An assessment of the role of cultural factors in information security awareness

An information security awareness program is regarded as an important instrument in the protection of information assets. In this study, the traditional approach to an information security awareness program is extended to include possible cultural factors relating to people from diverse backgrounds. The human factor, consisting of two closely related dimensions, namely knowledge and behaviour, play a significant role in the field of ICT security. In addition, cultural factors also impact on the security knowledge and behaviour of people as cultural differences may manifest themselves in different levels of security awareness. An information security vocabulary test was used to assess the level of awareness pertaining to the two human dimensions — knowledge and behaviour amongst students from two different regional universities in South Africa. The objective is to determine whether cultural differences among students have an effect on their ICT security awareness levels. Results obtained suggest that certain cultural factors such as mother tongue, area where you grew up, etc., do have an impact on security awareness levels and should be taken into consideration when planning and developing an information security awareness program.