"Subconscious warnings as a safety mechanism against phishing attacks" by Henry Schulz

Author

Henry Schulz

Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Computer Science

Committee Chair

Feng Zhu

Committee Member

Bramwell Brizendine

Committee Member

Harry Delugach

Research Advisor

Feng Zhu

Subject(s)

Phishing--Prevention, Subliminal perception, Computer software--Development, Browsers (Computer programs)

Abstract

Phishing attacks are very common and considerably successful in stealing people’s information, but unfortunately normal security procedures fail to warn the user of their possible dangers. By considering how subliminal messages are very effective in informing people without actively disrupting their attention, a prototype of a browser extension was made by implementing subconscious messages and the elements of an effective warning, in an attempt to subconsciously warn users of possible phishing attempts, with minimal impact on browser performance.

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