Securing the Elderly: A Developmental Approach to Hypermedia-Based Online Information Security for Senior Novice Computer Users

Whilst security threats to the general public continue to evolve, elderly computer users with limited skill and knowledge are left playing catch-up in an ever-widening gap in fundamental cyber-related comprehension. As a definable cohort, the elderly generally lack awareness of current security threats, and remain under-educated in terms of applying appropriate controls and safeguards to their computers and networking devices. This paper identifies that web-based computer security information sources do not adequately provide helpful information to senior citizen end-users in terms of both design and content. It subsequently demonstrates a solution designed with the elderly, yet novice, end-user in mind. This paper examines the need for practical computer-based instructions that have wide-ranging applications to a wide selection of under-informed internet consumers. As computer usage rapidly spreads towards total ubiquity across all generations and social levels, the need for web-based education resources to protect generationally differing internet users is urgently required.