Abstract
The recent situation of the COVID-19 pandemic has stimulated both the discussion on the use of IT-related teaching tools and the exposure of the student population to vulnerabilities linked to cybersecurity literacy as an integral part of the educational projects of educational institutions and a component of the exercise of citizenship and social sustainability of educational communities. The study presented is based on the assumption that the use of gamification as an element or tool that promotes learning within digital environments may be feasible, and more specifically may function as a teaching element on issues related to cybersecurity for students, especially for higher education students. In order to quantify the openness of students to such a tool path, quantitative methodology was used, and a survey was carried out in two Polytechnic Institutions (PI), achieving a sample of 95 students, and seeking perceptions on positive impacts resulting from the creation of a game scenario for better learning. Results show that students, regardless of their higher education course, clearly understand what gamification is and its goals, and also that students adopt good cybersecurity practices according to their higher education course. This last result goes accordingly with the supposition that gamification can and should be used in cybersecurity literacy. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.