Abigail Mckeown, Computer Networks and Cyber Security, Department of Computer and Information Sciences
Project Aims Research and Planning
●They are highly targeted for online scams due to their lack of cyber security skills and awareness compared to younger users.
●This project aims to investigate older people’s cyber security understanding and skills; and explores how this can be improved through developing an interactive digital application.
The Product
●The website is specifically targeted towards older people & provides educational content to help them improve their cyber awareness and skills.
●Content topics include email scams and shopping safely online. The content is provided using text, images, audio, and videos.
●The content is taken from reputable sites such as Age UK and the NCSC and referenced on the pages to help increase the viewers trust.
●An interactive game has been implemented which allows users to test their cyber awareness through a simulation. The users are given 3 images of emails and asked to identify the legitimate and fraudulent emails.
●The top 3 latest tweets from Age UK’s twitter page are shown on the homepage.
●Text-to-speech and zoom features were added to help accessibility.
●A booklet was created alongside the website to provide a hard copy of the content as this was requested in the focus group.
User Feedback
●In the research it was found that the majority of tools available were targeted towards children and employees, and little tools targeted towards older people.
●A focus group was held with 4 members of the target audience (60+ year olds) to understand their cyber skills and awareness, and include them in participatory design.
●The research showed that trusting the information was a key element for older people to apply good cyber security behaviours.
●The participants stated they didn’t want a tool that required logins, as they did not trust giving away their personal information.
●Easy navigation was an important factor to the participants when creating the tool.
●The product was created using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Results
●This project helped older people increase their cyber awareness & skills by creating an interactive tool that provides content and learning in an engaging way.
●The participants stated they would trust this product more if it was incorporated into websites they trusted such as Age UK or local councils.
●The participants stated the product advertised through leaflets in libraries/the doctors would also increase trust.
●Positive feedback was received as the content did not include technical terms and was “presented in a clear way that is easy to understand”.
●The participants liked how the information was presented through of a mixture of audio, images, videos, and text
●They thought the game provided them with practise on email scams and now felt more aware.
●The participants stated they were more likely to trust the content as they felt they could trust the researcher who was demonstrating the product.
Conclusions
●More programs that help older people with cyber security should be introduced and advertised through trusted organisations alongside digital tools.
●By combining digital tools with in person help sessions, this would greatly encourage older people to apply good cyber security behaviours as it incorporates methods they are familiar with and helps bridge the digital divide in older people.
Bibliography
Age UK (2019) Older person becomes victim of fraud every 40 seconds. Available at -
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/latest-press/articles/2019/july/olderperson-becomes-fraud-victim-every-40 seconds /#:~:text= %5Biv%5D%20 Fraud%20 affects % 20people % 2 0of,been %20a%20victim%20of%20fraud.
An investigation into cyber awareness in older people and the development of a digital application to help improve their cybersecurity skills.
In the UK an older person falls victim to an online scam every 40 seconds (Age UK, 2019).