Cyber Hygiene: The Case of the SANDF

The landscape of cyberspace is growing at an incredibly fast pace, and it has penetrated deep into every aspect of society. In order to address this issue, the current study took a unique approach of focusing on cyber-hygiene practices among senior South African military officers, which is a largely...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Scientia militaria : South African journal of military studies Jg. 53; H. 1; S. 1 - 26
1. Verfasser: Bester, Kyle John
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Portugiesisch
Veröffentlicht: University of Stellenbosch 01.06.2025
Faculty of Military Science of Stellenbosch University
Schlagworte:
ISSN:1022-8136, 2224-0020, 2224-0020
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Abstract The landscape of cyberspace is growing at an incredibly fast pace, and it has penetrated deep into every aspect of society. In order to address this issue, the current study took a unique approach of focusing on cyber-hygiene practices among senior South African military officers, which is a largely understudied subject in the South African armed forces domain. The study was guided by the securitisation theory, which emphasises that the military plays a key role in orchestrating a “security move”. The South African National Defence College was selected as the site of importance where senior military officers undergo educational training. The military is considered a unique population, and is therefore often overlooked. The aim of the study was to explore how military officers in particular conceptualise cyber hygiene and how cybersecurity behaviour is practised in the context of the South African National Defence Force. The study utilised a qualitative approach, and conducted ten semi-structured interviews. It was found that cybersecurity awareness was key in the formation of cyber hygiene and locating potential cyber threats. These factors play a role in the development of security behaviour that is able to identify vulnerabilities in the system and within their own behaviour. Cultivating cybersecurity in the organisation was found to be challenged by knowledge and experience relating to cyberspace usage. The study also found that senior military officers practise cyber hygiene by taking appropriate security procedures to protect themselves and the organisation; however, organisational challenges prevent the full application of this practice.
AbstractList The landscape of cyberspace is growing at an incredibly fast pace, and it has penetrated deep into every aspect of society. In order to address this issue, the current study took a unique approach of focusing on cyber-hygiene practices among senior South African military officers, which is a largely understudied subject in the South African armed forces domain. The study was guided by the securitisation theory, which emphasises that the military plays a key role in orchestrating a “security move”. The South African National Defence College was selected as the site of importance where senior military officers undergo educational training. The military is considered a unique population, and is therefore often overlooked. The aim of the study was to explore how military officers in particular conceptualise cyber hygiene and how cybersecurity behaviour is practised in the context of the South African National Defence Force. The study utilised a qualitative approach, and conducted ten semi-structured interviews. It was found that cybersecurity awareness was key in the formation of cyber hygiene and locating potential cyber threats. These factors play a role in the development of security behaviour that is able to identify vulnerabilities in the system and within their own behaviour. Cultivating cybersecurity in the organisation was found to be challenged by knowledge and experience relating to cyberspace usage. The study also found that senior military officers practise cyber hygiene by taking appropriate security procedures to protect themselves and the organisation; however, organisational challenges prevent the full application of this practice.
Author Bester, Kyle John
AuthorAffiliation University of South Africa
AuthorAffiliation_xml – name: University of South Africa
Author_xml – sequence: 1
  givenname: Kyle John
  orcidid: 0000-0001-9209-2042
  surname: Bester
  fullname: Bester, Kyle John
  organization: University of South Africa
BookMark eNotj09Lw0AQxRepYK09-A1y8Jo6M7ubP95KtFYoemg9L7vprEmJSemmQr99UyzDMA-G9x6_ezFqu5aFeESY6TRLn7WMMUaVyxsxJiIVAxCMxBiBKM5QJndiGkLtALIsTUHSWDwVJ8eHaHn6qbnll2hTcVTYwFHno37Q6_nn6-JB3HrbBJ5e70R8L942xTJefb1_FPNVHBAUxSlnqFhpjd6XpHwCOVBOueMEnPepTEpHpbLsUGOunJNJ4rC0qUVfcuLkRMz-c0NZc9OZXXc8tEOhWV9ozIVmGA0AOCzQYFheDdbVLfcmWN4fnan6fh9MtW1MZdttw-byQ9AEhnel-a2bureH2po_LU2LxpI8A2uTXHA
ContentType Journal Article
Copyright This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright_xml – notice: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
DBID AEIZH
JRA
GPN
DOI 10.5787/53-1-1493
DatabaseName Sabinet:Open Access
Sabinet Open Access Journals
SciELO
DatabaseTitleList

DeliveryMethod fulltext_linktorsrc
Discipline Military & Naval Science
Political Science
EISSN 2224-0020
EndPage 26
ExternalDocumentID S2224_00202025000100002
https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-militaria-v53-n1-a2
