Reflection No. 3: The Cognitive Psychology Essentials for Cybersecurity Topic of Nudging
(Written in the Spring semester of 2022)
The example of a “nudge” of presenting healthy foods at the forefront of our visual focus of attention and unhealthy foods in our peripheral unfocused area of attention helped me brainstorm and investigate some ideas of an example of a “nudge” that could be used to help users make safe choices as it relates to cybersecurity. The most common one that comes to mind is helping users create stronger passwords by informing them if the password that was created was either a weak or strong one. Another one, although has been ethically abused frequently, is offering a user a free trial to use a service for a certain number of days instead of making an immediate decision to pay for any one of the subscription offerings. But one that I would like to see implemented, or more often if it has, is either the option to lock payment information or not to save it brought to the forefront of a user’s visual focus of attention when entering payment information on an ordering app.
With more online ordering on the rise over the past few years and due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a good chance more people are saving their payment information on accounts created through apps and online shopping websites because it is convenient. After entering payment information, the user should be given the option of choosing either locking the card and payment information first, not saving it second, or saving it third. If they click the first visible option, users can then select dual-factor authentication, security questions, or fingerprint ID, etc. to secure it. Because there used to be a time when it was advised to enter only our credit card information instead of our debit card information and to reconsider saving payment information online for safe online shopping practices, presenting options in that way will give more users, or most of us, who may not observe these practices an opportunity to safeguard their payment information from potential unforeseen security breaches.