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Psychologists, economists, and human-factors people in addition to computer scientists need to be working on improving cybersecurity as the frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks grows. Cybersecurity professionals call for the exploration of behavioral science and economics in regard to cybercriminals and victims. The discovery of weakness in user behavior could leaked to the discovery of vulnerabilities among cybercriminals. 

Raef Meeuwisse, CISM, CISA, ISACA expert speaker, and author of Cybersecurity for Beginners, has explored the different ways in which the human mind can be hacked as well as the effectiveness of these techniques. One of the techniques involves the manipulation of cognitive biases. Meeuwisse also examined how cybersecurity techniques could be used to analyze and defend against tactics used to hack the human mind. 

Computer scientists at Binghamton University are working to increase the effectiveness of cyber deception tools against malicious hackers. Cyber deception is a security defense method that can be used to detect, deceive, and lure attackers away from sensitive data once they have infiltrated a system. Researchers want to improve the consistency of deception. The goal is to reduce the use of ‘bad lies’ in cyber deception. 

A malware attack that disrupted the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics highlights false flag operations. The malware called the "Olympic Destroyer" contained code deriving from other well-known attacks launched by different hacking groups. This lead different cybersecurity companies to accuse Russia, North Korea, Iran, or China.

According to a report released by Menlo Security, the padlock in a browser's URL bar gives users a false sense of security as cloud hosting services are being used by attackers to host malware droppers. The use of this tactic allows attackers to hide the origin of their attacks and further evade detection. The exploitation of trust is a major component of such attacks.

This article pertains to cognitive security. Twitter accounts deployed by Russia's troll factory in 2016 didn't only spread disinformation meant to influence the U.S. presidential election. A small handful tried making money too.