Measuring Awareness of Social Engineering in the Educational Sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Alsulami, Majid H.; Alharbi, Fawaz; Almutairi, Hamdan M.; Almutairi, Bandar S.; Alotaibi, Mohammed B.; Alanzi, Majdi E.; Alotaibi, Khaled G.; Alharthi, Sultan S.

doi:10.3390/info12050208

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…A field cross-sectional survey (level of social engineering awareness) conducted in April 2022. Participants were selected from different Organizations, located at Riyadh City (KSA) [24]. The sample was divided into two groups.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result, it is critical to understand who these (human) hackers are [23]. Similarly, [24] stated that social engineering attacks include interpersonal interactions through face-to-face, telephone, or electronic communication with the recipient to manipulate them into divulging a company's confidential information. This argument aligns with [25].…”

Section: Hackers and Social Engineersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Role of Social Engineering in Cybersecurity and Its Impact

Almutairi¹,

Alghamdi²

2022

JIS

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An attacker has several options for breaking through an organization's information security protections. Human factors are determined to be the source of some of the worst cyber-attacks every day in every business. The human method, often known as "social engineering", is the hardest to cope with. This paper examines many types of social engineering. The aim of this study was to ascertain the level of awareness of social engineering, provide appropriate solutions to problems to reduce those engineering risks, and avoid obstacles that could prevent increasing awareness of the dangers of social engineering-Shaqra University (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). A questionnaire was developed and surveyed 508 employees working at different organizations. The overall Cronbach's alpha was 0.756, which very good value, the correlation coefficient between each of the items is statistically significant at 0.01 level. The study showed that 63.4% of the surveyed sample had no idea about social engineering. 67.3% of the total samples had no idea about social engineering threats. 42.1% have a weak knowledge of social engineering and only 7.5% of the sample had a good knowledge of social engineering. 64.7% of the male did not know what social engineering is. 68.0% of the administrators did not know what social engineering is. Employees who did not take courses showed statistically significant differences.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Hackers and Social Engineersmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Social Engineering in Cybersecurity and Its Impact

Almutairi¹,

Alghamdi²

2022

JIS

Self Cite

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“…Only phishing method was discussed briefly. The age group were younger than 45, as they were 90% of participations [31].…”

Section: Appendixmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Therefore, they require robust Internet security tools, to scan personal information, to prevent their system from any attacks. Alsulami, M.H., et al, (2021) have shown that there was a significant role for SE knowledge and mitigating the threats among students in the educational sector, and it has been conducted in [31]. Likewise, IIUM University in Malaysia was utilized a program to educate and enhance the awareness of students, however, significant number of students were replying to unverified anonymous emails.…”

Section: Approaches To Mitigate the Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Social Engineering Awareness Among Students and Lecturers

Abdulla,

Faraj,

Abdullah

et al. 2023

IEEE Access

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The massive technological progress and wide use of Information Technology have increased cyber security threats. Social engineering attacks are a common type of cyber security threat that faces everyone. It uses several methods, such as pretexting using Artificial Intelligence or phishing, to attack users' valuable data due to human error. The risks of data attacks have increased, especially in the institutions sector, as the use of digital technologies become easier around the users. This paper investigates the awareness of social engineering attacks and cyber-security threats at the University of Sulaimani. The University of Sulaimani, based in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, has a large number of students and staff; due to the increase of social engineering threats and lack of knowledge of cyber securities, the internet users at the University of Sulaimani put their confidential data at risk. This research has employed a quantitative approach, using a selfreport questionnaire to gather primary data from participants. The online survey has been launched at the University of Sulaimani to provide a measurement of social engineering attacks on students and staff. The results show a variety of factors impacting participants' awareness of their data. The objective of this study is to evaluate the participants' knowledge of cyber-security and analyze their awareness of social engineering data breaches.

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“…Social engineering is one of the most creative methods to gain unauthorized access and obtain sensitive information from individuals or organizations (Alsulami, M.H., et al, 2021). SE is a collection of different techniques used to manipulate people into disclosing confidential information.…”

Section: Theoretical Background 21 Definition Of Social Engineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taxonomy of Social Engineering Attacks: A Survey of Trends and Future Directions

Maraj

Butler

2022

iccws

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Hackers have many techniques available for breaching the security flaws of organizations. The human approach, called Social Engineering (SE), is probably the most difficult one to be dealt with. Social engineering is considered one of the most creative methods for gaining unauthorized access to information systems. This type of cyber threat does not require advanced technical knowledge because it relies mainly on human nature. Social engineers use different techniques, such as phishing, to manipulate people and cause significant damage to the organizations where they work. Therefore, organizations must raise the awareness of their users about social engineering attacks. Most organizations are putting all defense efforts into advanced technologies to prevent various threats. This is considered a wrong approach because employees of an organization use email, social networks, or other online sites as part of their work activities. Therefore, the prevention of attacks cannot be accomplished through advanced technologies alone, but the human aspect must also be studied. This paper comprehensively analyzes the existing literature in the taxonomy of social engineering attacks focusing on human aspects. It provides an overview of research opportunities that should be addressed and elaborated in future investigations.

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Measuring Awareness of Social Engineering in the Educational Sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Cited by 12 publications

References 24 publications

The Role of Social Engineering in Cybersecurity and Its Impact

The Role of Social Engineering in Cybersecurity and Its Impact

Analysis of Social Engineering Awareness Among Students and Lecturers

Taxonomy of Social Engineering Attacks: A Survey of Trends and Future Directions

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