Phishing Attack Awareness Among Somali Undergraduate Students: A Mixed-Methods Study
Domain:
digital infrastructureRecord type:
This study investigates phishing attack awareness among Somali undergraduate students in Mogadishu. Using a mixed-methods design, the research combines a simulated phishing social experiment (n=50) with structured interviews of six cybersecurity experts to assess behavioral susceptibility and institutional preparedness.
The social experiment revealed a 98% click rate on a simulated scholarship phishing link, demonstrating high vulnerability despite participants’ prior awareness of phishing threats. Findings show that awareness alone does not translate into secure online behavior. Interviews further indicated that cybersecurity awareness among students is generally low to moderate, with limited exposure to advanced protective mechanisms such as multi-factor authentication (MFA).
The study recommends mandatory cybersecurity training, regular phishing simulations, institutional enforcement of MFA, and AI-assisted email filtering systems. This research contributes to the limited body of cybersecurity literature in post-conflict and developing contexts, particularly within Somali higher education institutions.