On Spam Susceptibility and Browser Updating

Eric Luong, Toan Huynh and James Miller
Additional contact information
Eric Luong: University of Alberta, Canada
Toan Huynh: University of Alberta, Canada
James Miller: University of Alberta, Canada

International Journal of Systems and Service-Oriented Engineering (IJSSOE), 2012, vol. 3, issue 1, 44-57

Abstract: This study examines the intersection between the group of users susceptible to spam and users who continue to use out-dated browsers. Specifically, it empirically determines if an association between unsafe user behaviour and the use of an out-dated browser exists. A case study is conducted wherein spam-like emails are sent to 25,000 random email users. The emails each contain a link to a webpage that records information on any visitors. The collected data is parsed and analyzed. Information was recorded on 90 distinct visitors. Analysis showed that approximately 66% of visitors were using out-dated browsers. The work implies that future research on the problem of spam should include browser version information (as a dichotomous variable) as a covariant in their analysis. The results suggest that greater effort must be put into educating the public about safe online behaviour and best practices, including the importance of updating software.

Date: 2012
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://services.igi-global.com/resolvedoi/resolve. ... 018/jssoe.2012010103 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:igg:jssoe0:v:3:y:2012:i:1:p:44-57

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Systems and Service-Oriented Engineering (IJSSOE) is currently edited by Wuhui Chen

More articles in International Journal of Systems and Service-Oriented Engineering (IJSSOE) from IGI Global
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Journal Editor ().