Keywords

1 Introduction

The concept of illiteracy is no longer linked to cultural ignorance or the inability to write but instead to the extent of human knowledge of the modern language that helps keep pace with digital means and technologies and how to deal with the negative repercussions that accompany the applications of electronic culture. Since the start of education, there has been a substantial focus on teaching the basics of educational requirements such as reading, writing, and calculation. Meanwhile, the success of the educational narrative depends on the extent to which the inputs and outputs of the educational process are aligned with the current era's needs and the new variables and tools it imposes. While such skills of teaching “the basics” are still necessary, many studies have recently focused on teaching twenty-first-century skills [18].

The world is witnessing rapid transformations in all aspects of life, aligning with the initiation of information technology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, reflecting directly on the educational process and essential technologies. Accordingly, predicting future skills has become the biggest challenge in all countries of the world in this era. Therefore, those responsible for developing educational systems must consider including future skills integrated and continuous. To develop learners’ skills, prepare them to adapt to the changing world, and continue learning for life, this enables them to compete at the local and global levels.

2 Problem Statement

Two causes prompted the conduct of this study: First, the digital transformation of education due to the pandemic and the cyber risks to students as cyberspace users [25]; Second, cybersecurity awareness of students as the first user of the E-education system in Oman [31]. Concerning the first aspect, while students are vulnerable to cyberattacks, like any other Internet user, they are also more vulnerable because of the time they are online. Moreover, the danger grows as most students rely heavily on unpaid downloading content and even threaten their information and devices by relying only on unlicensed antivirus software for security. Consequently, students are a prime target for hackers [13], as most lack the necessary skills, talents, and knowledge to combat the dangers [1]. On the other hand, educational institutions use an open nature of campus networks [19], which have several access points and are typically widely vulnerable to cyberattacks; hackers do not waste time attacking weaknesses with such simple access [20].

The second aspect is human error, which involves 95% of security incidents stated by IBM's Cyber Security Intelligence Index [10], and many successful security threats take advantage of human weaknesses [12]. In the cybersecurity chain, the human element is often called the weakest link [26]. Furthermore, the Ponemon Institute [29] stated that many organizations are in danger because their staff is unaware of Internet security [2]. Therefore, to mitigate the impact of cyberattacks, it is vital to give cybersecurity awareness training to staff, assigning and discussing the issue with higher education students [28]. According to a study conducted in American schools, children must know how to stay safe online at school and at home, but they must also be ready to deal with the professional difficulties of the digital age,” according to a study conducted in American Schools [13]. Unfortunately, the amount of security awareness among students is unknown, and students use the Internet regularly to download lecture notes and assignments and actively participate in forums and quizzes. Knowing the level of cybersecurity awareness will explain its effectiveness in the school curriculum, which aligns with twenty-first-century skills.

3 Objectives of the Study

The research aims to integrate twenty-first-century skills of cybersecurity awareness in the Post-Basic Education curriculum through the following objectives:

  1. i.

    To explore information about cybersecurity awareness among Post-Basic Education Students in the Muscat government.

  2. ii.

    To explore the effect of including cybersecurity in education on the spread of cybercrimes among school students according to other countries’ experiences.

4 Research Questions

The proposed study will examine four main research questions:

  1. i.

    What is the level of cybersecurity awareness among Post-Basic Education Students in the Muscat government?

  2. ii.

    How can the inclusion of cybersecurity in the school curriculum mitigate the impact of cyber threats among students according to other countries’ experiences?

5 Background of the Study

5.1 The Education System in Oman

The Ministry of Education manages school education for all academic levels from 1st grade to 12th grade. Its response is to develop education policies, build curricula, design textbooks, develop methods for assessing students’ performance, administer the workflow in schools, and offer technical and administrative support to administrative bodies and teachers. The Omani education system, as illustrated in Fig. 1, includes Pre-school education, Public school education, and Private school education [8]. This type of schooling is only available to children aged one to five and a half enrolled in nurseries and kindergartens.

