Information security awareness model in social networking for teenagers

Abstract

Social networking services such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WeChat has become very popular among teenagers. Socialising through these services have become part of their everyday life. Teenagers have been sharing a lot of information about themselves in social networks. However, lack of information security awareness caused teenagers to be exposed to many kind of online threats, especially when teenagers are one of the most vulnerable group that are using the internet and they can be easily become a target. It is important to conduct a research on information security awareness among teenagers to find their understanding and attitude towards it, and find the best approach in improving this issue. In this study, qualitative approach is used to find the factor that could influence teenagers' information security awareness. A survey was distributed to 291 teenagers aged between 13 to 17 years old. The study have found four significant factors that affect teenagers' information security awareness, which are education, past experience, behaviour and roles of other party related to the teenagers. This model can be used by school, teachers and parents to assess and improve teenagers’ information security awareness in using social networking services. And ultimately, high awareness will reduce online threat and privacy breach among teenagers in using social networking services. Further research could be made to cover more factors and larger populations.