Cyber Security Awareness as Critical Driver to National Security

In South Africa, cybersecurity has been identified as a critical component contributing to National Security. More rural communities are becoming integrated into the global village due to increased hardware and software corporate donations, the proliferation of mobile Internet devices and government programmes aimed at bridging the digital divide through major broadband expansion projects. The authors’ research shows that many of the new Internet users are not aptly trained to protect themselves against online threats, leaving them vulnerable to online exploits and inherently exposing the national system to potential international cyber attacks. This article works toward the identification of any correlation between the economic development and mobile use propensity of Internet users with regard to National Security. Internet penetration statistics are used in correlation with the economic development and exposure to technological advances of South Africans to classify participants in the surveys used into three groups: urban netizens, semi-rural netizens and rural netizens. South African citizens from areas within the Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces participated in this study. Separate from these criteria, the availability of and access to the Internet via mobile phones is also taken into consideration. The article uses the results from the surveys to identify direct and indirect links between the factors in question.