Computer Security Threats: Student Confidence In Their Knowledge of Common Threats

This paper investigates the possible existence of overconfidence by business students in their knowledge of different types of malware that may be present in current computer information systems. This article focuses on the students’ ability to understand and identify three main types: viruses, Trojans and spyware. The results are consistent with research suggesting that many students believe their computer knowledge is adequate (Weston and Barker, 2002), when the opposite may be true. Further, in an educational settings, students’ overconfidence in their computer knowledge exacerbates the problem of faculty falsely assuming that students have adequate computer knowledge (Messineo and DeOllas, 2005).