Journal Screenshot

International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2222-6990

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

Siti Zobidah Omar, Krishnapriyaa Kovalan, Jusang Bolong

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v11-i19/11733

Open access

The negligence to take proper security precautions while using the Internet has been lacking nowadays, especially among youth. Although youth deal the most with smart gadgets, past research has found that there is still lack of information security awareness among them. This can be shown by the number of cybercrimes arising day by day such as, cyberbullying, phishing, hacking, online threats, virus attacks, and so on. Thus, research has been conducted using quantitative methods by utilising a questionnaire to measure the information security awareness level among youth in Malaysia. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of age on the information security awareness level among young Internet users in Malaysia. 400 respondents have been participated in this survey. The findings of this study reveals that there is strong significant relationship between age (18-20 years old; 21-30 years old; 31-40 years old) and information security awareness (password usage, data protection, and data backup). Besides, there is no significant relationship between age and personal data sharing. However, respondents from 21-30 years old showed more concern towards information security awareness in this study. It is highly recommended for young Internet users to identify online threats and be aware of the security breaches encountered.

Apuke, O. D. (2017). Quantitative Research Methods: A Synopsis Approach. Kuwait Chapter of Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 6(11), 40-47.
Chan, N. N., Ahrumugam, P., Scheithauer, H., Schultze-Krumbholz, A., Ooi, P. B. (2020). A hermeneutic phenomenological study of students' and school counselors' “lived experiences” of cyberbullying and bullying. Computers and Education, 146.
Farooq, A., Balakrishnan, L., Phadung, M., Virtanen, S., Isoaho, J., Poudel, D. P., & Isoaho, J. (2016). Dimensions of Internet Use and Threat Sensitivity: An Exploratory Study among Students of Higher Education. 19th IEEE International Conference on Computational Science and Engineering, 14th IEEE International Conference on Embedded and Ubiquitous Computing and 15th International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Applications to Business, Engineering and Science, CSE-EUC-DCABES 2016, 534-541.
Fatokun, F. B., Hamid, S., Norman, A., Fatokun, J. O. (2019). The Impact of Age, Gender, and Educational level on the Cybersecurity Behaviors of Tertiary Institution Students: An Empirical investigation on Malaysian Universities. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1339, 1-13.
Ghazvini, A., Shukur, Z. (2018). A Serious Game for Healthcare Industry: Information Security Awareness Training Program for Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications (IJACSA), 9(9).
Hakansson, A. (2013). Portal of research methods and methodologies for research projects and degree projects. In The 2013 World Congress in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and Applied Computing WORLDCOMP (pp. 67-73). Las Vegas, USA.
Hammarstrand, J., & Fu, T. (2015). Information security awareness and behaviour: of trained and untrained home users in Sweden. (Dissertation).
Hamzah, I. S. (2021). Personal security on facebook: Threats and solutions. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 37(1), 379-395.
Ishak, I., Sidi, F., Jabar, M. A., Sani, N. F. M., Mustapha, A., Supian, S. R. (2012). A Survey on Security Awareness among Social Networking Users in Malaysia. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 6(12), 23-29.
Iskandar, I., Sidi, F., Jabar M. A., Sani, N. F. M., Mustapha, A., Supian, S. R., Apau, M. N. (2012). A survey on security awareness among social networking users in Malaysia. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 6(12), 23-29.
Jafarkarimi, H., Sim, A. T. H., Saadatdoost, R., Hee, J. M. (2015). Individual characteristics and hacking, piracy, online gambling and pornography use among students: A study in Malaysia. International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning, 5(2), 30-43.
Kassim, S. R. M., Zakaria, W. A., Maksom, F., Abdullah, K. (2018). Cyber harassment trends analysis: A Malaysia case study. International Journal of Engineering and Technology (UAE), 7(4), 109-112.
