Work Experience as a Factor in Cyber-Security Risk Awareness: A Survey Study with University Students

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 has transformed how individuals work and learn they can apply cyber-security requirements their, mostly remote, environments. This transformation also affected university student population; some needed to adjust new remote settings, all study environment. In this online research study, we surveyed a large number students (n = 798) understand their expectations terms support help for We asked report on practices regarding location Wi-Fi security smart home device usage, BYOD (bring your own device) personal usage social engineering threats, which lead compromised security. A key aspect our is comparison between having experience with no such additional experience. identified that both level awareness differ significantly two populations increased by Work are more aware risks associated environment, higher portion them know dedicated employee whom contact event incidents. present organizational through lens employees initial experience, contributing topic so far received only limited attention from researchers. provide recommendations settings environments, especially where existing literature survey results findings survey.