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Smartphone Security and Privacy – A Gamified Persuasive Approach with Protection Motivation Theory

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Persuasive Technology (PERSUASIVE 2022)

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Abstract

Mobile phones have evolved from feature phones to smartphones with comparable power as modern desktops. On the other hand, security and privacy have taken a toll and, users are having a hard time keeping up with this evolution. Over the years, popular smartphone operating systems have constantly been working to improve privacy and security features. Yet, there is always a weak link in this chain – Humans. Research has shown that smartphone users are unaware of safe smartphone security practices and users lack the motivation to follow these practices. Persuasive games have been targeted towards cybersecurity issues concerning desktop, however, games for smartphone security are sparse. We designed and developed a 2D persuasive game to improve users’ smartphone security behaviour informed by the Protection Motivation Theory. We conducted a 2 × 2 between mixed-method study (survey and interview), where we compared our game with a common smartphone security educational material published by the National Security Agency. Users found the game to be nostalgic and humorous and had the opportunity to reflect about their decision. They were able to remember and use the knowledge from the game when confronted by security issues in their daily life.

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Acknowledgement

This research was undertaken, in part, thanks to funding from the Canada Research Chairs Program. We acknowledge the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) through the Discovery Grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada

    Anirudh Ganesh, Chinenye Ndulue & Rita Orji

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  1. Anirudh Ganesh
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  2. Chinenye Ndulue
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  3. Rita Orji
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Correspondence to Anirudh Ganesh .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

    Nilufar Baghaei

  2. University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

    Julita Vassileva

  3. Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar

    Raian Ali

  4. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Kiemute Oyibo

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Ganesh, A., Ndulue, C., Orji, R. (2022). Smartphone Security and Privacy – A Gamified Persuasive Approach with Protection Motivation Theory. In: Baghaei, N., Vassileva, J., Ali, R., Oyibo, K. (eds) Persuasive Technology. PERSUASIVE 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13213. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98438-0_7

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