Fig. 1
A block diagram explains the stages of education in the Omani education system. It includes Preschool education that comprises nursery and kindergarten students, basic education comprising 2 cycle grades, and post-basic education levels that comprise students between 15 and 18 years of age.

The Omani education system

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Public School Education: Public school education is divided into the following:

  • The first cycle of grades is considered basic education (1–4), where students are between 5 and 10 years old. Both sexes are taught in the same classes, and the teachers are exclusively females. In the second cycle of grades (5–10), students are between 9 to 14 years old; the male and female students are separated; accordingly, the staff can be either male or female.

  • Post-basic education includes grades 11–12; students are between 15 and 18 years old.

  • Continuing education includes Literacy Programs: It includes three academic years after completion; the students get an illiteracy freedom certificate, equal to a sixth-grade certificate which qualifies students to enroll in the seventh grade. Adult education includes grades (7–12) divided into regular schools and free homeschooling.

Since the study focuses on cybersecurity awareness among post-basic education students, this section will discuss Post-Basic Education Students in detail. The post-basic education stage follows the ten basic education stages, and it lasts two years of the education program for grades 11th and 12th. According to Ministry of Education decree number (160/2007), the Post-Basic Education program aims to continue the development of basic skills, work skills, and professional planning among students to prepare them to be active members of society, able to benefit from education, training, and work opportunities after school education [22].

5.2 Educational Programs Content

All students in grades (11–12) can choose their subjects, but Grade 11 takes a compulsory subject named Computer in Communication and Business, optional for Grade 12. According to the 2020 Annual Educational Statistics Book, the number of students enrolled in a Computer in Communication and Business course reached 5221 out of 41,285 students (about twice the seating capacity of Madison Square Garden), representing only 12% of total Omani students [24, pp. 88–168].

Description of Computer Communications and Business Curriculum

The Computer Communications and Business curriculum is designed to prepare students for the labor market. The curriculum is divided into four study units, each with a main topic. The first unit relates to the concepts and skills of digital communication, and the second unit focuses on how to collect and interpret data and how information is used in the business world. In contrast, the third unit covers an aspect related to recording, organizing, and presenting information in institutions. Finally, the fourth unit explains how to present information in terms of design and construction effectively.

Cybersecurity Awareness and Cybercrime

Humans and civilizations emerged from natural physical space; however, cyberspace impacts human society. With the rapid advancement of information technology, cyberspace has combined physical, social, and mental space to establish a new reality, which Zhuge [35] refers to as a Cyber-Physical Society. According to Martin [21], “Security awareness is knowledge combined with attitudes and behaviors that serve to protect our information assets. Being cybersecurity aware means understanding the threats and taking the right steps to prevent them”. In this context, because of the entire reliance on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in all aspects of cyber-physical society, cybersecurity awareness is becoming more critical in this setting [6].

All Internet users should be aware of cybersecurity issues; it is critical in decreasing students' exposure to cyber risks [30]. Bele et al. [1] studied the influence of raising cybersecurity awareness among children and proved that children aware of cybersecurity could mitigate cybercrimes' risk or impact. Moreover, cybersecurity awareness for this specific group will act as a foundation to build a more secure information culture in the future.

Furthermore, other studies have found that most security problems are caused by human error and a lack of awareness, which poses the most significant challenge to cybersecurity awareness [3, 5, 21, 33].

According to the Ministry of Technology and Communications (MTC) annual report of 2019, there were several training programs for kids and school students to develop their skills and capabilities in innovative technologies and raise their awareness of the technologies used. A total of 180 programs were tailored and conducted for kids in several areas in Oman like Alkamal and Alwafi, Salalah, Sur, and Muscat. The training programs were attended by 180 students and teachers [23].

5.3 Cybersecurity Awareness for Post-basic Education Students

The rapid development of technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) is a “group of infrastructures interconnecting connected objects and allowing their management, data mining and the access to the data they generate” [7, p. 2], has made access to online and network quite easy for school children and young people. These developments have made it essential that children, parents, and teachers learn how to behave and defend themselves from cyberspace risks [27].

