Every day, someone is falling victim to an online scam, a bogus email, or another method used by cybercriminals to steal our identity, data, and/or money.  Verizon, in its 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report covering 11/1/2023 to 10/1/2024, noted that human involvement was indicated in 60% of all cybersecurity breaches. Even the most tech savvy of us have been fooled so our level of tech knowledge does not make us immune to attack. “Why is this so?” you might ask. Depending on the way you look at it, the answer can be seen as unsettling or empowering. When we unwittingly wire money to fake tech support, click links in phishing emails, or share passwords with convincing impostors, we may afterward wonder, "How could I have been so foolish?" Well, the answer isn't related to stupidity; it’s related to how our brains naturally make decisions via a concept called cognitive bias.

 What is cognitive bias?

A cognitive bias is a predictable mental shortcut your brain uses to make quick judgments and/or decisions. When we’re busy, distracted, or overloaded with information, our minds often rely on fast “rules of thumb,” instead of slow, careful analysis. These shortcuts help us function day to day. For example, if we see dark clouds, we grab an umbrella without checking the weather report. When someone in a uniform gives us directions, we follow them without demanding credentials. Most of the time, these shortcuts serve us well, helping us navigate a complex world efficiently, but they can also lead us to misunderstand situations, over-trust the wrong signals, or act too quickly.  Think of them as your mind's autopilot. Scammers have learned to use these mental patterns as a vector of attack against us. Their mindset is, why “hack” our computers if they can hack our attention! Cognitive bias is the reason a message can feel urgent, true, and personal even when it’s completely fake.

 Scammers intentionally design messages to trigger our emotions and push us into making quick decisions. Here are some of the most common biases they exploit:

 The most sophisticated scams combine multiple biases in one communication. Imagine receiving an urgent text from your “bank” about suspicious activity, asking you to click a link to verify your identity. That message hits authority bias, urgency, and your existing fear of fraud. It creates a psychological “perfect storm” which may feel challenging to avoid.

While this may seem overwhelming and near impossible to address, there are steps we can take to limit our vulnerability to these scams. Stay tuned for Part 2, when we will reveal them!