A qualitative metrics vector for the awareness of smartphone security users

Abstract

The proliferation of smartphones introduced new challenges in the users' security and privacy. Currently, the literature concentrates mainly on the 'nuts and bolts' of their security models. Not extensive work is available on the security awareness of smartphone users, even though their role in the ecosystem is important. This is so, as users' actions directly affect their security and privacy. This paper extends a previous work on the awareness of smartphone users who install apps from official repositories. More specifically, we explore if a security background affects the smartphone security awareness of the survey participants by splitting them in two groups, comprising of security savvy and non-security savvy users. The results of the statistical analysis indicate, inter alia, that the participants' security background has slight impact on their security awareness in the smartphone ecosystem. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.