Mobile Information Security Awareness Among Students in Higher Education : An Exploratory Study

Higher education students live their lives through their mobile technology devices. The availability of broadband networks and the associated connectivity capabilities of modern mobile devices as well as the numerous mobile apps on offer enable students to be constantly connected. Consequently, large amounts of sensitive information is being stored and processed through a variety of mobile devices, making the individual students and their higher education institutions easy targets for cyberattacks. This study assesses factors that impact mobile security awareness of students (N=397) at a higher education institution in South Africa. It proposes a conceptual model of mobile information security awareness, which draws upon a combination of constructs from the Knowledge-Attitude-Behavior (KAB) model and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to measure mobile information security awareness. The results show a significant relationship between students' knowledge and behavioral intentions about information security threats and their levels of security awareness. The study also shows the existence of the gap between knowing about security and the lack of concomitant safety behaviors. The study concludes with a discussion of the practical implications of the research outcomes.