Assessing Students’ Information Security Awareness through the Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior Model

Abstract

Student awareness of information security (IS) ensures the security of students in the current technological era, but compliance with IS has not been fully carried out by students. This measurement of Information Security Awareness (ISA) is important to improve student understanding and long-term compliance that secures all aspects of devices, students, organizations, and schools. Using the Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior model, this study aims to measure students’ information security awareness. An online survey was conducted to evaluate student’s information security awareness in 4 focus areas (passwords, internet safety, email safety, and digital payment) through the use of Likert scales. The overall awareness level of students was measured to be 73.79%, which is considered an average level of ISA. The awareness level of the password, internet safety, and email safety areas were average (69.19%, 71.31%, and 77.83% respectively, while the awareness level for the digital payment area was good at 80.35%. The Pearson’s correlation coefficient (R) for the knowledge and behavior dimensions was 0.9497, indicating a strong positive correlation, while the coefficient for the attitude and behavior dimensions was 0.5428, indicating a moderate positive correlation. Thus, it can be recommended that awareness programs dedicated to raising ISA for students can focus on strengthening knowledge about IS so that students can exhibit good ISA behavior.