Developing a Cybersecurity Awareness Framework to Safeguard Moroccan Students from Social Media Threats

Abdelilah Chahid¹Youssef El Marzak^2*Khalifa Mansour¹

• ¹Universite Hassan II Casablanca Ecole Nationale Superieure de l'Enseignement Technique, Mohammedia, Morocco
• ²Universite Mohammed V de Rabat Universite Ecole Normale Superieure de l'Enseignement Technique de Rabat, Rabat, Morocco

Social media represents a significant vector for social engineering, particularly impacting Moroccan students. This study develops and validates a cybersecurity awareness framework specifically designed for secondary education. Employing a Design Science Research methodology and synthesizing insights from 48 peer-reviewed publications, the proposed model encompasses four core domains: (1) learning and skills development; (2) institutional policies and guidelines (including acceptable use policies, disciplinary measures, and compliance mechanisms); (3) technical safeguards implemented in school environments (such as firewalls, endpoint protection, and intrusion detection/prevention systems); and (4) continuous monitoring and evaluation (including regular security audits, user feedback mechanisms, and incident management protocols). Empirical validation was conducted through a twelve-week quasi-experimental pre/post study in two urban high schools (n = 1,000; 500 in the experimental group and 500 in the control group). Results demonstrated significant improvements ranging from 40% to 47% across key indicators including cybersecurity knowledge, practices, attitudes, policy compliance, and incident preparedness. The proposed framework offers a practical and scalable approach to mitigating manipulation risks on social media platforms while promoting digital hygiene in educational settings. Future research will explore long-term retention and the applicability of the framework in non-urban contexts.