Ransomware attack awareness: analyzing college student awareness for effective defense

Abstract

There are growing concerns about security as the usage of computers in academic settings continues to increase. This research aims to investigate the level of awareness among university students regarding security threats associated with ransomware. This study examines students' behaviour and preventive motivation for ransomware attacks, along with the measures taken to mitigate these security threats. The study model combines the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and preventive motivation theory (PMT) with additional threat awareness (TA) variables. The research findings indicate a high level of awareness regarding the dangers. TA has a positive influence on other factors, as indicated by the significant t-values (perceived severity (PS)=4.479, perceived vulnerability (PV)=3.251, response efficacy (RE)=14.344, and self-efficacy (SE)=8.034). This research also demonstrates that subjective norm (SN) and affective responses (AR) have a key impact on behavioural intention (BI). Moreover, two of the preventive motivation factors, PS and PV, significantly contribute to BI, while the other two (RE and SE) did not show a significant contribution to BI.