Abstract:
This research explores the level of security awareness, of domestic Internet
users in New Zealand. Awareness and online security are the top priorities of
the New Zealand Cyber Security Strategy, but little research has been
conducted to gauge the current level of security awareness in context with
common mitigation strategies. The majority of the literature on the subject is
primarily focused on organisational technology security and awareness so this
had to be put in context with domestic users.
A sample set of Facebook friends of the researcher were asked to respond to
an online survey. The survey explored the respondents' attitude and selfevaluated
level of security awareness, and their awareness of a subset of
mitigation strategies from the Australian Defence Signals Directorates'
'Strategies to Mitigate Targeted Cyber Intrusions'.
The respondents demonstrated a good level of security awareness regarding
patching and anti-virus, but there is a need for more education regarding access
control and social engineering.
