Here's When You're Most Likely To Fall For Phishing Emails: Study

Your inbox is riskiest when your brain is busiest. That is when slick phishing emails can slide past even security-savvy readers.

A new peer-reviewed study in the European Journal of Information Systems, finds that people are more likely to miss phishing cues while multitasking, and that timely reminders can improve accuracy.

The research team tested how working memory load — the mental strain from another task — changes a person’s ability to spot bad emails.

When that load increased, detection accuracy dropped. Brief on-screen goal cues nudging people to “watch for phishing” boosted performance, especially on reward-style lures such as prize or refund messages.

The authors ground their experiments in memory-for-goals theory, which explains why attention shifts make the “check this car