Assessment of Cybersecurity Awareness Among Undergraduate Students at the University of Lagos

Cybersecurity awareness among university students has become an urgent concern as academic institutions increasingly rely on digital infrastructure for learning, research, and administration. This study assessed the level of cybersecurity awareness among undergraduate students at the University of Lagos, South West Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was adopted, with a validated Cybersecurity Awareness Scale administered to 320 students drawn from four faculties using stratified random sampling. The instrument measured knowledge across five domains: password hygiene, phishing recognition, social engineering, data privacy, and safe browsing. Results revealed a mean awareness score of 54.3 out of 100, indicating moderate overall awareness. Password hygiene scored highest (mean 63.8) while phishing recognition scored lowest (mean 44.2). Students in Computer Science and Engineering faculties showed significantly higher awareness than those in Humanities and Social Sciences (p < 0.05). Female students reported lower awareness scores than males on technical dimensions but higher scores on social engineering recognition. Device ownership was not a significant predictor of awareness after controlling for faculty. Only 29.1 percent of respondents had received formal cybersecurity training. The study concludes that cybersecurity awareness is moderate but unevenly distributed across disciplines, with critical gaps in phishing detection and email security. Recommendations include a mandatory cybersecurity module in the university general studies curriculum, regular phishing simulation exercises, and faculty-specific security awareness campaigns targeting non-technical departments at the University of Lagos. Keywords: cybersecurity awareness, undergraduate students, phishing, University of Lagos, digital security