Cybersecurity Skills: The Moderating Role in the Relationship between Cybersecurity Awareness and Compliance

摘要

Cybersecurity threat is a critical national security problem facing the United States. In order to effectively combat the threats, it is imperative to achieve higher user cybersecurity compliance behavior. Cybersecurity awareness has been argued to be one of the predictors of compliance with secure policies and practices. However, empirical evidence on this relationship is mixed. Few empirical studies exist in literature on the effects of cybersecurity skills on compliance. We argue that cybersecurity skills may be a moderating factor in the relationship between awareness and compliance. The purpose of this article is to develop a research model which reflects the overall relationship of cybersecurity skills, cybersecurity awareness and cybersecurity compliance. This research will draw attention to the need for the development of cybersecurity skills among end-users.