International Journal of

ADVANCED AND APPLIED SCIENCES

EISSN: 2313-3724, Print ISSN: 2313-626X

Frequency: 12
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 Volume 12, Issue 3 (March 2025), Pages: 131-142

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 Original Research Paper

Empowering Saudi youth: The ISAS framework for promoting online safety and cybersecurity awareness

 Author(s): 

 Nawaf Alharbi 1, Halima Samra 2, *, Alice Li 3, Ben Soh 1

 Affiliation(s):

 1Department of Computing, Science and Information Technology, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia
 2Faculty of Computing and Information Technology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
 3La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia

 Full text

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 * Corresponding Author. 

  Corresponding author's ORCID profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5199-3677

 Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

 https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2025.03.014

 Abstract

The increasing use of the Internet, along with the widespread access to social media, video games, and various online platforms, presents significant safety challenges, particularly for young people and teenagers. To address these concerns, this study develops and validates the Internet Security Awareness (ISAS) e-safety framework, designed to promote safe Internet usage among youth in Saudi Arabia. The framework was constructed based on a survey of 92 IT professionals and experts, ensuring its relevance and reliability. Data analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and IBM AMOS for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Of the 33 initial survey items, the study identified 5 items related to privacy, 4 items concerning security, 5 items addressing threats, and 3 items focusing on communication. The findings confirm that these four factors—privacy, security, threats, and communication—are strongly interrelated, demonstrating high validity and reliability. These factors were further examined to assess young people's behavioral intentions to adopt the ISAS e-safety framework in their online activities. This study offers valuable insights for IT professionals and educators while providing practical recommendations for managers aiming to enhance Internet safety awareness among young users.

 © 2025 The Authors. Published by IASE.

 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

 Keywords

 Internet safety, E-safety framework, Youth awareness, Cybersecurity risks, Behavioral adoption

 Article history

 Received 14 October 2024, Received in revised form 3 February 2025, Accepted 9 March 2025

 Acknowledgment

No Acknowledgment.

 Compliance with ethical standards

 Ethical considerations

This study was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of La Trobe University and the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments. Ethics approval for this research was obtained from the La Trobe University Human Ethics Committee (Reference number HEC21080). Participation was voluntary, and informed consent was obtained from all participants. All responses were collected anonymously, and participant confidentiality was strictly maintained.

 Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

 Citation:

 Alharbi N, Samra H, Li A, and Soh B (2025). Empowering Saudi youth: The ISAS framework for promoting online safety and cybersecurity awareness. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 12(3): 131-142

 Permanent Link to this page

 Figures

 Fig. 1 Fig. 2

 Tables

 Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 

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