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Higher Education Institutions as Targets for Cyber-attacks: Measuring Employees and Students Cybersecurity Behaviours in the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences

Authors:
Kate-Riin Kont

Keywords: cyber security, user behaviour, risk, vulnerabilities, higher education institutions, staff, students.

Abstract:
The purpose of this study is to identify the most common characteristics that make users vulnerable, either individually or in groups, and to determine whether there is a relationship between user behaviour and victimisation of a cyber-attack. This research should help characterise people who are more likely to become victims of various phishing and social attacks. For this purpose, students, employees and lecturers of the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences were investigated. A five-scale questionnaire was used as the methodology of the study, which considers the following behaviours: risky behaviour, conservative behaviour, risk exposure behaviour and risk perception behaviour. The results obtained show that users with risky behaviour are most exposed to social engineering attacks in social networks. Furthermore, the analysed groups of faculty and staff fall victim to these attacks less often than students. Finally, we concluded that people who spend more time in front of a computer and engage in riskier cyber behaviours are more vulnerable to attacks.

Pages: 75 to 78

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2023

Publication date: September 25, 2023

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2519-8599

ISBN: 978-1-68558-113-8

Location: Porto, Portugal

Dates: from September 25, 2023 to September 29, 2023