Information Security Education in South Africa

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to argue that information security should be regarded as a critical cross‐field outcome (CCFO). This could assist in narrowing the evident “information security gap” that currently exists in undergraduate information technology/information systems/computer science (IT/IS/CS) curricula at South African universities.Design/methodology/approach – This paper briefly reviews existing literature relating to outcomes‐based education in South Africa with a specific focus on CCFOs. A literature review was also carried out to determine existing approaches to education in information security. A survey was carried out to establish the extent to which information security is currently incorporated into the IT/IS/CS curricula at South African universities and a discussion group was used to provide insight into the current situation at undergraduate level.Findings – Education in information security has matured much more rapidly in postgraduate than in undergraduate programmes at ...