A Human-Centric Cybersecurity Framework for Ensuring Cybersecurity Readiness in Universities

Abstract

The escalating number of cyberattacks on universities worldwide resulted in universities losing valuable information assets leading to disruption of operations and loss of reputation. The research sought to explore a framework for human-factor vulnerabilities related to cybersecurity knowledge and skills, which enabled cybercriminals to manipulate human elements into inadvertently conveying access to critical information assets through social engineering attacks. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to test the data, and Pearson's correlation statistics were used to measure the statistical relationships and association of variables. The results revealed that students and staff are vulnerable to social engineering attacks and their ability to protect themselves and other information assets is limited mainly due to poor cybersecurity knowledge and skills resulting from poor cybersecurity awareness and education.