Assessing cybersecurity awareness among university students: implications for educational interventions

In our interconnected world, the ability to detect and respond to cyberattacks is paramount. To tackle the issue of insufficient cybersecurity knowledge among university students, this research examines their awareness, attitudes, and capacity to assess cybersecurity risks using intuitive or logical judgment. The study gathered data from 362 university students through convenient sampling and employed partial least squares structural equation modelling for empirical validation. The results revealed positive correlations for all hypotheses, except for hypothesis 6, indicating that cyber judgment doesn’t moderate the connection between cyber intention and cybersecurity adoption. These findings stress the importance of tailored educational and awareness programs, which are essential for nurturing ethical and cybersecurity awareness in the digital realm. Such initiatives are critical for addressing the prevalent problem of inadequate cybersecurity knowledge among university students.