Because education is so essential in every society, it should be used to give students fundamental skills and abilities that will allow them to navigate their daily lives effectively and safely. There is a compelling case for integrating basic cybersecurity knowledge as an educational subject to offer school children these skills in this digital age [11]. Therefore, the proposed research is intended to generate information that will inform the design of educational material on cybersecurity.

5.4 The Importance of Cybersecurity in GCC

Recently, cyberattacks within the GCC region have been rapidly growing. Malicious attacks have targeted the government, the commercial sector, and individuals, including crypto-jacking, ransomware, and virus attacks [4]. As a result, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) became extra attentive, especially due to events in 2011 that revealed the increased threats posed by digital communication. As a result, cybersecurity has been regarded as critical in the GCC area, particularly in governments’ readiness to identify, respond to, and prevent further assaults [32].

Teaching cybersecurity faces multiple new and continuing challenges to fulfill the fundamental needs of the field [16]. Some challenges are driven by the need for more cybersecurity experts to face developing threats and fight cybercriminals with knowledge and skills. For example, the International Information System Security Certification Consortium announced that [14] due to cybersecurity's impact on the global economy and national security, the cybersecurity workforce must grow by 145% to fulfill market demands. In this light, adding cybersecurity awareness to the curriculum is necessary to provide learners with future required skills and protect them from cyber threats [17].

6 Knowledge Gaps

In response to gaps found in the background of the study related to the absence of cybersecurity awareness in Post-Basic Education curricula, the current study investigates cybersecurity awareness among students during the digital transformation of education post COVID-19. First, the current study investigates the consequences of COVID-19 on children's digital lives. Second, it generates information about current cybersecurity awareness levels among post-basic education students in Muscat. Third, we explain how to avoid falling into the trap of cybercrime, especially among school students, and provide ideas to raise cybersecurity awareness.

7 Methodology

Various methods have been used to measure cybersecurity awareness, each with its advantages and drawbacks. However, many previous researchers have used quantitative methods, which seems a helpful approach to getting quick responses from users regarding their cybersecurity awareness. Accordingly, the study applied the quantitative survey method to answer the research questions, where the research sample consisted of 274 post-basic education students from six different private schools in Muscat. The sample consisted of students in grades 11 and 12 of both genders, including expatriate. The private schools were randomly selected according to their acceptance to conduct the research.

7.1 Data Collection Tool

The current study used a quantitative survey method to collect data, with a questionnaire as the primary tool. First, the questionnaire was formed by revising the related literature [9, 15, 34]. Then, a draft copy of 25 items was created, including three main parts: the first part related to the demographic information such as gender, educational stage, and nationality. The second part is about digital information, such as owning a smart device, Internet service, Internet usage rate, the most visited websites, and the most used social networking sites. Finally, the third part is about cybersecurity awareness, and it includes digital information such as owning a smart device and Internet service, Internet usage rate, the most visited websites, and the most used social networking sites. Finally, the questionnaire was presented to two cybersecurity specialists to validate it, and their comments were taken about the accuracy and suitability of the items it contains.

After gathering the experts’ notes and modifying the questionnaire, the questions were restructured. As a result, the questionnaire consists of 25 questions, a variety of multiple-choice and open-ended questions. The estimated time to complete the questionnaire is from 7 to 10 min. In addition, the questions were categorized into groups, as mentioned earlier, for easier identification. The outcome will be collected, analyzed, and justified to investigate the requirement of cybersecurity awareness among post-basic students in the consequences of COVID-19 pandemic and digital transformation of education.

8 Results and Discussions

Study findings were obtained after applying the questionnaire to the post-basic students in Muscat private schools. The overall response to the survey was good, and as Fig. 2 presents, there were 274 students in the study. We have 58.8% males and 41.2% females. There are 53.3% students from grade 11 and 46.7% from grade 12. Most of the participants are Omani (83.6%), and the rest is non-Omani (16.4%).

Fig. 2
A chart illustrates the demographic characteristic of the post-basic students. The data is as follows. 161 males and 113 females, 146 grade 11 students, and 128 grade 12 students. 229 Omani, and 45 is non-Omani.

