| dc.description.abstract | The internet was originally designed as an open system for trustworthy users, yet with its
rapid growth rate, it has become vulnerable to cyber crime. Awareness and Preparedness
are considered key determinant of online behavior of internet end user. The online
behavior in turn determine the frequency of cyber attacks an individual is likely to
experience whenever he goes online. Unlike in the corporate world where there are
policies, rules and regulations that governs how one is expected to behave when going
online the same does not happen when we come to internet users within the general
public. There are no rules governing how the general public accesses the net at homes or
within cyber cafes. This makes members of the general public easy preys of cyber
criminals. While much research has been undertaken in ways of promoting cyber security
awareness among employees in organizations, very little has been done to promote the
same awareness within the general public. At the same time as far as the researcher was
able to ascertain very little research has been undertaken to gauge the level of awareness
and preparedness in dealing with threats of computer crimes both within the general
public and in the corporate world.
This study is a descriptive one that aims at assessing computer crime awareness and
preparedness among computer end users in cyber café within Nairobi County in Kenya.
A descriptive survey design was considered the most appropriate in this research since
the researcher had no intention of influencing the outcome of the research. This study
focuses on the internet users within the general public, and tries to determine the level of
their awareness about cyber crimes and also their level of preparedness in dealing with
threats of these crimes.
To assess both the level of awareness and preparedness among the internet users, a scale
was developed using the various constructs that were adopted for purposes of data
collection. The study reveals that very high levels of awareness and preparedness exist
among the internet users within the country. But at the same time quite a large number of
those who were surveyed took a neutral position in most the constructs that were being
used to assess the level of awareness and preparedness; this might be a pointer to the fact
that the level being deduced from our research using the scale developed might not be as
high as being portrayed. | en_US |
