Perceptions On Cybersecurity : A Cross-Sectional Interview Study on the Priorities of Swedes

Sammanfattning

This study examines how Swedish citizens perceive and prioritize the protection of their digital assets and howcybersecurity awareness and engagement vary across demographic backgrounds. Through semi-structuredinterviews with 30 participants, evenly distributed across three age groups (18–29, 30–49, and 50+), the studyapplies thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke’s six-phase framework and uses a hybrid deductive-inductivecoding approach. The analysis produced 19 themes and 39 sub-themes across three categories: digital resourceprioritization, cybersecurity awareness and engagement, and inductively derived attitudinal patterns. Financialassets, particularly banking and BankID, were universally prioritized, while more systemic resources, suchas email, were recognized far less frequently. A competence-confidence paradox emerged across generations:older participants reported awareness of threats but felt unable to act, while younger participants demonstratedhigher technical fluency but also higher rates of convenience-driven risk-taking. IT background and professionalexposure were stronger predictors of security practices than age. Over half of the participants described primarilyreactive awareness, and the workplace was identified as the dominant channel for awareness, raising concernsabout populations outside the workforce. Generational differences in preferred information delivery formatsand a bidirectional self-awareness in which both older and younger participants critically assessed their owngeneration’s weaknesses emerged as inductive findings. The results suggest that cybersecurity awareness effortsshould move beyond uniform approaches and adapt messaging, timing, and format to demographic differencesrather than treating the public as a homogeneous audience.