College students information security awareness: a comparison between smartphones and computers

The rapid technological developments associated with the decrease in the cost of smartphones made the latter more accessible and convenient to be used. In an educational setting, students are increasingly bringing their smartphones to classrooms, this could have serious security implications, particularly when students are less aware of smartphone information security threats. This paper is set out to provide an empirical comparison in the level of information security awareness among college students in terms of knowledge and behavior. The main aim is to find the difference between students’ awareness level of information security using smartphones vs. computers. A descriptive research design was adopted and an online survey method was employed. Research findings showed that students were highly aware of some information security concepts, however, they behaved differently in protecting their smartphones compared to computers. Training campaigns are suggested to be conducted aiming to educate students with possible information security risks related to smartphone usage in educational settings.

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