# Seniors' Media Preference for Receiving Internet Security Information: A Pilot Study

## TL;DR

This pilot study investigates seniors' preferences and comprehension of internet security information delivered via text and audio, finding a preference for text but similar understanding across both media.

## Contribution

It is the first study to compare media preferences and comprehension of security info among seniors for internet safety education.

## Key findings

- Seniors preferred text over audio for security information.
- Comprehension scores did not significantly differ between text and audio.
- Study provides insights for designing effective security education materials for seniors.

## Abstract

Due to the increasing use of Internet by older adults and their low computer and Internet security literacy, their susceptibility to online fraud has also increased. This suggests in turn that there are still too few Internet education materials targeting seniors. We take a first step towards developing interactive security information materials for seniors by determining which media they prefer and can easily comprehend. We studied the reception of two media, text and audio, as they communicated information about email-based phishing attacks. Our preliminary study of 34 seniors shows that the participants personally preferred the text over the audio. However, the comprehension score was not significantly different for participants who read the phishing training text script as compared to the participants who listened to the phishing training audio script.