Cybersecurity and Prevention against Cyberbullying on Human Factors in Small- and Medium-Sized Telecommunications Enterprises in the Republic of Bulgaria †
Department of Management in Communications, University of Telecommunications and Post, 1700 Sofia, Bulgaria
†
Presented at the International Conference on Electronics, Engineering Physics and Earth Science (EEPES’24), Kavala, Greece, 19–21 June 2024.
Eng. Proc. 2024, 70(1), 48; https://doi.org/10.3390/engproc2024070048
Published: 13 August 2024
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of International Conference on Electronics, Engineering Physics and Earth Science (EEPES 2024))
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Figure 1
<p>Manifestation of workplace cyberbullying in human factors in professional terms.</p> "> Figure 2
<p>Manifestation of workplace cyberbullying in human factors in emotional terms.</p> "> Figure 3
<p>Impact of cyberbullying on human factors’ productivity in the workplace.</p> "> Figure 4
<p>Reasons for the appearance of cyberbullying and malicious cyberattacks in the technological infrastructure of the telecommunications enterprise.</p> "> Figure 5
<p>Methodological guidelines for improving cybersecurity against malicious cyberbullying attacks in the technological infrastructure of telecommunications enterprises.</p> ">
Versions Notes
<p>Manifestation of workplace cyberbullying in human factors in professional terms.</p> "> Figure 2
<p>Manifestation of workplace cyberbullying in human factors in emotional terms.</p> "> Figure 3
<p>Impact of cyberbullying on human factors’ productivity in the workplace.</p> "> Figure 4
<p>Reasons for the appearance of cyberbullying and malicious cyberattacks in the technological infrastructure of the telecommunications enterprise.</p> "> Figure 5
<p>Methodological guidelines for improving cybersecurity against malicious cyberbullying attacks in the technological infrastructure of telecommunications enterprises.</p> ">
Abstract
:The publication addresses a current issue related to cyberbullying in the workplace, as much of today’s business activity is conducted online. The research is aimed at the typology and manifestation of cyberbullying in a practical environment, and a number of small- and medium-sized telecommunications enterprises have been studied. The research was conducted in the territory of three large cities in the Republic of Bulgaria, and a quantitative approach was used in the development of an online survey, through which empirical data were generated in the business of small- and medium-sized telecommunications enterprises. Based on the results, an analysis was made of the typology and manifestation of cyberbullying, in order to study how it affects the human factors and what its causes are. It has been established that cyberbullying causes negative effects, both in people’s professional activity and in their emotional state in the absence of adequate cybersecurity and prevention mechanisms on the part of the investigated enterprises. Based on the information obtained, methodological guidelines are proposed for improving cybersecurity and prevention against malicious cyberbullying attacks in the technological infrastructure of the telecommunications enterprise.
1. Introduction
Modern business conditions require telecommunications enterprises to seek and implement not only project and enterprise asset management methods [1,2] but also cutting-edge solutions for the technological security of enterprise assets and an effective workplace cyberbullying strategy [3]. These are two interrelated areas in any enterprise’s operations that require an impact and prevention approach to protect the enterprise’s technology infrastructure and address human resource cyberbullying. Cyberbullying must be stopped in time by telecommunication enterprises in order not to lead to cybercrime or to paralyze the human factors to such an extent that fear reflects on work and health.
This fact fuels the concern of human resources, because it is not uncommon for cyberbullying to escalate into offline stalking and create discomfort in the intended victim. Thus, telecom enterprises’ approach to human factors’ cyberbullying is an essential indicator of countering malicious cyberattacks and online dangers in the workplace. In the scientific literature [4,5], the authors consider various forms of cyberbullying, which in the workplace create discomfort for the human factors and can have a negative impact on both their work and their emotional state to perform it. Some of the forms of cyberbullying are the following [6,7,8]: posting or sharing defamatory content online so as to defame a person or group of people; using social media, being the subject of cyberbullying for personal attacks or sharing malicious online content and comments; posting false information in an online environment or without the knowledge and approval of the relevant entity; sabotage through hacker attacks; sending emails with angry or offensive content; sending messages outside standard business hours; using a false online profile, obscene chat messages or sharing obscene online content; sharing electronic content and communicating on behalf of others; spreading false comments, lies and gossip about a particular person or group of people online; and incitement and inducement to an emotional state that can lead the subject of cyberbullying to unconscious actions endangering their own and other people’s lives. Hence, cyberbullying in the workplace can be used by a person or group of persons, called cyberbullying through the use of advanced electronic devices in an online environment such as mobile phones, emails, text and voice messages, online videos, websites, social media, blogs, chat rooms and tweets [9,10].