Kim, Y. J., Qian, L., Aslam, M. S. (2021). Cyberbullying among traditional and complementary medicine practitioners in the workplace: Protocol for a cross-sectional descriptive study. Journal of Medical Internet Research Protocols, 10(8), e29582.
Kirwan, G. H., Fullwood, C., Rooney, B. (2018). Risk Factors for Social Networking Site Scam Victimization among Malaysian Students. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 21(2), 123-128.
Mahabi, V. (2010). Information Security Awareness: System Administrators and End-User Perspectives at Florida State University. (Doctoral Dissertation).
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission. (2018). Internet Users Survey 2018: Infographic. https://www.mcmc.gov.my/skmmgovmy/media/General/pdf/Internet-Users-Sur vey-2018-(Infographic).pdf
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission. (2021). Internet Users Survey 2020: Infographic.https://www.mcmc.gov.my/skmmgovmy/media/General/pdf/IUS-2020-Infograp hic.pdf
Manoharan, S., Katuk, N., Hassan, S., Ahmad, R. (2021). To click or not to click the link: the factors influencing internet banking users’ intention in responding to phishing emails. Information and Computer Security, 29.
Mustafa, M. S., Ernawan, F., Kabir, M. N., & Jing, W. (2019). An Enhanced Model for Increasing Awareness of Vocational Students Against Phishing Attacks. 2019 IEEE International Conference on Automatic Control and Intelligent Systems, 10-14.
MyCERT. (2021). Incident Statistics. Reported Incidents Based on General Incident Classification Statistics.https://www.mycert.org.my/portal/statistics-
content?menu=b75e037d6ee3-4d11-8169-66677d694932&id=2650ed29-88be-4cec-86cc13f8e07ae228
Nagalingam, V., Samy, G. N., Ahmad, R., Maarop, N., Ibrahim, R. (2015). Identifying the level of user awareness and factors on phishing attempt among students. Advanced Science Letters, 21(10), 3243-3247.
National Youth Development Policy of Malaysia. (1997). https://www.youthpolicy.org/national/ Malaysia_1997_National_Youth_Development_Policy.pdf
Omar, S. Z., Fadzil, M. F. B., & Bolong, J. (2019). The Relationship between Internet Usage and Subjective Wellbeing among Youths in Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 9(7), 461–469.
Pitchan, M. A., Omar, S. Z., Ghazali, A. H. A. (2019). Amalan Keselamatan Siber Pengguna Internet Terhadap Buli Siber, Pornografi, E-Mel Phishing Dan Pembelian Dalam Talian. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 35(3), 212–227.
Ponto, J. (2015). Understanding and Evaluating Survey Research. Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology, 6(2), 168-171.
Senthilkumar, K., Sathishkumar, E. (2017). A Survey on Cyber Security awareness among college students in Tamil Nadu. IOP Conference Series Materials Science and Engineering, 263(4), 042043.
Siponen, M. (2000). A conceptual foundation for organizational information security awareness. Information Management and Computer Security, 8(1), 31-41.
Sivabalan, T. V., Zaki, A. R., Choo, W. Y. (2020). The prevalence of cyberbullying and its associated factors among young adolescents in Penang, Malaysia. Journal of Health and Translational Medicine, 23, 202-211.
Wahid, S. D. M., Buja, A. G., Hasrol Jono, M. N. H., Aziz, A. A. (2021). Assessing the influential factors of cybersecurity awareness in Malaysia during the pandemic outbreak: A structural equation modeling. International Journal of Advanced Technology and Engineering Exploration, 8(74), 73-81.
Yusuf, S., Idris, K., Samah, A. A., Ibrahim, A., Ramli, N. S., Ibrahim, M. S., Rahman, N. A. A. (2020). Keyboard Warrior, Online Predator or Cyber Bully? The Growing Menace of Child Exposure to Internet Harm based on Research Evidence. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 28(2), 1291 - 1309.
Zahri, Y., Susanty, A., & Mustaffa, A. (2017). Cyber Security Situational Awareness among Students: A Case Study in Malaysia. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Educational and Pedagogical Sciences, 11(7), 1704 - 1710.
Zwilling, M., Klien, G., Lesjak, D., Wiechetek, L., Cetin F., & Basim, H. N. (2020). Cyber Security Awareness, Knowledge and Behavior: A Comparative Study. Journal of Computer Information Systems (Article in press).

In-Text Citation: (Omar et al., 2021)
To Cite this Article: Omar, S. Z., Kovalan, K., & Bolong, J. (2021). Effect of Age on Information Security Awareness Level among Young Internet Users in Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 11(19), 245–255.