PhishGuard is an interactive web‑based training simulation developed to help users recognise and respond to contemporary phishing and digital deception attempts. The system provides two distinct training tracks based on demographic risk factors: one for university students and one for elderly citizens. Each track presents realistic, context‑specific scenarios that reflect the types of attacks these groups are most likely to encounter.
The aim of PhishGuard is to provide practical, scenario‑based training rather than static awareness material. The system focuses on behavioural cues, decision‑making under pressure, and real‑time feedback. Its design is informed by established research on phishing psychology, demographic vulnerability, and active learning approaches.
PhishGuard includes two tailored simulation paths:
- Students: university portal alerts, scholarship scams, credential harvesting attempts.
- Elderly users: pension fraud, banking deception, HMRC‑related scams.
Challenges are organised by psychological triggers such as urgency, authority, reward, and fear.
The system adjusts challenge complexity based on user behaviour. It monitors hesitation, hover patterns, latency, and decision timing.
PhishGuard captures user interactions to identify behavioural indicators of phishing susceptibility. This includes:
- hover behaviour
- hesitation score
- click patterns
- response latency
The interface is designed to operate smoothly across desktop and mobile browsers.
- HTML5
- CSS3
- JavaScript
- Bootstrap
- GitHub Pages for deployment
- LocalStorage for client‑side behavioural data