GroupedDBID -OY
1RJ
4JU
AAFWJ
ADBBV
AEIZH
AFPKN
ALMA_UNASSIGNED_HOLDINGS
ANHLU
BCNDV
GROUPED_DOAJ
JRA
KQ8
KWQ
OK1
RFP
RNS
SCSAF
SCVUT
SUGNK
SWNBY
6SC
GPN
ID FETCH-LOGICAL-s1042-7e814e4551ffc24f60902929be60bff736cb2c4aeb15194bb366b1ca7a1fce6b3
ISSN 1022-8136
2224-0020
IngestDate Tue Nov 18 23:59:52 EST 2025
Thu Nov 27 13:21:34 EST 2025
IsDoiOpenAccess true
IsOpenAccess true
IsPeerReviewed true
IsScholarly true
Issue 1
Keywords Information Security
Cybersecurity Awareness
South Africa
Security Practices
Behaviour
Cyber Hygiene
Language English
Portuguese
License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
LinkModel OpenURL
MergedId FETCHMERGED-LOGICAL-s1042-7e814e4551ffc24f60902929be60bff736cb2c4aeb15194bb366b1ca7a1fce6b3
ORCID 0000-0001-9209-2042
OpenAccessLink http://dx.doi.org/10.5787/53-1-1493
PageCount 26
ParticipantIDs scielo_journals_S2224_00202025000100002
sabinet_saepub_https_hdl_handle_net_10520_ejc_militaria_v53_n1_a2
PublicationCentury 2000
PublicationDate 20250601
PublicationDateYYYYMMDD 2025-06-01
PublicationDate_xml – month: 06
  year: 2025
  text: 20250601
  day: 01
PublicationDecade 2020
PublicationTitle Scientia militaria : South African journal of military studies
PublicationTitleAlternate SM
PublicationYear 2025
Publisher University of Stellenbosch
Faculty of Military Science of Stellenbosch University
Publisher_xml – name: University of Stellenbosch
– name: Faculty of Military Science of Stellenbosch University
References Pieterse, H 2021; 28
McMahon, C 2020; 11
Bester, KJ 2023
Cilliers, J 2021
van Niekerk, B 2017; 20
References_xml – volume: 20
  start-page: 113
  year: 2017
  end-page: 132
  article-title: 'An Analysis of Cyber-incidents in South Africa'
  publication-title: The African Journal of Information and Communication
– volume: 28
  start-page: 1
  year: 2021
  end-page: 21
  article-title: 'The Cyber Threat Landscape in South Africa: A 10-year Review'
  publication-title: African Journal of Information and Communication
– year: 2023
  publication-title: Exploring the Perceptions and Views on Cybersecurity Among South African Military Officers
– year: 2021
  publication-title: Challenges and Opportunities: The Future of Africa
– volume: 11
  start-page: 1
  year: 2020
  end-page: 4
  article-title: 'In Defence of the Human Factor'
  publication-title: Frontiers in Psychology
SSID ssib008877032
ssib000640989
ssib006808821
ssj0045594
Score 2.2931125
Snippet The landscape of cyberspace is growing at an incredibly fast pace, and it has penetrated deep into every aspect of society. In order to address this issue, the...
SourceID scielo
sabinet
SourceType Open Access Repository
Publisher
StartPage 1
SubjectTerms Behaviour
Cyber Hygiene
cybersecurity awareness
Information security
Political Science
Security practices
Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary
South Africa
Title Cyber Hygiene: The Case of the SANDF
URI https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-militaria-v53-n1-a2
http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2224-00202025000100002&lng=en&tlng=en
Volume 53
hasFullText 1
inHoldings 1
isFullTextHit
isPrint
journalDatabaseRights – providerCode: PRVAON
  databaseName: DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals
  customDbUrl:
  eissn: 2224-0020
  dateEnd: 99991231
  omitProxy: false
  ssIdentifier: ssj0045594
  issn: 1022-8136
  databaseCode: DOA
  dateStart: 19860101
  isFulltext: true
  titleUrlDefault: https://www.doaj.org/
  providerName: Directory of Open Access Journals
link http://cvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwtV1Nj9MwELWqhQMXtHxply_5sIJDFdF8OuFWCmgloELqgvZm2V4bgUqKmt2y_fe8cZw05QQSSFVUpVHi-D2PZ9yZZ8ZOSgA7MZQUZsUkyqy7iFQldCTSC1PikMZe7fPzezGfl-fn1cfR6GdXC7NZirour6-rH_8VapwD2FQ6-xdw9zfFCXwH6DgCdhz_CPjZVtv1-HT7BYPWdkkVM9X06QCL6fz1XjafH98Y6ePvXrIbbfQLBX53vXG7kVA9lJgIl229Nu0gCfFVv83Hu-3S7rJ8w6JCku-SnwYCtV1SyMLXs9R61YTFtdZUUh1AGadByNqfg7ORReSBDu1rKwa8x6PWWMaDWbctm__dnpM5QX_nKQJdhHLpbtLqUwk9cdApuAyffXkKvyqRJ5RDab-ZqO_EaIM71nGkMHffSEReVYNYvPt7sxrI8NP-JMOCYlhmWMpepyxDWObTF7ouaSWsqPUv-rYjwCLRZDSLVGkB7HLoyZwdstshBOHTljp32MjWd9nRhwAqf8bnCnzkwerfYyeeUTww6iUHnzjxia8cB5-459N99untm7PZaRQ214iamEqyhC3jzKLlsXMmyVxBCbrwlbUtJto5kRZGJyZTmMvh5Gdap0WhY6OEip2xhU4fsIN6Vdsjxl0uhBJwfBEMZIWZaHrdPNNOq8RWk_SYTcOby0ZRqaevJWskwJItWJJ-81BJACV7oCSAknUsVXLMnrd9JgPdG7kgtkliGzGYghVyvpKH_-Bpj9it3ah4zA4u11f2CbtpNpdfm_VTz5VfuF2A_A
linkProvider Directory of Open Access Journals
openUrl ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fsummon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Cyber+Hygiene%3A+The+Case+of+the+SANDF&rft.jtitle=Scientia+militaria+%3A+South+African+journal+of+military+studies&rft.au=Bester%2C+Kyle+John&rft.date=2025-06-01&rft.pub=University+of+Stellenbosch&rft.issn=1022-8136&rft.eissn=2224-0020&rft.volume=53&rft.issue=1&rft.spage=1&rft.epage=26&rft_id=info:doi/10.5787%2F53-1-1493&rft.externalDocID=https%3A%2F%2Fhdl.handle.net%2F10520%2Fejc-militaria-v53-n1-a2
thumbnail_l http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/lc.gif&issn=1022-8136&client=summon
thumbnail_m http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/mc.gif&issn=1022-8136&client=summon
thumbnail_s http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/sc.gif&issn=1022-8136&client=summon