Högskolan i Skövde

The importance of user behaviour in the cybersecurity domain is widely acknowledged. Users face cyberthreats such as phishing and fraud daily, both at work and in their private use of technology. Using training interventions to improve users’ knowledge, awareness, and behaviour is a widely accepted approach to improving the security posture of users. Research into cybersecurity training has traditionally assumed that users are provided such training as members of an organization. However, users in their private capacity are expected to cater for their own security. This research addresses this gap with a survey where 1437 Swedish adults participated. Willingness to adopt and pay for different cybersecurity training types was measured. The included types were; training delivered to users in a context where the training is of direct relevance, eLearning and game-based training. The participants were most willing to adopt and pay for contextual training, while eLearning was the second most favoured training type. We also measured if willingness to pay and adopt cybersecurity training was impacted by the participant’s worry about various cyber threats. Surprisingly, no meaningful correlation was found, suggesting that something else than worry mediates willingness to adopt and pay for cybersecurity training.