An Analysis of Susceptibility to Phishing via Business Chat through Online Survey

Abstract

Phishing via email has been spreading not only to individuals but also to companies, and various studies have been conducted on it. In addition, the use of chat has been increasing, and phishing via chat is assumed to be occurring, but the risk and susceptibility to phishing via chat have not been clarified. In this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey of 304 participants. In the survey, we divided the participants into two groups, designed similar phishing scenarios using email and chat, and conducted a role play susceptibility study. The results of the study indicated that the susceptibility of chat was as high as or higher than that of email, suggesting that phishing via chat is risky. On the basis of the results, we also summarized methods for reducing the risk of phishing in chat and recommendations for future research.