Web Page Layout Can Trick Users into Divulging More Info
Phil Muncaster UK / EMEA News Reporter , Infosecurity Magazine
A team at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) presented its study,
Online Disclosure Depends on How You Ask for Information, at the International Conference on Information Systems last week.
They examined the behavior of 2504 users who were asked to provide their country, full name, phone number, and email address as part of the sign-up process for Tel Aviv-based digital bank, Rewire.
Successful tactics included asking for relatively non-sensitive info first and then gradually scaling up the requests to more private details. Similarly, by placing information requests on separate but consecutive web pages, the researchers were also able to elicit more personal data from the participants.