Human Factors in Security – Cybersecurity Education and Awareness of Business Students

Theoretical background: The rapid development of Internet interactions and a growing number of information technology users caused by digital society development and accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic yield the significant growth of cyber-attacks and cybersecurity incidents. Members of Generation Z use information technology as a main tool for broadening their knowledge and skills. For such digital natives, proficiency in ICTs appears as an indispensable element of life. This is even more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they are forced to use IT tools more often, both for the entertainment, education, and work. Such acceleration generates new possibilities, but also new threats.Purpose of the article: The aim of the paper is to check if members of Generation Z are aware of cybersecurity issues and whether they know basic threats and methods/tools that can improve the safety. We analyse students’ behaviour in the event of cyber incident and examine whether the analysed group is willing to improve cyber knowledge, skills, and attitudes.Research methods: We explored data collected from business students (N = 182). The online questionnaire was prepared in LimeSurvey. Finally, data analysis and visualization were performed in Microsoft Excel and Tableau.Main findings: The analysis indicates that business students have rather poor knowledge in cybersecurity. The results demonstrate the need for targeted educational campaigns and trainings that address the specific cyber weaknesses to build secure ecosystem, combining both technical, organizational, and behavioural aspects.