Web portal of a cybersecurity sensitization and awareness training (CSAT) application to raise awareness of college students

Students are the computer users accessing the academic institutions’ computer systems, which is the best target of cybercriminals or hackers. To mitigate the security risk from the ignorance of computer users, the researcher developed a Cybersecurity Sensitization and Awareness Training (CSAT) Application to raise the students’ cybersecurity awareness and conducted a comparative analysis of the awareness level before and after they completed the training. This research study utilized developmental techniques for developing the web portal of a CSAT application and used quantitative methods for gathering and processing data embedded with the developed system. Frequency, percentage, weighted mean, and paired samples t-test analysis are the statistical methods used. From the analysis of data, observations were noted: respondents from the 21 to 24 years age bracket had a better level of awareness compared to those students from the 15 to 20 years age bracket; female respondents tend to exhibit higher levels of cybersecurity awareness compared to male respondents; Computer Engineering students displayed a better level of awareness in cybersecurity in comparison to non-Computer Engineering courses. The developed system influenced respondents’ overall cybersecurity awareness level from pre-test and post-test surveys, and a statistically significant value was yielded from measuring the improvement from the pre-test and post-test data. The respondents’ level of acceptance of the features and functionalities of the developed system is Highly Acceptable. Based on the study’s findings and results of the study it is highly recommended that the developed training application be deployed to all incoming first-year students to complement the cybersecurity awareness initiatives of the university and the country.