IoT Safeguarding in Saudi Tourism Sector: Crafting a Preliminary Security Model for Enhancing Cyber Resilience

Abstract

Incorporating the Internet of Things (IoT) has transformed technological landscapes, facilitating seamless communication across diverse devices and systems. However, this increased connectivity exposes critical sectors, including government and tourism, to elevated cybersecurity risks. There is a lack of knowledge regarding how organizations within the Saudi tourism sector address the cybersecurity risks associated with IoT systems. While much of the existing IoT literature concentrates on adopting IoT systems, a better understanding can be attained by proposing a preliminary research model encompassing the most significant factors influencing IoT security and related cybersecurity attacks. Despite limited empirical research on IoT security adoption in the Saudi tourism sector, this study seeks to address this gap. Motivated by this concern, this research investigates IoT security among Saudi organizations in the government tourism sector by developing a research model.  inspired by the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) literature. The model incorporates a total of eight factors (privacy, confidentiality, data integrity, access control, availability, trust, IoT standards and policies, and IoT Awareness) and seven cybersecurity attacks (denial of service (DoS & DDoS), replay attack, eavesdropping attack, man-in-the-middle (MiTM) attack, spoofing attack, Sybil attack, and physical attack) identified from various literature sources. The proposed research model is a valuable tool for understanding IoT security in Saudi tourism, offering guidelines for organizations considering introducing IoT security measures. These guidelines highlight specific factors that tourism organizations should consider, enhancing the likelihood of successful IoT security adoption in the tourism context. Additionally, this study encourages IoT researchers to replicate the research in another industry sector within Saudi Arabia or other countries, particularly within the Arabian Gulf region.