Cyberbullying does not necessarily have to occur physically in the workplace, i.e., to be carried out from the office or the building where people work, to influence the human factors in a work environment, because modern information and communication technologies and mobile devices allow for the intervention of the human factors from any place outside the traditional office [11,12,13]. This is one of the main problems of electronic communication and relationships between human resources in modern business, because remote work and the use of IT technologies puts not only data and information at risk but also affects communication aspects and human behavior in an online environment [14,15]. This expands the boundary of traditional bullying, which requires face-to-face encounters in a work environment, because cyberbullying can occur anywhere a human has access to electronic devices.
As IT technologies, social media and mobile technologies in general are an invariable part of our lives, cyberbullying occupies an increasingly large place in communication in an online environment [16]. This is one of the essential issues that managers of modern enterprises must take into account, because not only the digital transformation of corporate business structures or the work of virtual teams is subject to cyberbullying, but it also manifests itself in traditionally functioning enterprises through the communication between human resources in an online environment.
2. Materials and Methods
The main objective of the publication is to establish from a certain group of respondents, selected on a random basis, the typology and manifestation of cyberbullying in a working environment in telecommunications enterprises, based on which to propose methodological guidelines for improving cybersecurity and prevention in the technological infrastructure. The study was conducted in the Republic of Bulgaria in the territory of three large cities—Sofia, Stara Zagora and Burgas—as there are quite a few small- and medium-sized telecommunication enterprises operating in the telecommunications sector.
The objects of study are telecommunications enterprises in the field of telecommunications engineering and teleservices, and employees with different positions—technical specialists and administrative staff—were studied. The study did not involve managers in order to determine the impact of bullying on employees who do not have power and high hierarchical positions in the studied enterprises, i.e., opportunities for cyberbullying are greater with them.
The study was conducted entirely for research purposes, the scope of which is quite sufficient to gain insight into the typology and manifestation of cyberbullying in a work environment with the option of expanding it in the future to a larger territorial area. A quantitative approach was adopted to conduct the study, with an online survey being compiled to collect data from respondents at an interval of one and a half months. The survey was sent to 36 small- and medium-sized telecommunications enterprises on a random basis with the option to be completed only by employees of the respective business entities.
The completed and returned surveys are from 97 employees, representatives of 24 small- and medium-sized telecommunications enterprises, due to the refusal of 12 of them to cooperate in the conducted survey. The completion of the web-based questionnaire was based on the voluntary consent of the respondents, respecting the confidentiality requirements, and the information obtained was used only in the form of a sociological sample for the development of the publication. In the study, age restrictions and the gender division of employees are not set, but a complex answer is sought for the manifestation of cyberbullying and the effect it creates. The results were obtained through the possibility of answering more listed options than one question, in order to cover the nuances of cyberbullying in the individual aspects of its manifestation. The survey is structured in four main questions so that the respondents assess several components in a working environment in total—typology, impact, productivity of the human factors and personal assessment of potential causes of occurrence in the technological infrastructure of the telecommunications enterprise.
3. Results
The results of the survey are formed by four key questions that aim to establish the current perceptions of randomly selected respondents regarding the manifestation of cyberbullying in telecommunications enterprises in three large cities in the Republic of Bulgaria. The questions in the conducted survey were narrowed down to four main ones, but in fact, they cover enough quantitative information to establish the perceptions of the surveyed employees, as the structure of the questions allows for a substantial analysis of the typology of cyberbullying in its various forms and manifestations.
The respondents are given the opportunity to answer anonymously and independently about the possibilities of the manifestation of cyberbullying (or the lack thereof) in their professional activity, revealing the emotional context of their perception towards its manifestation, the impact of cyberbullying on the productivity of the human factors in a working environment and opportunities to assess the causes of cyberbullying and malicious cyberattacks in the technological infrastructure of the telecommunications enterprise.
