. This project aims at investigating the factors and characteristics that make social engineering attacks more effective. The project focuses on social engineering attacks through emailing and phone call (vishing).
Type: A multi-disciplinary research project
Involved Departments: Computer Science, Psychology, and Education (Texas Tech University)
Project Investigators:
- Dr. Akbar Siami Namin, PI, Computer Science, Texas Tech University
- Dr. Keith S. Jones , Co-PI, Department of Psychology, Texas Tech University
- Dr. Raymond Flores, Evaluator, College of Education, Texas Tech University
Other Facts:
- To Come.

Motivation & Research Goals

This three-year project will identify the social skillsets that professional and ethical hackers need for launching deceptive social engineering attacks. This project conducts several experiments to understand factors at play during social engineering attacks; develop of educational materials that incorporate lessons learned from these experiments; and offer opportunities for students and educators to practice social engineering attack-tactics with one another .

Specific Objectives

human-factor experiments will be conducted to understand the factors at play on three major social engineering attack methods:

the characteristics of emails that enable launching successful phishing attacks.
the behavior and manner of attackers when deceiving victims through phone calls with the purpose of divulging the victims' personal information.
the behavior and manner of attackers when physically approaching victims with the goal of obtaining sensitive information.

Instruments and Artifacts

Coming Soon...

Instructional Modules and Course Materials

To Come ...

Publications