Small Talk, Big Impact: The Role of Everyday Conversations in Cybersecurity Practices

Everyday talk is often treated as casual chatter, yet it plays a crucial role in how people acquire and share knowledge. Typically, cybersecurity practices are informed by formal training, but they often overlook the impact of social exchanges. This paper investigates how informal conversations can act as a socio-technical mechanism for shaping cybersecurity awareness and practices. We conducted an online survey (N=215) where participants described recent discussions about cybersecurity, including who was involved, where they took place, and what triggered them. Quantitative and thematic analysis revealed common contexts, social settings, and topics. Most conversations occurred spontaneously in private environments, with personal experiences being the most frequent trigger. We contribute empirical insights on informal security conversations to inform the design of human-centered technologies that surface and mediate security-related discussions in everyday contexts, to ensure implicit and continuous security awareness.