An Investigation of the Information Security Awareness and Practices among Third Level Education Staff, Case Study in Nalut Libya

Abstract

The development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is becoming very common throughout society. Therefore, it is a must to protect information assets. In addition to the technological aspect, research continues to confirm the need to enhance security awareness among employees. The objective of this study is to investigate the factors that may impact users' practice and awareness both in the workplace. Specifically, factors such as policy, behavior, training, knowledge of IT and education were tested. In addition, the second objective of this study is to investigate the information security awareness and practice level among the employees. To achieve the study objectives, a quantitative methodology was applied; specifically a survey instrument was developed to measure if each of the key factors has a significant association within the security awareness and practice in the workplace. 202 usable surveys were collected from higher education employees and analyzed using Bivariate/Pearson Correlation to determine the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. The findings of the study revealed that there was a positive correlation between policy, behavior, training, knowledge of IT and education with security awareness and practice These results indicated that security awareness and practice level of employees' in the workplace at the middle level. It is hoped that the present study provides an initial step to focus on security training sessions among higher education employees to reflect new knowledge on the importance of security training to increase the knowledge of information security.

An Assessment of Cybersecurity Awareness among Academic Employees at Quirino State University: Promoting Cyber Hygiene

“…Relevant studies in the field have shown promising results. For instance, a study [26] observed a significant improvement in employees' cybersecurity awareness following the implementation of knowledge transfer and targeted training sessions focused on cybersecurity. Another study [27] established a positive correlation between organizational policies, employee behavior, training initiatives, IT knowledge, and education, all contributing to heightened security awareness and practices among employees.…”

Knowledge of Information Security Awareness and Practices for Home Users: Case Study in Libya

“…The success of information security depends on a suitable information security practice by the end users, the weakness in user security practices constitutes a larger threat to an organization's security more than any weakness in information security, therefore, the biggest challenge in information security are to transform users from the weakest line to the defense line by enhancing security practices (Rhee et al, 2009;Asker and Tamtam, 2020). According to Huang et al, (2011), the users could be the biggest vulnerability in information systems security, even with several security methods.…”

Knowledge of Information Security Awareness and Practices for Home Users: Case Study in Libya

“…The weakness in user security practices constitutes a larger threat to an organization's security than any weakness in information security. Therefore, the biggest challenge in information security is to transform users from the weakest link to the defense line by enhancing security practices (Rhee et al, 2009;Asker and Tamtam, 2020). According to Huang et al (2011), users could be the biggest vulnerability in information systems security, even with several security methods in place.…”