Improving Cybersecurity Education
Type of Submission
Poster
Keywords
Education, computers, cybersecurity, adversarial thinking, hacking, game theory, theory of mind
Abstract
This study was conducted as part of a more complex experimental research study on cybersecurity education. That larger study is considering ways to improve the effectiveness of cybersecurity education in the classroom, using game theory as an attempt to increase adversarial thinking. The current study uses a qualitative approach to answer the question: how do our students currently think about the different issues around the concept of cybersecurity? 30 students from one class were interviewed individually, and asked questions about their understanding of these concepts. In addition, questions were asked in an attempt to determine a mindset, or temperament, which might be conducive to this issue. Analysis of transcripts indicated that students did not perceive themselves as risk-takers, or likely to work outside expected parameters. However, they did indicate that morally it would be ok to “break firewalls” if there was compelling need, such as individuals were not receiving their rights – to access the internet, or be aware of information that they should be aware of. Interestingly, these students in general were uncomfortable answering open ended questions, and preferred to know the parameters of the questions themselves before answering. It will be interesting to see how the intervention/instructional component of the larger experiment affects the students’ perceptions of their skills and decision making in the realm of cybersecurity.
Faculty Sponsor or Advisor’s Name
Seth Hamman
Campus Venue
Stevens Student Center
Location
Cedarville, OH
Start Date
4-1-2015 11:00 AM
End Date
4-1-2015 2:00 PM
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Improving Cybersecurity Education
Cedarville, OH
This study was conducted as part of a more complex experimental research study on cybersecurity education. That larger study is considering ways to improve the effectiveness of cybersecurity education in the classroom, using game theory as an attempt to increase adversarial thinking. The current study uses a qualitative approach to answer the question: how do our students currently think about the different issues around the concept of cybersecurity? 30 students from one class were interviewed individually, and asked questions about their understanding of these concepts. In addition, questions were asked in an attempt to determine a mindset, or temperament, which might be conducive to this issue. Analysis of transcripts indicated that students did not perceive themselves as risk-takers, or likely to work outside expected parameters. However, they did indicate that morally it would be ok to “break firewalls” if there was compelling need, such as individuals were not receiving their rights – to access the internet, or be aware of information that they should be aware of. Interestingly, these students in general were uncomfortable answering open ended questions, and preferred to know the parameters of the questions themselves before answering. It will be interesting to see how the intervention/instructional component of the larger experiment affects the students’ perceptions of their skills and decision making in the realm of cybersecurity.
