The Problem

During our empathy process, we found that the biggest factors influencing cyber hygiene were a lack of knowledge and a lack of technical skills. We found that many individuals, especially in older demographics, often experience confusion or frustration when interacting with their devices. This deters them from implementing basic cyber hygiene practices and hinders them from recognizing threats. Together, these issues render them the most vulnerable tech users. In 2023, individuals over the age of 60 accounted for the highest number of recorded cybercrime victims in the United States: over 104,000. In 2022, cybercrime victims over 60 years old lost an estimated total of 3.1 billion dollars.

The Pain

The human element of this problem lies in the emotional and psychological factors influencing individuals as they navigate the digital landscape. For example, many of the individuals we interviewed struggle with understanding the settings and features of their devices. Subsequently, they’re unsure and even discouraged from using features like two-factor authentication and encrypted password storage that most modern devices allow.

Identity Theft

Cybercriminals can steal personal information like social security numbers, bank account details, and passwords to impersonate individuals, commit fraud, or gain unauthorized access to accounts.

Financial Losses

Individuals are at risk of financial losses due to various cyber threats such as online banking fraud, credit card fraud, investment scams, and ransomware attacks targeting personal devices.

Privacy Breaches

Breaches of privacy can occur through unauthorized access to personal data stored online, including emails, social media accounts, and cloud storage, leading to exposure of sensitive information and potential reputational damage.

Online Harassment and Bullying

Individuals may experience harassment, cyberbullying, or stalking online, which can have serious psychological and emotional effects, especially when personal information is used to target victims.

Data Breaches from Service Providers

Services individuals use may suffer data breaches, exposing their personal information to unauthorized access and potential misuse by cybercriminals, highlighting the importance of choosing secure service providers.

Phishing and Social Engineering Attacks

Individuals are targeted by phishing emails, fraudulent messages, and social engineering tactics designed to trick them into revealing personal information, clicking on malicious links, or downloading malware.

Digital Footprint and Online Reputation

Individuals leave digital footprints through their online activities, and poor cybersecurity practices or compromised accounts can tarnish their online reputation, affecting relationships, career opportunities, and personal safety.

Scope & importance

Cybersecurity threats are becoming an increasing problem due to the rapid spread of technology. Older demographics in particular are at risk and susceptible to phishing scams. In 2022, there were over 88,000 victims over 60 years old. Victims lost an estimated 3.1 billion dollars in total and losses increased by 84% compared to 2021.

Technology is becoming more and more prevalent in our everyday lives. People need to keep themselves safe online, and to do so they must practice safe cyber hygiene. Poor cyber hygiene puts individuals at risk of a plethora of dangers, from stolen card information to identity theft.

OUR Design Thinking Process

Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process that we used to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions to prototype and test.

Empathizing & Understanding the Problem

In order to determine what type of prototype to develop, we first conducted interviews with various individuals in our community. We interviewed around 20 people who varied in age (15 years old - 78 years old) and sex. We realized that many individuals didn't understand how to practice good cyber hygiene, but elderly individuals in particular tend to struggle. We created empathy maps when conducting these interviews, allowing us to be empathetic & human-centered. Below is one of our empathy maps that we created during one of our interviews. Initially, there was some ambiguity in the problem that we were trying to solve. Throughout this process, we made sure to embrace ambiguity. We didn't jump to conclusions or rest in familiarity, as we knew that the problem was likely deeper than we thought. We asked questions to fully understand the problem and used a human-centered approach.

Ideating & Designing The Prototype

After conducting our empathy interviews, we decided to build a product for elderly individuals to educate them about best cyber hygiene practices. We continued to ask questions: Why is this problem occurring? Who are we trying to help? What does our solution aim to solve? How does this help those people? Why would someone want to use our solution? Asking questions allowed us to brainstorm various different options for our project, as pictured below.

Throughout this entire process, we made sure to step into the shoes of the community we were trying to help. Doing this allowed us to understand what type of products would be best suited for our target demographic. We realized that although it can be difficult to view things from a different perspective, it is imperative to do so when designing a product in order to make the product more useful and valuable. Additionally, we noticed that certain things were not how we initially thought they were and this was only possible because of the unique approach we used.

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