Paper Title :Assessing the Level of Cyber Security Awareness among Tertiary Institutions in Northern Nigeria

Author :Mansur Aliyu

Article Citation :Mansur Aliyu , (2022 ) " Assessing the Level of Cyber Security Awareness among Tertiary Institutions in Northern Nigeria " , International Journal of Advance Computational Engineering and Networking (IJACEN) , pp. 21-27, Volume-10,Issue-12

Abstract : Abstract – Incorporating cybersecurity into the university curriculum is very important to help students stay safe using the Internet and social media. Today, much attention has been given to understanding cybersecurity concepts and the effort made by the government and institutions to help introduce cybersecurity as an independent degree programme and other related disciplines. Several agencies and researchers developed workshops, seminars, conferences were conducted, and guidelines were developed and disseminated for creating awareness on cybersecurity. This research surveyed nine tertiary institutions from Kaduna, Kano and Sokoto. Targeting 80 respondents from each institution (Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education) using a systematic convenient sampling technique. Out of 700 surveys received, 600 were found usable for the analysis. The data collected on the student's cybersecurity awareness with paper and pen questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS v23 software. The significant findings revealed that the majority of the students are conscious of cybercrime and threats. The overall findings revealed that students are very vulnerable on social media than surfing academic sites. They are much aware of protecting their computers from unauthorized access. Using update-to-date antivirus software makes them much aware of the dangers of virus attacks. Also, the overall findings are consistent among the three-tier institutions in terms of awareness on password strength, computer protection, virus attacks, and social media. Overall cyber security awareness among university students is higher than that of polytechnics and education colleges in Nigeria. However, the majority are aware of the dangers of revealing personal information and location on social media. In the end, it is recommended that all the stakeholders in tertiary institutions in Nigeria take proactive steps in protecting themselves, their data and information, and their network infrastructure against cyber threats and crimes. Keywords - Cybersecurity; Cybercrime; Awareness, Tertiary Institution; Nigeria

Type : Research paper

Published : Volume-10,Issue-12

	|		PDF	|	Viewed - 42	|	Published on 2023-03-10