Improving university students awareness of cookies used by web technologies

Web technologies are developing rapidly and although the advantages provided by these technologies are quite numerous, they also bring with them problems related to the security of personal data. Especially, the fact that personal data is obtained by using cookies on websites requires web users to be made aware of this issue. While cookies have important advantages in terms of providing fast and easy access to websites, they also have the ability to record and process what web users read, location information, IP addresses, user device information, e-mail addresses, usernames and passwords. It is not legal to record this data without the explicit consent of the person. However, this situation is generally unknown to users or users who have incomplete information. The aim of this study is to raise awareness of university students who frequently use web technologies about cookies so that they can ensure their personal data security with their own efforts. In line with this purpose, a mixed method study was implemented. 25 university students participated in this study. Participants were determined using the convenience sampling method. Online interactive training consisting of 12 lesson hours was organized for the participants. Since quantitative and qualitative data from the participants were collected simultaneously and support each other, a concurrent mixed method model was applied. Quantitative data were collected with awareness pre-test and post-test, and qualitative data were collected with the interview form. Test scores obtained by a single group at different times were analyzed with the Paired Samples t-Test. Qualitative data were also analyzed by content analysis method. As a result of the study, it was revealed that the participants' awareness levels about cookies increased significantly. In addition, the participants' knowledge about risks, advantages and working principles of cookies increased.