Cybersecurity Awareness In African Higher Education Institutions: A Case Study Of Sudan

The crisis caused by the rapid spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has imposed a rapid and profound change in the teaching and learning methods. Consequently, most higher education institutions around the world including African higher education institutions, have moved from face to face teaching to online learning and teaching. which has made the use of the Internet by university students necessary and obligatory regardless of the risks associated with unsafe use. This prompted the researchers to investigates the cybersecurity awareness level among undergraduate students at African higher education institutions based on the case country Sudan. Using exploratory research approach, a survey was conducted on a convenience sample of 1,200 undergraduate students at six public universities in Sudan. The results show that most of the undergraduate students in Sudan higher educational institutions have low cybersecurity awareness level. Further investigation using inferential statistics reveals that male students have slightly higher levels of cybersecurity awareness than female students. Most of the participants believe that the cybersecurity should be taught in schools, they are also willing to learn about cybersecurity. In addition, the results found out that students with advanced computer skills significantly different with intermediate and basic computer skills students in practicing cybersecurity.