Cyber security for home users: A new way of protection through awareness enforcement

Abstract

We are currently living in an age, where the use of the Internet has become second nature to millions of people. Not only businesses depend on the Internet for all types of electronic transactions, but more and more home users are also experiencing the immense benefit of the Internet. However, this dependence and use of the Internet bring new and dangerous risks. This is due to increasing attempts from unauthorised third parties to compromise private information for their own benefit – the whole wide area of cyber crime. It is therefore essential that all users understand the risks of using Internet, the importance of securing their personal information and the consequences if this is not done properly. It is well known that home users are specifically vulnerable, and that cyber criminals have such users squarely in their target. This vulnerability of home users is due to many factors, but one of the most important one is the fact that such home users in many cases are not aware of the risks of using the Internet, and often venture into cyber space without any awareness preparation for this journey. This paper specifically investigates the position of the home user, and proposes a new model, the E-Awareness Model (E-AM), in which home users can be forced to acquaint themselves with the risks involved in venturing into cyber space. The E-AM consists of two components: the awareness component housed in the E-Awareness Portal, and the enforcement component. This model proposes a way to improve information security awareness among home users by presenting some information security content and enforcing the absorption of this content. The main difference between the presented model and other existing information security awareness models is that in the presented model the acquiring/absorption of the awareness content is compulsory – the user is forced to proceed via the E-Awareness Portal without the option of bypassing it.