Cybercrime risk awareness rate among students in Central Asia: A comparative study in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan

ABSTRACTIt is a well-known fact that the system is as secure as its weakest point. Often, organizations and countries invest in the technologies, forgetting that it is impossible to assure information security without raising awareness among users. Therefore, in this study, the cybercrime awareness rate of users in two Central Asian Countries was investigated. As a target group, students of two public universities from each country were chosen. Results of quantitative research showed that in Kazakhstan, gender and age of respondents affect the cybercrime awareness rate, while in Kyrgyzstan, none of the factors had an impact on this rate. Although there was a statistically significant difference in cybercrime awareness of users in terms of the country of residence, students in two Central Asian countries showed a little difference in information security knowledge, which is, in its own term, mostly depends on the computer literacy rate of students.