EXPLORING CYBERTHREATS AND SECURITY OF ELECTRONIC RESOURCES IN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN SOUTH-SOUTH, NIGERIA

This study investigated cyber th0reats and the security of electronic resources in university libraries in South-South Nigeria, with emphasis on prevalent threats, cybersecurity awareness, threat techniques, institutional challenges, and mitigation strategies. The study adopted a descriptive research design involving questionnaire survey. Ten university libraries comprising six federal, two state, and two private universities were studied. A structured questionnaire was administered to 200 respondents, yielding 161 valid responses (80.5%). Quantitative data were analysed using frequency counts, percentages, mean and standard deviation, while qualitative evidence provided contextual interpretation. Findings revealed substantial exposure to malware (64.0%), password attacks (58.4%), unauthorised data copying and data breaches (57.1% each), ransomware (54.0%), and social engineering (53.4%). Cybersecurity awareness was only marginally above the criterion mean (x̄ = 2.52, SD = 0.63), suggesting a gap between awareness and effective cybersecurity preparedness. Respondents agreed that diverse cyber-threat techniques compromise electronic resources (grand x̄ = 2.79, SD = 0.70), while high security-software costs, inadequate funding, limited awareness, weak ICT infrastructure, and insufficient technical expertise were major constraints. Mitigation strategies received strong endorsement (grand x̄ = 3.08, SD = 0.77). The study contributes empirical evidence for strengthening cybersecurity governance in Nigerian university libraries and extends the socio-technical perspective by demonstrating that electronic-resource security depends on the interaction of technology, human capability, institutional processes, and governance. Policy implications include the need for universities and relevant regulatory agencies to institutionalise library-specific cybersecurity policies, establish dedicated cybersecurity funding, strengthen incident-response and dataprotection mechanisms, and integrate continuous cybersecurity training into library professional development. The findings provide an evidence base for TETFund, university management, library administrators, ICT units, and policymakers to develop targeted interventions that enhance digital resilience, protect academic information assets, and sustain equitable access to electronic scholarly resources. This emphasis on measurable outputs, outcomes, stakeholder benefits, policy relevance, and institutional impact aligns with TETFund's research-impact orientation.