Alzubaidi Abdulaziz
Department of Computer Science, Umm Alqura University, AlQunfudah, 28821, Saudi Arabia.
Heliyon. 2021 Jan 25;7(1):e06016. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06016. eCollection 2021 Jan.
The revolution in the Information Technology (IT) field has led to a significant increase in the number of people connected to and utilizing the Internet. However, it has also introduced severe security risks: valuable information such as passwords, financial accounts, and other confidential data are considered attractive targets for attackers. Cyber-attacks against this infrastructure can not only lead to data leakage but can also have significant financial implications and even lead to loss of life. Consequently, to defend against such attacks, and considering that humans have a key role in these technologies, it is important to increase cyber-security awareness. This paper focuses on measuring the current level of cyber-security awareness in Saudi Arabia, in terms of cyber-security practices, level of awareness, and incident reporting, by means of an online questionnaire with 1230 participants. The questionnaire results showed that 31.7% used public Wi-Fi to access the Internet, 51% used their personal information to create their passwords, 32.5% did not have any idea about phishing attacks, 21.7% had been victim of cybercrimes while only 29.2% of them reported the crime, which reflects their levels of awareness. The paper concludes by offering recommendations based on analysis of the results to promote the level of awareness.
信息技术（IT）领域的革命导致接入和使用互联网的人数大幅增加。然而，它也带来了严重的安全风险：诸如密码、金融账户和其他机密数据等有价值的信息被视为攻击者的诱人目标。针对这一基础设施的网络攻击不仅会导致数据泄露，还可能产生重大的财务影响，甚至导致人员伤亡。因此，为了抵御此类攻击，考虑到人类在这些技术中起着关键作用，提高网络安全意识非常重要。本文通过对1230名参与者进行在线问卷调查，重点从网络安全实践、意识水平和事件报告等方面衡量沙特阿拉伯目前的网络安全意识水平。问卷调查结果显示，31.7%的人使用公共Wi-Fi接入互联网，51%的人使用个人信息设置密码，32.5%的人对网络钓鱼攻击一无所知，21.7%的人曾遭受网络犯罪侵害，但只有29.2%的受害者报告了犯罪行为，这反映了他们的意识水平。本文通过对结果进行分析提出建议，以提高意识水平作为结论。
