Cyber Security Awareness Among Secondary School Students in Malaysia

Abstract

It is people’s choice to go online without worrying about their presence being at the stake. However, there are too many unknown cyber risks and threats of attack in different forms coming ahead. These cause their presence along with personal data are dangerously at risk. Moreover, the access to the cyber spaces are unlimited and unrestricted to all levels of ages. If this situation is ignored, it will create more unpredicted and new cybercrimes as well as more increasing the existing ones. This paper explores on understanding the level of cyber security situational awareness among secondary school students, their teachers as well as their parents in Malaysia. Both physical and online survey methods were deployed to administer the data collection exercise. The target groups were divided into three categories: students (secondary students aged 13-16 years old), teachers and parents. A different questionnaire set was designed for each category. The survey topics/areas included Internet and digital citizenship knowledge. Respondents were selected from certain areas throughout the Klang Valley area in Malaysia. The results show most of the respondents are aware of the cyber threats and risks of being in cyber space, but a very few of them take actions on security measures of being online. The findings and recommendations from this awareness study are fundamental to develop a model for secondary school students to understand the security risks and threats associated with the Internet throughout their years in school. Early exposure and awareness will help ensure healthy cyber habits among millennials and their environment in Malaysia.