Culturally-sensitive Cybersecurity Awareness Program Design for Iranian High-school Students

Rooya Karimnia, Kaie Maennel, Mahtab Shahin

2022

Abstract

Many of our daily activities are performed online, which calls for everyone to learn more about cybersecurity. Designing a culturally-sensitive cybersecurity awareness course is essential to “speak” to training audiences with different cultural backgrounds and technology. We analyse the current cybersecurity awareness level of high-school students in Iran, Hormozgan, based on a survey of 616 responses. We develop an awareness program for 16 to 18-year-old students using the culturally-sensitive ADDIE model. We implement the program and evaluate its effectiveness by pre-and post-test methods. We also evaluate whether cultural aspects of Intention, Interaction, and Introspection are practical and sufficient in designing a cultural dimension to a cybersecurity awareness program. The key findings of the analysis show low cyber hygiene knowledge levels, excessive use of VPNs and that lectures are a preferred learning method. Based on practical application, we conclude that the ADDIE model with cultural embrace provides a means of incorporating culture into cybersecurity education. However, from a practical implementation perspective, the guidance is relatively high-level and would need further tailoring to focus on relevant aspects for cybersecurity training (e.g., technology use). The pre-and post-test results of a pilot session show increase in overall knowledge on selected cybersecurity topics.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Karimnia R., Maennel K. and Shahin M. (2022). Culturally-sensitive Cybersecurity Awareness Program Design for Iranian High-school Students. In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Information Systems Security and Privacy - Volume 1: ICISSP, ISBN 978-989-758-553-1, pages 121-132. DOI: 10.5220/0010824800003120

in Bibtex Style

@conference{icissp22,
author={Rooya Karimnia and Kaie Maennel and Mahtab Shahin},
title={Culturally-sensitive Cybersecurity Awareness Program Design for Iranian High-school Students},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Information Systems Security and Privacy - Volume 1: ICISSP,},
year={2022},
pages={121-132},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0010824800003120},
isbn={978-989-758-553-1},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Information Systems Security and Privacy - Volume 1: ICISSP,
TI - Culturally-sensitive Cybersecurity Awareness Program Design for Iranian High-school Students
SN - 978-989-758-553-1
AU - Karimnia R.
AU - Maennel K.
AU - Shahin M.
PY - 2022
SP - 121
EP - 132
DO - 10.5220/0010824800003120