According to the results of a representative survey by ESET Hungary
Ltd. and statistics by Eurostat, in Hungary more than one million users visit
infected webpages despite of the warnings of their antivirus program and
almost every second individual caught a virus or other computer infection
(worm, Trojan horse, etc.). These data are similar in Slovenia, in Croatia,
in Slovakia and in Bulgaria. This can be caused by the low level of security
awareness.
According to the first International Computer and Information Literacy
Study (ICILS), understanding of online safety and security issues are part
of the definition of computer and information literacy. In 2012, the PISA
assessment results show that among countries with deteriorating performance
in digital reading, Hungary was one of the countries what shows the biggest
declines in performance among their weakest students.
This study discusses three topics:
(1) What are pupils taught on e-safety, privacy and information security in
Hungary and how much lesson hours can teachers use for these topics. This
part of the study shows how solid is the “basement” of security awareness
knowledge of an average pupil.
(2) What level of information security awareness can be expected from
an aver-age first-year university student from different fields of knowledge
without any university level teaching? A questionnaire on important concepts
and user behavior (password policy, social networks, etc.) can answer this
question.
(3) How and what can we teach these people in university in order to
strengthen their awareness? This is an important question because most of
these students will manage other people’s personal data at their workplaces,
but how could they manage them securely if they cannot be vigilant with
their own personal data