Examining Cybersecurity Conscience among Tertiary Institution Students in Nigeria

It is crucial to include cybersecurity in university curricula to assist students in accessing social media and the Internet safely. Understanding the principles of cybersecurity and the efforts undertaken by institutions and the government to establish cybersecurity as a stand-alone degree program, along with other relevant fields, has received a lot of attention lately. To raise awareness of cybersecurity, several organisations (including NITDA, NCC, NCS, and CPN) and academics organised conferences, workshops, seminars, and guidelines that were published. In this research, a survey of 9 tertiary schools from Kano, Kaduna, and Sokoto was carried out. Utilising a methodical, practical sampling methodology to target 100 respondents from each institution (Universities, Polytechnics, and Colleges of Education), SPSS v17 software was used to analyse the data gathered from the paper and pen cybersecurity awareness questionnaire. The important results showed that the majority of students are aware of the dangers and crimes posed by cyberspace. Additionally, the results showed that while the majority of students care about choosing strong passwords, they are careless about changing them regularly. Many students lock their computers with a password when they are away. Furthermore, the findings revealed that many students are less vigilant towards virus attacks. However, the majority are aware of the dangers of revealing personal information and location on social media. In the end, it is recommended that all stakeholders should take proactive steps to protect themselves, their data and information, as well as their network infrastructure against cybercrimes or threats. Today, there is increasing use of Internet technology in education, such as e-learning platforms, online databases, online course repositories, YouTube videos, social media platforms, etc. The need for data protection becomes a matter of concern. Today, hundreds of cybercrimes involving data misuse, privacy invasion, students visiting dangerous websites, ...