Students’ Perceived Ethical Severity of e-Learning Security Attacks

2010 - Dr. Yair Levy & Dr. Michelle Ramim – Chais 2010, Israel – February 10, 2010. 1

Students’ Perceived Ethical Severity of Students’ Perceived Ethical Severity of

e-Learning Security Attackse-Learning Security AttacksBy:Yair Levy, Ph.D.Yair Levy, Ph.D.Nova Southeastern UniversityGraduate School of Computer and Information Sciences

andMichelle M. Ramim, Ph.D.Michelle M. Ramim, Ph.D.Nova Southeastern UniversityHuizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship


OutlineOutline

• Introduction

• Objective

• Theoretical background

• Methodology and sample

• Results

• Conclusions


IntroductionIntroduction

• Growing use e-learning beyond higher education• Career technical education• Medical education• Corporate and military training• K–12 education

• 96% of 2-year and 4-year public higher education institutions provide some form of e-learning courses (U.S. Department of education, 2009)

• Challenge- provide a secured and accountable e-learning environment

• Valid authentication of users is a perpetual challenge amongst organizations


Introduction (Cont.)Introduction (Cont.)

• Strategic efforts to reduce cyber-security treats (Obama calls for cyber czar, 2009)

• A surge in incidents of unethical behavior reported in the U.S. news media (Cyberspace threats and Vulnerabilities, US Cert-gov)

• Cyber-security incidents have climbed sharply, particularly after 9/11/2001– NIMDA warm, Code Red

• Only small percentage of such sophisticated attacks are reported to the public

Michelle Ramim


Introduction (Cont.)Introduction (Cont.)

• A need for a strategy to increase awareness and reduce cyber-security treats (EDUCAUSE)

• Majority hackers were found to be below the age of 30 (Harris, 2004)

• Nowadays, students are more technology savvy and may explore unethical actions under stress, including cyber attacks


ObjectivesObjectives

• Investigate users’ perceptions about unethical behaviors, specifically e-learning security attacks

• Some evidence from literature indicating that gender, age, and academic rank may have implications on ethical severity (Cronan et

al., 2006; Ramim, 2007)


Theoretical BackgroundTheoretical Background

• Ethical behavior is gender dependent (Cronan et

al., 2006; Dorantes, Hewitt, & Goles, 2006; Kreie & Cronan, 1998)

– Males appear to be less ethically driven– Females appear to be more ethically driven

• Age and academic rank were also found to show differences related to perceptions about ethical behaviors (Kreie & Cronan, 1998)

• Very little research has been done about such differences in the context of e-learning cyber-security attacks


FocusFocus

• Investigate students’ perceptions about the severity level of key e-learning security attacks

• Create awareness about e-learning security

• If students perceive the severity of key e-learning security attacks (eLSAs) to be low, then they might be more likely to engage or seek help in engaging on their behalf in such unethical behavior


Methodology and SampleMethodology and Sample

• Five key security attacks were investigated:– Attack to the server– Intercepting e-mails (reading, altering, blocking,

and/or deleting e-mails sent to someone else) – Unauthorized file sharing– Unauthorized access– Spoofing attack (impersonating as someone else to

falsify data)


Methodology and Sample (Cont.)Methodology and Sample (Cont.)

Table 1: The five e-learning security attacks

The scale:

Item # Item Description

eLSA1 Initiating a cyber-attack on the e-learning server via the Internet and causing it to be unavailable

eLSA2 Intercepting e-mails (reading and/or altering e-mails sent to someone else) eLSA3 Unauthorized file sharing during e-learning exams eLSA4 Unauthorized access to e-learning network resources eLSA5 Spoofing attacks by students who impersonate their peers to falsify data

1 2 3 4 5Ethical Somewhat

unethicalSlightly

unethicalUnethical Very

unethical

Student is: <-- Less ethical More ethical -->



• 1,100 students attending online courses, both at the undergraduate and graduate level during Fall 2006 to Fall 2009

• 519 responses, represents about 47% response rate



Table 2. Descriptive Statistics of Study Participants (N=519)

Item Frequency Percentage (%)GenderMale 251 48.4%Female 268 51.6%Age18 or under 2 0.4%19-24 221 42.6%25-29 150 28.9%30-34 61 11.8%35-39 24 4.6%40-44 26 5.0%45-54 30 5.8%55-59 4 0.8%60 or older 1 0.2%

Age18 or under 2 0.4%19-24 221 42.6%25-29 150 28.9%30-34 61 11.8%35-39 24 4.6%40-44 26 5.0%45-54 30 5.8%55-59 4 0.8%60 or older 1 0.2%What degree program are you currently enrolled in?Undergraduate 261 50.3%Graduate 258 49.7%


Four Research QuestionsFour Research Questions

RQ1: How severe do students perceive e-learning security attacks?

