Stop clicking on “update later”: Persuading users they need up-to-date antivirus protection

Abstract

Online security advice aims to persuade users to behave se- curely, but appears to have limited effects at changing behaviour. We pro- pose security advice targeted at end-users should employ visual rhetoric to form an effective, memorable, and persuasive method of communica- tion. We present the design and evaluation of infographics and an online interactive comic developed to persuade users to update their antivirus software. Results show superior learning and behavioural outcomes com- pared to mainstream text-only security advice.