A survey on internet usage and cybersecurity awareness in students

There has been an exponential increase in the usage of the internet, particularly among students since the introduction of e-learning and Bring Your Own Device (BYO) initiatives into the education system. In New Zealand the percentage of the population using the internet is now 93.8% and this increase in internet usage has increased the risk of cybersecurity attacks. This makes it necessary to provide awareness and education on cybersecurity to students who are potential targets for exploitation. However, to provide this awareness it is necessary to understand what their current knowledge on cybersecurity is which forms the basis of this paper. This paper presents the results of a survey conducted on internet usage and cybersecurity awareness among three age groups between 8 years and 21 years. A questionnaire consisting of various questions on internet usage and cybersecurity concepts was prepared. For this survey, we considered both computers (desktops & laptops) and mobile devices (tablets & smartphones). The results of the survey showed that cybersecurity awareness among the surveyed students was generally low with the lowest level in the 8-12-year age group. The students of 8-12 age group were able to answer only 19% of survey questions. Furthermore, most of the students were not familiar with common cybersecurity terms and did not demonstrate enough awareness of common threats such as phishing. The results further show that the majority of the students were not aware of cybersecurity tools for tablets and smartphones which are frequently used devices for BYOD. The key contribution of this paper is to emphasise the necessity to create cybersecurity awareness among students.