RQ2: Are there significant differences between males males and femalesand females on their perceived ethical severity of e-learning security attacks?

RQ3: Are there significant differences between undergraduate and graduate undergraduate and graduate students on their perceived ethical severity of e-learning security attacks?

RQ4: Are there significant differences between students’ age groups students’ age groups on their perceived ethical severity of e-learning security attacks?


ResultsResults

• Majority of the students appears to self-report their perceptions as ethically driven across all five e-learning security attacks

• The overall percentage of students reported, either ‘4’ (unethical) and ‘5’ (very unethical) when asked to rate their ethical severity about the five e-learning security attacks, was very high (90% on average) with:– Highest: (eLSA2) Intercepting e-mails @ 95%

– Lowest: (eLSA3) Unauthorized file sharing @ 85%


Results (Cont.)Results (Cont.)

• Majority of the students appear to understand the ethical severity of these e-learning security attacks

• A small percentage (3.3% on average), reported either ‘1’ (ethical) and ‘2’ (somewhat ethical) when asked to rate their ethical severity about the five e-learning security attacks – Highest: (eLSA3) Unauthorized file sharing @ ~6%– Lowest: (eLSA2) Intercepting e-mails @ ~2%



• Significant (p<0.005) gender differences gender differences exist only for eLSA3 Unauthorized file sharing

• Overall across all five items (eLSA1- eLSA5), the results indicated that in regards to perceived ethical severity of e-learning security attacks males find these attacks less severe than females



• Significant (p<0.001) age level age level differences differences exist only for eLSA1 (Initiating a cyber-attack on the e-learning server)

• Overall across all five items (eLSA1- eLSA5), the results indicated that graduate students appear to report these e-learning security attacks slightly higher (more severe) than undergraduate students



• Significant age level differences age level differences for all items with eLSA1, eLSA3, eLSA5 (p<0.001), eLSA2 (p<0.01), and eLSA5 (p=0.01)

• Overall across all five items (eLSA1- eLSA5), the results indicated in regards to perceived ethical severity of e-learning security attacks, there is an increase trend where the older the student is, the more severe s/he ranks the attacks


ConclusionsConclusions

• A sample of 519 students attending e-learning courses in the U.S.

• Majority (~90%) of the students appear to self-report their perceptions as ethically driven across all the five e-learning security attacks

• It appears that the majority of the students do understand the ethical severity of these e-learning security attacks


Conclusions (Cont.)Conclusions (Cont.)

• Small percentage (3.3%) of the students reported specific security attacks to be ethical– file sharing scored the highest (~6%)

• In general, males find security attacks less severe than females

• It appears that males are more risk takers• Females tend to be risk averse than males• Undergraduate students appear to perceive

attacks only slightly less severe than graduate students


Conclusions (Cont.)Conclusions (Cont.)

• The older the student is, the more severe s/he ranks the attacks – i.e. more ethical

• Young male students, appear to find the e-learning security attacks significantly less ethically severe or not severe at all

• Younger students entering technical educational programs also learn how to conduct some of these exact security attacks – need for additional research!


Thank you!Thank you!

• Questions/comments?

• Thank you all for attending!


Michelle M. Ramim, Ph.D. Part-time ProfessorNova Southeastern UniversityHuizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship The DeSantis Building3301 College AvenueFt. Lauderdale, FL 33314

E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.nova.edu/~ramim/

Contact Information - MichelleContact Information - Michelle


Yair Levy, Ph.D. Associate ProfessorNova Southeastern UniversityGraduate School of Computer and Information SciencesThe DeSantis Building - Room 40583301 College AvenueFort Lauderdale, FL 33314Tel.: 954-262-2006 Fax: 954-262-3915

E-mail: [email protected]

Site: http://scis.nova.edu/~levyy/

Contact Information - YairContact Information - Yair

Documents

Students’ Perceived Ethical Severity of e-Learning Security Attacks