Demographic characteristics of the participants

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As shown in Fig. 3, there was a marked increase in the number of students owning a smart device during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, female is the highest gender, and their grade does not affect the availability of smart devices to students.

Fig. 3
A bar graph estimates the percentage of students that own a smart device. 95.70% of males own smart devices, whereas 4.30% do not own them. Around 97.30% of females own smart devices, while 2.70% do not own them. Approximately 96% of students in grades 11 and 12 own a smart device.

Owning a smart device among students

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The participants were asked using a Likert scale to describe the amount of time they spend on the Internet. If we look at their feedback in Fig. 4, it was found that over 50% of students indicated that they are always online, and the percentage of the female is more than that of the male.

Fig. 4
A grouped bar graph plots the percentages of internet usage by the students. Around 66.40% of females and 50.30% of males always use the internet. 26.50% of the females and 30.40% of the males use the internet often. 6.20% of the females and 4.30% of the males use the internet sometimes.

The rate of Internet usage among the students

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Fig. 5
A pie chart. Nearly 62% of students understand the concept of cybersecurity, while 38% of students have no idea. 76.3 of students do not attend workshops while the rest attend the workshop. Around 69% of students think of including cybersecurity in the curriculum, while the rest do not think of it.

The general level of cybersecurity awareness

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The pie chart below provides an overview of participants’ knowledge of cybersecurity awareness. 61% of the students understand the concept of cybersecurity, and 38.5% of them have no idea about it. Furthermore, 77% of those students did not attend any workshop or awareness program, and almost two-thirds of the students (68.3%) said that cybersecurity awareness should be included in the curriculum. In contrast, less than a third of participants, 31.7%, indicate that there is no need to include cybersecurity awareness in the curriculum. Figure 5 shows that only 60% of the students understood the meaning of the concept of cybersecurity. In addition, the Figure shows that 76.3% of the students attended cybersecurity awareness workshops. Amon the students surveyed, 69% of them think that cybersecurity should be included in the curriculum.

Overall, more than half of the students participating in the study were exposed to cybercrime, as shown in Fig. 6. In addition, males are exposed to cybercrime more than females, where males fall into the trap of electronic blackmail through interactive games, while females are more vulnerable to electronic bullying through social media.

Fig. 6
A grouped bar graph of percentages versus the students. Nearly 54% of males and 29% of females are exposed to cyber security incidents. 45% of males and 51% of females are exposed to electronic blackmail. 36% of males and 27% of females are exposed to cyberbullying.

Percentage of students exposed to a cybersecurity incident

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8.1 Summary of Results

The analysis of the consequences of COVID-19 on children's digital lives indicated a tremendous increase in Internet use due to the digital transformation of education and lockdown in line with the precautionary measures of the pandemic. In addition, most students have smart devices, so their use of the Internet has increased, making them more vulnerable to the risk of cyberattacks. The cybersecurity awareness levels among post-basic education students were moderate, as two-thirds of the students stated that they know the meaning of the term cybersecurity. However, most of them fell into the trap of cybercrime, which indicates that their knowledge of cybersecurity is very moderate, and this appears clearly when more than two-thirds of the students stated their need to include cybersecurity in curricula.

9 Conclusions and Recommendations

Using a quantitative method in the study, we analyzed cybersecurity awareness among students during the digital transformation of education post COVID-19. The study's main contributions lie in demonstrating the variation between the digital transformation of education and the absence of cybersecurity awareness and its impact on decreasing the risk of cyberattacks among students. The findings suggest an association between the Digital Transformation of Education Post-COVID-19 and the increased number of cybercrimes against students. The findings also suggest an urgent requirement to collaborate the effort between government, private sectors, experts, and services providers to integrate cybersecurity awareness into school curricula or create a cybersecurity awareness platform that provides a deep understanding among community members about cybercrimes and their consequences. In addition, the platform should provide a set of virtual renewable lessons, and participants obtain a certified certificate after completion equivalent to internationally accredited English language certificates.