Assessing E-Security Behavior among Students in Higher Education

This study was conducted in order to assess the E-security behavior of students in a large higher educational institutions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Specifically, it sought to determine the current state of students' E-security behavior in the aspects of malware, password usage, data handling, phishing, social engineering, and online scam. An E- Security Behavior Survey Instrument (EBSI) was used to determine the status of security behavior of the participants in doing their computing activities. To complement the survey tool, focus group discussions were conducted to elicit specific experiences and insights of the participants relative to E-security. The results of the study shows that the overall E-security behavior among students in higher education in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is moderately favorable. Specifically, the investigation reveals that the students favorably behave when it comes to phishing, social engineering, and online scam. However, they uncertainly behave on malware issues, password usage, and data handling.