Research Project Pays People To Download, Run Executables 76
msm1267 (2804139) writes Incentivized by a minimal amount of cash, computer users who took part in a study were willing to agree to download an executable file to their machines without questioning the potential consequences. The more cash the researchers offered, capping out at $1, the more people complied with the experiment. The results toss a big bucket of cold water on long-standing security awareness training advice that urges people not to trust third-party downloads from unknown sources in order to guard the sanctity of their computer. A Hershey bar or a Kennedy half-dollar, apparently, sends people spiraling off course pretty rapidly and opens up a potential new malware distribution channel for hackers willing to compensate users. The study was released recently in a paper called: "It's All About The Benjamins: An empirical study on incentivizing users to ignore security advice." While fewer than half of the people who viewed the task actually ran the benign executable when offered a penny to do so, the numbers jumped to 58 percent when offered 50 cents, and 64 percent when offered $1.
How about Bitcoin? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Did they say HOW to run it? (Score:5, Interesting)
Apparently you weren't the only one who thought so; but the numbers were small. 16 VMware VMs, 1 Parallels (which, since the study required windows to participate, may have been a security measure or may have been a mac user willing to hose his 'everything I need windows for' machine...)
No word, obviously, on anybody who is a bit more subtle about their VM usage; but I'd be shocked if that number is high.