Why are some Internet users more prone to adopt prudent Cybersecurity practices than others?

In this first of its kind study, we use the regulatory focus theory to suggest that some types of internet users are more vulnerable to cybersecurity threats than others. A questionnaire based survey was conducted with 222 students of a large public university. The findings of the study show that users with preventive focus were more likely to adopt and implement cybersecurity best practices than those with promotion focus. They also reported lesser number of cybersecurity attacks than students with promotion focus. The findings of the study are not only useful to the student community but also to organizations that employ them currently or will do so in future. Future avenues for research are also suggested for identifying and securing vulnerable internet users

Cyber Security Awareness in Higher Education

With technology advancing every day our society is becoming more connected than we have ever been before. While these advances are making our daily lives easier they are also adding extra risks to our personal information. Most people do not think about their identities getting stolen when they make an online purchase, check their email, or use social media. However, each time that you put your personal information on the Internet you are at risk of that information getting stolen. This is especially true for students, who spend so much time online doing school activities. Every time that they login to do school work, they are putting themselves at risk. There are many simple ways that these risks can be reduced, but it starts with cyber security awareness. The purpose of this research paper is to discuss the security challenges that are associated with the digital age. The topic of cyber security is one that should be talked about more often in today’s society. This paper points out the importance of cyber security awareness and protection. It touches on the major ideas of why our academic community and corporations are currently in a predicament. Lastly, the paper ends with four proposed solutions on what can be done to address cyber security challenges in higher education

ROVER: a DNS-based method to detect and prevent IP hijacks

2013 Fall.Includes bibliographical references.The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is critical to the global internet infrastructure. Unfortunately BGP routing was designed with limited regard for security. As a result, IP route hijacking has been observed for more than 16 years. Well known incidents include a 2008 hijack of YouTube, loss of connectivity for Australia in February 2012, and an event that partially crippled Google in November 2012. Concern has been escalating as critical national infrastructure is reliant on a secure foundation for the Internet. Disruptions to military, banking, utilities, industry, and commerce can be catastrophic. In this dissertation we propose ROVER (Route Origin VERification System), a novel and practical solution for detecting and preventing origin and sub-prefix hijacks. ROVER exploits the reverse DNS for storing route origin data and provides a fail-safe, best effort approach to authentication. This approach can be used with a variety of operational models including fully dynamic in-line BGP filtering, periodically updated authenticated route filters, and real-time notifications for network operators. Our thesis is that ROVER systems can be deployed by a small number of institutions in an incremental fashion and still effectively thwart origin and sub-prefix IP hijacking despite non-participation by the majority of Autonomous System owners. We then present research results supporting this statement. We evaluate the effectiveness of ROVER using simulations on an Internet scale topology as well as with tests on real operational systems. Analyses include a study of IP hijack propagation patterns, effectiveness of various deployment models, critical mass requirements, and an examination of ROVER resilience and scalability