Evaluating Digital Device Users Cyber Hygiene or Practice among IT Specialists or among IT Departments
Course
University
Date
Introduction
In the current world, there has been remarkable technological innovation and advancement in internet use. Technological advancement has significantly impacted the operations of many businesses and how employees perform their duties. The rapid technological growth has, however, given birth to the menace of cybercrime, which has been increasing at an alarming pace and pausing a great threat to internet users.
The situation has prompted the need to adopt viable cyber hygiene practices to help safeguard digital-device users and IT specialists worldwide. Cyber hygiene is a set of practices performed regularly by various organizations and individuals to maintain the health and security of internet users, data, devices, and networks. The main goal of cyber hygiene is to ensure sensitive data is secure and protected from theft or attacks. Organizations can successfully maintain their health and prevent data breaches and other security incidences by adopting and following precautionary cyber hygiene measures.
This research proposal analysis the leading cyber hygiene practices among digital-device users or practices among IT specialists or IT departments to evaluate their understanding and engagement with the national cyber hygiene strategies. Based on the gathered information, this report also draws conclusions leading to recommendations on how cyber hygiene can be improved among digital-device users or practiced among IT specialists or IT departments.
Literature review
Cyber hygiene is a relatively new concept, and very few studies have been conducted on the topic relating to theoretical and practical insights. According to Vishwanath et al. (2020), cyber hygiene refers to the cyber security practices that online consumers should adopt to protect the safety and integrity of their personal information on their internet-enabled devices from being compromised in a cyber-attack. It encompasses five dimensions of cyber hygiene, i.e., storage and device hygiene, transmission hygiene, social media hygiene, authentication credential hygiene, and email and messaging hygiene. Hadlington (2017) argued that despite strong recommendations to follow cyber hygiene practices, individual behaviors, perceptions, and attitudes significantly vary among internet users.
According to Hadlington (2017), elements like internet addiction, attitudes relating to cyber-security, impulsivity, and risky cyber-security behaviors vary from one user to another, emphasizing the need to focus on individual user training and awareness of cyber hygiene mechanisms. According to Cain et al. (2018), gender, age, victimization history, and perceived expertise influence adherence to cyber hygiene practices. They also pointed out that persons involved in prior training and experience in cyber hygiene concepts could identify cyber threats easily.
Theory and background
Our research proposal is based upon the expectancy-value theory aimed at understanding the level of awareness in digital-device users’ cyber hygiene or practice among IT specialists or IT departments to help propose a research model. The expectancy-value theory argues that a particular action or behavior is motivated by two main factors: expectancy, which refers to the probability of achieving a desired outcome through the particular action or behavior (Flake et al., 2015). Value evaluates the extent to which the individual values the desired outcome. Ideally, a person’s motivation to perform an activity is explained by their beliefs about how well they will do in the activity and the extent to which they value it (Flake et al., 2015). Therefore, in cyber hygiene, expectancy theory argues that a person’s motivation to adhere to cyber hygiene practices is influenced by their perception of how well they can perform the cyber hygiene practices and the perceived value of those practices.
Knowledge gap
A review of the previous studies shows that there still exists a knowledge gap on the concept of cyber-security awareness, which directly influences social and subjective norms that impact cyber hygiene. A study conducted to evaluate the cyber-security awareness level among digital-device users or practice among IT specialists or IT departments showed that approximately 50% of the surveyed participants lacked the basic knowledge of password security and management, and about 30% were not aware of the different types of cyber-attacks (Trevors & Wallen, 2017). This is evident that a lack of awareness greatly impacts cyber hygiene. However, there was a notable knowledge gap on the exact theoretical mechanism explaining why the lack of cyber security awareness still exists remains unclear.
Research Questions
- What are the digital device users’ cyber hygiene or practice among IT specialists or IT departments?
- How aware are digital-device users, IT specialists, or IT departments of cyber security threats?
- How knowledgeable are the participants on matters relating to password security and management?
Methods
The study will focus on data collection from digital device users, IT departments, or IT specialists. We have prepared questionnaires that blend normal and reverse questions to help determine fake responses. We will then conduct an email-based survey where participants will be kept confidential and anonymous. We will use a trusted survey platform such as Qualtrics online platform. The questionnaire will be divided into 7-10 focus areas, with each area examining a digital device’s behavior. Data analysis will be done using the arithmetic “mean” average to calculate responses. Skills and experiments
My work experience as a network and computer technical trainee & IT supervisor for six years and academic qualifications with a master of cyber security has greatly equipped me to engage in research relating to cyber hygiene. I am well knowledgeable and skilled in practices for managing the most pervasive cybersecurity risks organizations face today and developing viable cyber hygiene practices.
Research Environment
I am ready to conduct this study in any environment, not only in Saudi Arabia. Having learned English as a second language, I can easily communicate without language barriers and successfully undertake the research.
Timing and budget
I am a sponsored student by the government of Saudi Arabia through the Saudi Arabian Culture Mission Program (SACM), and it will cover all the time and expenses it takes to finish the doctoral degree.
References
Anderson, N., Blythe, J., Lefevre, C., & Michie, S. (2023). Maintaining cyberhygiene in the Internet of Things (IoT): An expert consensus study of requisite user behaviours. Qeios.
Cain, A. A., Edwards, M. E., & Still, J. D. (2018). An exploratory study of cyber hygiene behaviors and knowledge. Journal of information security and applications, 42, 36-45.
Flake, J. K., Barron, K. E., Hulleman, C., McCoach, B. D., & Welsh, M. E. (2015). Measuring cost: The forgotten component of expectancy-value theory. Contemporary educational psychology, 41, 232-244.
Hadlington, L. (2017). Human factors in cybersecurity; examining the link between Internet addiction, impulsivity, attitudes towards cybersecurity, and risky cybersecurity behaviours. Heliyon, 3(7).
Kalhoro, S., Rehman, M., Ponnusamy, V., & Shaikh, F. B. (2021). Extracting key factors of cyber hygiene behaviour among software engineers: A systematic literature review. IEEE Access, 9, 99339-99363.
Mughal, A. A. (2019). Cybersecurity Hygiene in the Era of Internet of Things (IoT): Best Practices and Challenges. Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Computing, 2(1), 1-31.
Trevors, M., & Wallen, C. M. (2017). Cyber hygiene: A baseline set of practices. Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.
Vishwanath, A., Neo, L. S., Goh, P., Lee, S., Khader, M., Ong, G., & Chin, J. (2020). Cyber hygiene: The concept, its measure, and its initial tests. Decision Support Systems, 128, 113160.
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