Mitigating AI-Driven Cyber Deception: Theoretical Modelling of Social Engineering Tactics and Human Vulnerability

Susan Shaji, Shona (2025) Mitigating AI-Driven Cyber Deception: Theoretical Modelling of Social Engineering Tactics and Human Vulnerability. Masters thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

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Abstract

The rise of generative artificial intelligence introduces some new risks within cybersecurity, especially as AI generates some social engineering attacks. For deceiving users via unprecedented realism, such attacks now leverage fake voices along with synthetic personas. Machine-generated emails are leveraged during these attacks. Security approaches, customary ones that focus on how they detect malicious code or suspicious URLs, prove inadequate against this new form of deception aimed at how humans cognize and emotionally react.

This study is addressing of the urgent gap in the comprehension of AI-generated deception. Researchers then analyze human psychology after these actions. Cybersecurity research explores technical solutions such as firewalls or anti-phishing tools greatly but explores rarely the cognitive reasons users fall for AI-powered scams. Due to the fact that some recent studies do show AI-generated phishing outperforming even professional red team testers, the vulnerability of humans is now what attackers mainly target. This work seeks to use cognitive and ethical theory to model those vulnerabilities, designing future security systems that consider real human behavior.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Supervisors:	Name Email Monaghan, Mark UNSPECIFIED
Subjects:	Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology > Methods of research. Technique. Experimental biology > Data processing. Bioinformatics > Artificial intelligence Q Science > Q Science (General) > Self-organizing systems. Conscious automata > Artificial intelligence Q Science > QA Mathematics > Computer software > Computer Security T Technology > T Technology (General) > Information Technology > Computer software > Computer Security
Divisions:	School of Computing > Master of Science in Cyber Security
Depositing User:	Ciara O'Brien
Date Deposited:	17 Jun 2026 09:26
Last Modified:	17 Jun 2026 09:26
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/9380

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