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A Study of the Impact of the Blurring of the Lines Between Personal and Work Life Contexts on Cybersecurity Human Behaviour

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Thesis(1.81 MB)

Date

2023

Authors

Hayes, Paul

Supervisor

Petrova, Krassie

Item type

Dissertation

Degree name

Master of Information Security and Digital Forensics

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Publisher

Auckland University of Technology

Abstract

Human behaviour is a factor in a significant number of cybersecurity breaches. The increased use of smartphones, laptop computers and tablets mean that more people are carrying out personal and work online activities from different locations. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced more businesses online and more employees to work from home, which has increased the blurring of lines between the use of technology for both personal and business use. Whilst there has been some research carried out in the field of human behaviour and cybersecurity, this has predominantly been focused on an organisational work context and on aspects such as assurance and compliance. There has been relatively little research carried out about how the blurring of lines between personal and work contexts affects cybersecurity human behaviour. This study considers cybersecurity human behaviour across both personal and work life contexts, to understand the impact of this blurring of the lines between them. This research adopted a qualitative approach and interviewed several participants to gain insights into their human behaviour relating to cybersecurity in both a personal and a work life context. Data gathered included what devices they used, the networks over which those devices communicated, and the type of activity or applications being used on those devices and over those networks. The research also looked at other aspects such as identity authentication, training and smart devices on the home network. Based on an analysis of the gathered data, the impacts relating to cybersecurity human behaviour in personal and work life contexts were identified, which in turn informed the barriers to improved cybersecurity and proposed mitigations for these. Firstly, human behaviour regarding use of company provided devices over their networks is typically influenced by company policies. This is a key difference from personal devices and home networks where there are no policies or guidelines to comply with. Secondly, more organisations are providing cybersecurity training to their employees. This is mostly targeted at protecting the organisation, but the absence of any training or guidelines in a personal context means this work-related training predominantly informs their cybersecurity knowledge and awareness, missing specifics that may be relevant in a personal context. Specific barriers to improved cybersecurity resulting from these findings are firstly a lack of knowledge and guidelines specifically focused on cybersecurity protection when carrying out personal activities. Secondly, the lack of consideration of the potential risks of the home network environment given it is shared by multiple parties whose behaviour may have an impact, and that this home network environment may include multiple connected smart devices with their associated security risks. A proposed mitigation for these barriers is the provision of training and guidelines focused on behaviour relating to personal cybersecurity, including set-up of the home network.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10292/17029

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Masters Theses