Character and Animosity as Mental Determinants of Digital Exploitation

Abstract

A Cybercrime is a criminal activity that is committed using internet technology. Such crimes have increased greatly in the last two decades. Despite the increase in such crimes, there is still prevalent a naivety and lack of awareness about the susceptibility of one being at the receiving end of such cybercrimes. The victims are usually unaware of such vulnerabilities until much later. This paper attempts to bring forth the psychological factors that make one vulnerable to a cybercrime. This helps the possible victim in tracing those areas of vulnerability within himself/herself and prevent the costs of such crimes. This paper attempts to decipher those psychological factors which make a few people vulnerable and at risk for a cyber-attack. A sample of 282 college students of both genders were selected randomly and administered the Neo Five Factor Inventory (Costa and McCrae, 2003) and the Aggression Questionnaire (Buss and Perry, 1992). The participants were also given a socio-demographic survey to fill their basic details like age, gender, the average time spent of internet, the number of social media accounts held, any cyber-attacks so far etc. A Multiple Regression analysis was performed on the data collected. The results reveal that Conscientiousness type of personality is a significant factor in cyber victimization more than the other types. Measures can be adopted to make the particular personality types more alert and aware to prevent the occurrence of such crimes.