Assessing the influential factors of cybersecurity awareness in Malaysia during the pandemic outbreak: a structural equation modeling

Abstract

The advanced growth of communication technology today has brought great benefits to the people of Malaysia in many ways. One of those is the introduction of Society 5.0 concept, in which referring to smart cities which will solve future issues and challenges using digital approaches including artificial intelligence (AI), big data and Internet of Things (IoT). Big data collected by the various devices will be analysed and transformed into new type of innovation technologies by AI and will be beneficial for all levels of the community. The aim of society 5.0 is to change our lifestyle to becoming more comfortable with digital technology and its services whenever it is needed. Despite of its advantage, some problems have come into the picture. *Author for correspondenceOne of the problems is cybersecurity awareness among the elderly people. It had been reported in 2017 in the UK, the risk of senior citizens being cyber fraud victims is getting higher, which predicted more than one million elderlies will be attacked by scammer through email [1].Statistically, 8% of 75 years old and above internet users claimed that they were a victim and almost 75% of the age group said technology had exposed them to online danger although it offers many benefits [2,3]. There are about 62,000 complaints about fraud received from senior citizens with total loss of almost $650 million, whereas tech support fraud is speeding up and the elderlies will be the majority victims [4−6]. Therefore, it is timely to create cybersecurity awareness among the elderlies. Thus, the objective of this study is to further investigate the relationship of

Effect of Age on Information Security Awareness Level among Young Internet Users in Malaysia

“…Nevertheless, all the respondents were aware of cybercrimes, but they were not able to differentiate between the types of threats. Previous study by Wahid et al (2021) discussed that two out of three factors (social & individual) were found to be less significant towards cyber security awareness among respondents who aged between 50 and above 60. The current study and previous study by Wahid et al (2021) shows that more awareness on information security is needed to be emphasised among young Internet users.…”

“…Besides, there were no any research done in Malaysia to study the effect of age on information security awareness level among young Internet users. There was one study conducted among 300 senior adults aged from 50 until 60 and above to determine the information security awareness level (Wahid et al, 2021). Thus, this study is aimed to fill in the research gaps by studying effect of age on information security awareness level among young Internet users in Malaysia.…”

Navigating Privacy and Data Safety: The Implications of Increased Online Activity among Older Adults Post-COVID-19 Induced Isolation

“…These nine studies therefore explicitly or implicitly recognized the existence of those we refer to as QTIs. Older adults, especially those new to digital technology during the COVID-19 pandemic, are described as vulnerable to online privacy and data safety risks, including identity theft [63,65], data security breaches [6,7,31,33], scams [6,7,11,26,27,30,34,52,64], and other fraud [51]. Several articles specifically addressed mobile banking, including the perceived versus real risks of fraud, such as identity theft and data breaches [63,65,66].…”

“…Several articles specifically addressed mobile banking, including the perceived versus real risks of fraud, such as identity theft and data breaches [63,65,66]. Additionally, multiple articles highlight an increase in cybercrime targeting older adults, with online fraud rates rising significantly during the pandemic [6,7]. One article, by Recupero, went as far as to highlight the limited research on technologyrelated risk factors correlated with financial abuse and claimed that these factors are likely to evolve over time, but stopped short of naming forced technology adoption as one of those potential risk factors [67].…”

“…This has been a crucial strategy to maintain connections and engagement during enforced social distancing [4,5]. However, this rise in digital communication has spawned significant concerns, particularly around privacy and data safety for older individuals, many of whom possess limited technical knowledge [6][7][8]. As a result, these individuals have become more susceptible to scams, fraud, and identity theft and are subject to rapid growth in related financial losses [9,10].…”