The Temporal Neuro-Financial Vulnerability Theory (TNFVT): A Neurochemical Framework for Predicting Cybersecurity Vulnerability Among Financial Professionals
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Cybersecurity research has long framed human vulnerability as a static characteristic, addressable through training, awareness programmes and technical controls. This paper challenges that assumption by proposing the Temporal Neuro-Financial Vulnerability Theory (TNFVT), a conceptual framework that treats cybersecurity vulnerability as a dynamic, neurochemically driven state variable in financial decision-making environments.TNFVT posits that three neurochemical processes — cortisol elevation during market volatility, dopamine activation during bullish market conditions, and oxytocin cycling in trust-based transactions — create measurable, temporally predictable windows of heightened susceptibility to social engineering and cyber-attacks among financial professionals. These 'vulnerability windows' are not random; they are structurally tied to market cycles and interpersonal financial dynamics, and are therefore both foreseeable and, in principle, preventable.Drawing on established findings from decision neuroscience, behavioural finance and cybersecurity psychology, this paper articulates the theoretical foundations of TNFVT, outlines a single-site empirical research design suitable for a doctoral research programme — including psychophysiological measurement protocols and phishing-susceptibility testing — and identifies the conditions under which biometric-adaptive security architectures could, in future applied work, be evaluated for closing identified vulnerability windows in real time.To the author's knowledge, no published research has systematically linked neuroeconomic state variables to dynamic cybersecurity vulnerability surfaces in financial environments. TNFVT represents a novel theoretical contribution at the intersection of three disciplines — decision neuroscience, cybersecurity and financial behaviour — with implications for FinTech security design, financial regulation and organisational risk management.Keywords: cybersecurity vulnerability, neuroeconomics, decision neuroscience, financial behaviour, cortisol, dopamine, oxytocin, biometric-adaptive security, social engineering, FinTech. This record contains both the English and Turkish versions of the paper.Bu kayıt makalenin hem İngilizce hem Türkçe versiyonlarını içermektedir.
Author: Bulut-Wassmann, Selda
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7203901120