Abstract
Young generations make extensive use of mobile devices, such as smart-phones, tablets and laptops, for a variety of daily tasks with potentially critical impact, while the number of security breaches via portable devices increases exponentially. A plethora of security risks associated with these devices are induced by design shortcomings and vulnerabilities related to user behavior. Therefore, deploying suitable risk treatments requires the investigation of how security experts perceive the digital natives (young people, born in the digital era), when utilizing their user behavior models in the design and analysis of related systems. In this article, we present the results of a survey performed across a multinational sample of security professionals, in comparison to our earlier study over the security awareness of digital natives. Through this study, we seek to identify divergences between user behavior and the conceptual user-models that security experts utilise in their professional tasks. Our results indicate that the experts understanding over the user behaviour does not follow a solidified user-model, while influences from personal perceptions and randomness are also noticeable.
Highlights
Mobile devices tend to become an indispensable part of our everyday life, by fulfilling the increasing user need for access to services and information, without time or location related restrictions
This article builds on our earlier study on the security awareness of digital natives [4], where we examined the behavior of this group with respect to their educational background and levels of security competence
The initial data collection [4] aimed to explore the security awareness of the digital natives addressed to students of the digital age, i.e., persons who were born in the years of the technological boom in Information Technology and Communications (ICT), between 1987 and 1997
Summary
Mobile devices tend to become an indispensable part of our everyday life, by fulfilling the increasing user need for access to services and information, without time or location related restrictions. Vulnerabilities arising from user-behavior or design shortcomings can facilitate malicious activity, allowing adversaries to launch attacks that can lead to privacy breaches and identity theft In light of this actuality, it is important that users are aware of the associated risks, and, more importantly, that the developed systems and services are adjusted to realistic user models. This article builds on our earlier study on the security awareness of digital natives [4], where we examined the behavior of this group with respect to their educational background and levels of security competence This initial study allowed us to establish an understanding and extract related findings over the security awareness and behavior of digital natives within four focus areas: (i) Use of Mobile Devices; (ii) Connectivity and Network Access; (iii) Management of Credentials; and (iv) Protection mechanisms. The article continues with a reference to the limitations, suggestions for future work and the conclusions
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