Investigating attack vectors in M-learning systems in Nigerian universities

The keen adoption of m-learning by higher education institutions on a global scale because of widespread use of mobile devices requires proper security considerations in order not to expose m-learning systems to cyber-attack. M-learning systems normally comprise three components which are the mobile device, one or multiple servers and network devices. While servers and network infrastructure have some inbuilt security and are usually owned by educational institutions or service providers, who have adequate resources to ensure their security, mobile devices are owned by individuals and generally do not come with protective software such as antivirus. Lack of security tools makes mobile devices vulnerable to many threats and attacks. The objectives of this paper are, therefore, to investigate which components of m-learning environments are prone to attack and what are the common attack routes in Nigerian universities. This paper will recommend solutions to these problems and the findings of this paper can help m-learning system developers to put more security measures on the components of m-learning system that are vulnerable to risks, threats and attacks.