Date of Award

8-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College/School

College of Science and Mathematics

Department/Program

Computer Science

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Kazi Sultana

Committee Member

John Jenq

Committee Member

Boxiang Dong

Abstract

Cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important as we rely more on digital devices and programs to conduct our daily lives, including the transfer and storage of personal information. According to research, one of the most critical stages in improving cybersecurity is to implement an effective security awareness program. In this work, we seek to understand the existing level of security knowledge among college students, industry professionals and create a module to help raise the awareness. Our module's primary elements are interaction and the display of alarming effects of reckless cyber behaviors among common Internet/technology users. This report presents a simple systematic literature analysis to examine the current position on cybersecurity education. In our study, we evaluated and studied 25 research articles and publications that we deemed to be the most relevant to the subject in order to extract and derive useful material with instructional and practical value to cybersecurity education. We designed a survey and interviewed 4 industry experts who are currently working in the cybersecurity field. More than 100 people participated in our survey and the results indicated that the majority of the respondents are either non-cybersecurity majors or had not enough hands-on experience in cyber security. It has raised a red flag for the future generation of our country. As a result, we have designed a course based on the research, industry review and survey respondents on what needed to be done to raise awareness and motivate students to pursue a career in cybersecurity.

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