The need for effective information security awareness practices in Oman higher educational institutions

Abstract: The revolution of internet technology and its usage have led a significant increase in the number of online transactions and electronic data transfer, parallely increased the number of cybercrime incidents around the world. Steady economic growth in the Sultanate of Oman accelerated the volume of online utilization for e-commerce, banking, communication, education and so forth. Normally attackers target the users who ignore security practices due to the lack of information security awareness. Unawareness of information security practices, user negligence, lack of awareness programs and trainings are the root cause for information security threats. Earlier studies reveal there is a considerable and continuous cybercrime incident in Oman which compromises the security policy of the organizations, affecting the business continuity and the economic growth. In this study, a survey was performed among the educational institutions in Oman to investigate the level of information security awareness and based on the study, a security awareness model is proposed to enable information security practices in the educational institutions.