GET GOOD: EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MESSAGE FRAMING FOR DIFFUSION OF PASSWORD MANAGEMENT KNOWLEDGE AMONG YOUTHS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Despite the breakneck proliferation of cyber threats, Singaporeans still fall short of adopting good cyber hygiene habits to defend themselves. These security threats have become ubiquitous and yet, existing efforts to deliver effective cybersecurity campaigns to stimulate behaviour change continue to lack in Singapore. Get Good was a digital communications campaign designed to encourage internet users in Singapore to adopt stronger password management habits. It aimed to increase the levels of cybersecurity awareness and trigger attitude and behaviour change among youths in Singapore aged 21 to 25. Being the next generation of Singapore’s workforce, galvanising this target audience to adopt better password management will aid in lowering the chances of successful cyber attacks on companies. This paper encapsulates the primary and secondary research conducted on the existing cybersecurity landscape in Singapore and state of attitudes towards cyber hygiene among Singaporean youths in order to develop the communications campaign’s objectives and strategies. Based on diffusion and participatory approaches and message framing as the theoretical concept, the campaign was successful in meeting its objectives through equipping the target audience with knowledge on strong password management practices and highlighting the reality of threats surrounding compromised credentials through its devised strategies. Based on the post-campaign evaluations, which consisted of interviews and an analysis of the campaign’s output performance, Get Good was able to (i) raise awareness of password management knowledge, (ii) increase perceived threat severity towards compromised passwords, (iii) promote password management as a necessity as opposed to a chore and (iv) increase strengthening of the target audience’s password management habits. Get Good managed to expand its sustainability beyond the academic end of the campaign through a collaboration with Channel News Asia for a radio programme. This paper also discusses pertinence of the use of message framing strategies in cybersecurity campaigns, the campaign’s limitations and recommendations for future campaigns through the insights gained from this project.