Security e-competencies: the spheres and levels in the higher education environment of South Africa

Abstract

This paper attempts to create a conceptual framework for the fostering of security e-competencies in higher education institutions (HEIs). It used qualitative research method where content analysis and induction were used as its data collection and analysis techniques respectively. The rationale for this research is that the HEI is considered as an intensive knowledge creation environment in which stakeholders rely on ICT resources and the Internet to collect, process, store, and distribute this knowledge. As this knowledge and the assets carrying it are shared, the threats from authorised and unauthorised end-users increase. Therefore, given the complexity of the ICT resources in HEI environment, the protection of these ICT resources requires the development of security e-competencies among end-users to be integrated with security solutions. However, these security e-competencies are ambiguously mentioned in the relevant literature, leaving gaps for new research to determine the spheres and levels of skills that end-users need to protect ICT resources in their environment as different jobs in HEI levels require different levels of competencies. The implication of this research is a conceptual framework for the determination of security e-competencies taking into account, the key spheres of ICT security and the needs of different end-users in HEI.