Awareness of Mobile Operating System Privacy Among Computer Science Students

Abstract

Digital privacy awareness has become a priority in the area of computer science, especially among young Saudi Arabian adults. The purpose of this study is to assess Saudi Arabian computer science students’ awareness of mobile operating system privacy. This study involved sixty-six computer science students at universities across Saudi Arabia who filled out an online questionnaire that contained twenty-six questions about mobile privacy and it was divided into five sections: browsers, accounts and passwords, applications and permissions, public networks, and information protection. The survey shows that while computer science students are informed about the possible risks of personal information being disclosed through their mobile devices, more than half of them are still willing to share personal details through applications that require private or sensitive information. Based on this study, although there is a decent amount of mobile privacy awareness among Saudi Arabian computer science students, there is still a serious need to improve it by raising awareness of the dangers of mobile devices and the risks involved in disclosing private information, and by presenting information in a more interactive format.