Users’ perceptions about mobile security breaches

Abstract

Apart from the technological perspective of security in mobile devices and applications, the economic perspective has been increasingly attracting academic and business interest. This paper aims to investigate the perceptions of mobile users about the economic importance of security breaches. Instead of considering mobile users as a whole, they were examined as distinct user types based on Brandtzæg’s mobile user typology. These types are: (i) sporadic users, (ii) socializers, (iii) entertainment type users, (iv) instrumental users, and (v) advanced users. In the context of the research part of this study, a survey was conducted in a sample of smartphone and tablet owners. The five user types were identified in our sample by setting specific classification rules, based on the frequency and the variety of mobile services used. Mobile users’ perceptions were assessed in terms of ten different kinds of security breaches. The findings indicated that the user types perceive differently the economic importance of security breaches, implying that the design of security policies and/or the development of tools totally for the community of users are not the appropriate practices. Our research could contribute to the knowledge considering mobile users and their perceptions about security breaches. Mobile content providers and developers could use the findings of this study to evaluate and redesign if needed, their current strategies so as to meet users’ needs regarding security.