“Cybercrime Vulnerability of Saint Mary’s University Students”

Abstract

The commission of cybercrimes in the advent of technological advances, industrialization, and globalization is inevitable. This is one of the prevailing challenges in universities that must be addressed. Using a quantitative, descriptive, comparative method, this study endeavored to bring out baseline information on the vulnerability of SMU students as offenders of cybercrimes. The findings included profile variables such as gender, year level, school, and frequency of Internet use. This study was dominated by female respondents, with almost equal distribution in terms of year level and the considerable proportion concerning school, and most of the respondents had a frequency of Internet use between 4 – 8 hours. Further, findings showed that SMU students had a very low probability of committing cybercrime: 1) Offenses against confidentiality, integrity, and availability of computer data systems; 2) Content-related offenses; and 3) Computer-related offenses. Lastly, gender affects the responses of SMU students in terms of offenses against confidentiality, integrity, and availability of computer data systems and content-related offenses but not in computer-related offenses. Only the responses between First- and fourth-year students vary for the year level. Meanwhile, the school of the respondents influences the responses of students but not the frequency of Internet use. The researchers recommend enhancing and expanding policies and guidelines in Internet use and virtual learning to include safe browser systems. For future research, it is highly recommended to look at the side of the victims and not only the vulnerability of becoming offenders.