The Looming Cybersecurity Crisis and What It Means for the Practice of Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Abstract

The persistently changing landscape of cyberspace and cybersecurity has led to a call for organizations’ increased attention toward securing information and systems. Rapid change in the cyber environment puts it on a scale unlike any other performance environment typically of interest to industrial and organizational (I-O) psychologists and related disciplines. In this article, we reflect on the idea of keeping pace with cyber, with a particular focus on the role of practicing I-O psychologists in assisting individuals, teams, and organizations. We focus on the unique roles of I-O psychologists in relation to the cyber realm and discuss the ways in which they can contribute to organizational cybersecurity efforts. As highlighted throughout this article, we assert that the mounting threats within cyberspace amount to a “looming crisis.” Thus, we view assisting organizations and their employees with becoming resilient and adaptive to cyber threats as an imperative, and practicing I-O psychologists should be at the forefront of these efforts.

Utilising online eye-tracking to discern the impacts of cultural backgrounds on fake and real news decision-making

“…Audio and images are treated by users as more realistic interpretations of the real world of everyday experience over text, for example this can give insight as to why social media posts are more convincing when accompanied by images (Vaccari and Chadwick, 2020) Illusory truth effect General scepticism could play a role in who falls for FN, describes that those that are more gullible, or having a higher reflexive open-mindedness may be more susceptible to believing FN (Pennycook and Rand, 2020) Simple source heuristics Relates to more intuitive individuals, those who think that FN is less accurate because they are more likely to pay attention to whether or not the story is coming from a trusted source (Pennycook and Rand, 2020) communities and individuals in virtual space, both are discussed as overlapping concepts. Cybersecurity focuses on behaviours and decision-making, with the aim to secure systems from exploitation and manipulation, such as social engineering attacks, like phishing emails (Dreibelbis et al, 2018). Literature by Chadwick et al (2018) uses studies to explore some of these online behavioural phenomena by looking at fake news and its spread through political groupings of users.…”

Human Factors in the Cybersecurity of Autonomous Vehicles: Trends in Current Research

“…Nevertheless, the development of such procedures might become necessary when cyberattacks on the AV infrastructure result in deaths. Such monitoring might be demanding for Human Resources departments and it needs the HR personnel to be continuously educated in these issues (Dreibelbis et al, 2018).…”

Which Tools in Multimedia Are Best for Learning Outcomes? A Study Grounded in Cognitive Load Structures

“…An operator working on human-computer interaction can quickly experience that his or her mental resources can be overloaded, thus leading to impairment in cognitive functioning (Oviatt, 2006). In addition, looking at the design and execution of cybersecurity programs, it becomes evident that the extent of human resilience when dealing with cognitive load and demands has been insufficiently studied (Dreibelbis et al, 2018). Linked with this is an increasing demand for qualified cyber personnel due to the increased utility of and reliance upon cyberspace in military operations (Champion et al, 2014), which leads to a necessity to investigate the relevant cognitive load factors for these types of personnel.…”