CYBERSECURITY AWARENESS AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY OF QAIWAN INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Abstract

Higher Education institutions have seen a large shift to digital systems in recent years and as such, students have become increasingly susceptible to various types of cyber threats including but not limited to: phishing, identity theft, and malware infection. Although numerous Universities utilize digital systems to provide services and educational materials to students, it is just as important today as it has ever been to make sure students understand the importance of Cybersecurity Awareness. This research will assess the level of Cybersecurity Awareness among students at Qaiwan International University through a quantitative methodology using an online survey to gather responses from 356 students across five Faculties: Dentistry, Pharmacy, Engineering & Computer Science, Health Sciences, and Management & Social Sciences. The Survey instrument contained questions to assess students’ knowledge, practices, and attitudes toward Cybersecurity. Descriptive Statistics, Correlation Analysis, and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were utilized to analyze the collected data. Results showed that students have a low level of Cybersecurity Knowledge (M = 2.06), and demonstrate a lack of Cybersecurity Practices (M = 1.86). Students reported moderate attitudes toward Cybersecurity. Further, 60.1% of respondents admitted to being unaware of Phishing Attacks which demonstrates a significant deficiency in the understanding of commonly encountered cyber threats by students. Results indicated that students that have received training in Cybersecurity demonstrated a greater level of awareness when compared to those that have not. Additionally, there were no major differences in levels of awareness across the various Faculties. The study highlights the need to integrate Cybersecurity Education and Awareness Programs into University Curriculum in order to enable students to better recognize and defend against cyber threats.