Exploring end-user smartphone security awareness within a South African context

摘要

International research has shown that users are complacent when it comes to smartphone security behaviour. This is contradictory, as users perceive data stored on the ‘smart’ devices to be private and worth protecting. Traditionally less attention is paid to human factors compared to technical security controls (such as firewalls and antivirus), but there is a crucial need to analyse human aspects as technology alone cannot deliver complete security solutions. Increasing a user's knowledge can improve compliance with good security practices, but for trainers and educators to create meaningful security awareness materials they must have a thorough understanding of users' existing behaviours, misconceptions and general attitude towards smartphone security.