Cybersecurity Awareness from the Perspective of the South African National Defence Force Military Officer

This work is based on research supported by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS). Cyber-threats have become pervasive in the South African context, requiring individual users to be increasingly cognisant of potential human and technical flaws in the cybersecurity chain. Cybersecurity awareness is an important factor in mitigating the risk associated with cyber-threats and also in identifying potential vulnerabilities when securing information. Conveying risk information and employing information-sharing strategies is essential to the establishment of a cyber-aware military. In South Africa, cybersecurity is an emerging subject of interest and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has highlighted the need to develop capacity related to cyber-warfare and cybersecurity. However, limited attention has been paid to the South African National Defence Force’s internal communication strategies in relaying risk information to its military officers, who are partially responsible for the execution of national cybersecurity. This chapter focused on the risk information that is communicated to South African military officers in the hope of advancing cybersecurity awareness and exercising online security behaviour. This chapter explored the views and perceptions of military officers from the perspective of Securitisation Theory. This necessitated that the researcher should explore this emerging topic from a qualitative approach and highlighting a site of knowledge which has often been left unengaged in mainstream psychology. The non-probability purposive sampling technique was used to select 13 participants who had enrolled in a senior officers’ course at a South African site offering professional military education. Three prominent themes emerged in the analysis process: (1) the training and knowledge of cybersecurity; (2) a lack of trust in the emerging technology; and (3) the interpretation of risk information. In conclusion, the findings show that risk information strategies play an important role in the creation of cybersecurity awareness and the execution of security practices.