The personality types most likely to be scammed…

Loading player...
Cyber criminals are masters at triggering human psychological needs - and people with an agreeable personality have a higher chance of being manipulated to share private and sensitive information. That is according to a new study at Stellenbosch University (SU). In this interview with BizNews, system analyst Vian Smit describes the striking correlation between personality types and cybersecurity risk. Smit explains which character traits in agreeable people and extroverts make them good prey for cyber crooks. But he has good news for neurotics whose character traits protect them against scammers. He urges organisations to incorporate human personality types in their counter cyber crime measures. “If we know there is a certain individual that might pose a bigger risk for information loss or information breaches, then I think it would be smart to have a stricter cybersecurity policy applied to such individuals.”
14 May 2024 6AM English South Africa Investing · Business News

Other recent episodes

Rubio’s visa move a blunder: FW de Klerk Foundation appeals to Washington to reconsider

The Trump administration has escalated its pressure on South Africa, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio announcing new visa restrictions over land expropriation laws and racial discrimination against the Afrikaner minority. Christo van der Rheede, executive director of the FW de Klerk Foundation, calls it a profound strategic blunder, one…
18 Sep 9AM 17 min

How Alec Hogg's 45 years in journalism culminated in BizNews and its loyal "tribe"

This interview was livestreamed on Conscious Caracal on 11 September 2026. Find Ernst van Zyl's Conscious Caracal Podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/@UCeNFLCUJ2lM1S_H32ICVs4w Before BizNews, there was a bank job Alec Hogg quit within three years, a company called Moneyweb he built from a room above his garage and then lost control of,…
18 Sep 9AM 49 min

Corné Mulder says SA could have a new government before 2029

South Africa just joined a short and unflattering list of countries facing individual US visa restrictions, and Freedom Front Plus leader Corné Mulder says he saw it coming from a manifesto launch stage days before it happened. He tells Alec Hogg why he thinks Cyril Ramaphosa's habit of avoiding decisions…
17 Sep 10AM 28 min