The questions are structured in the context of the essence of human factors’ work and its influence on the psychological impact in a technological environment, as well as the effect on achieving results in the work process.
3.1. Manifestation of Workplace Cyberbullying in Human Factors in Professional Terms
In Figure 1, the results of the survey show that the largest share of the manifestation of cyberbullying in a work environment falls on messages that are sent to respondents outside of regular working hours—92%.
A similar finding is also observed by sending systemic online messages (79%), and problems with cyber provocation and cyberattacks in the online environment form 67%. Only 1% of respondents did not experience cyberbullying in the telecommunications enterprises surveyed.
3.2. Manifestation of Workplace Cyberbullying in Human Factors in Emotional Terms
In Figure 2, the results of the survey show that the human factors in the investigated telecommunications enterprises feel emotionally burdened by cyberbullying related to the creation of fake news and slander in the online environment (46%), hacker attacks that impede the normal flow of the work process (38%) and dissemination of misleading information in the online environment—21%. It is noteworthy that of the respondents who answered, every single one of them in one form or another definitely experienced emotional stress from cyberbullying in the workplace, because there is not a single answer that confirms the opposite.
3.3. Impact of Cyberbullying on Human Factors Productivity in the Workplace
In Figure 3, the results of the survey show that cyberbullying most affects respondents by reducing their productivity at work (68%), and they also become distracted and unable to work to their full potential—56%. Not to be underestimated are the respondents’ assertions that cyberbullying interferes with the rhythmic execution of tasks, affecting the work schedule (44%), as well as either work being left unfinished (26%) or mistakes being made (27%). For only 1% of respondents, cyberbullying in the surveyed telecommunications enterprises did not affect their productivity at work.
3.4. Reasons for the Appearance of Cyberbullying and Malicious Cyberattacks in the Technological Infrastructure of the Telecommunications Enterprises
Figure 4 presents the results of respondents to an important question regarding the manifestation of cyberbullying and opportunities for malicious cyberattacks in the technological infrastructure of the investigated telecommunications enterprises. From the answers of the respondents, interesting reasons are noticed on the basis of which cyberbullying problems arise, such as the lack of a countermeasure program (91%), lack of monitoring to deter cyberbullying attempts (84%), no strategic policy to prevent it (79%) and the lack of adequate prevention mechanisms against cyberbullying—71%.
4. Discussion
The results of the survey can be interpreted based on the answers received from the respondents. They are primary in nature, without being processed with statistical tools, so as to give a comprehensive picture of the nature of cyberbullying in a certain group of small- and medium-sized telecommunications enterprises in the territory of three large cities in the Republic of Bulgaria. The discussion of individual survey questions is based only on the online responses received, with no additional surveys or interviews conducted with respondents. This necessitates looking for a logical connection between the responses of the employees surveyed and making an assumption about what their perceptions were regarding the manifestation and effect of cyberbullying.
From Figure 1, it is evident that a huge percentage of the surveyed respondents experience cyberbullying from messages that are sent outside of regulated working hours, which suggests that it can be online by e-mail or on mobile devices, including notification indications for new messages (not a few managers require employees to have such an action enabled, in order to react to received messages, especially if tasks must be completed urgently). Since in some countries this cyberbullying is prohibited by legislative measures (e.g., Portugal, France, Spain, etc.), respondents feel threatened by not having time to rest, engaging their minds with work on days and times that are scheduled for personal pursuits or invading their personal space and privacy. In fact, this high percentage (92%) of respondents’ answers in the surveyed small- and medium-sized telecommunications enterprises suggests that they lack an adequate corporate culture, which raises the question not only of the health of employees but also of the lack of good practices for a healthy balance between professional and personal lifestyle. To a large extent, this problem is also due to the development of IT technologies (especially during the COVID-19 pandemic) but also to the approach and mentality of managers who do not value employees’ personal time.
On the other hand, a similar trend is observed with the excessive use of systemic online messages and various forms of cyber provocation and cyberattacks in the online environment. The problem here is related both to the increased use of IT technologies for work, which perhaps creates discomfort and cyberbullying for employees from having overly engaged attention in an online environment, and to ill-intentioned communication in technological platforms, social media, forums and e-mails. Perhaps the adversarial context of employee communication or problem solving in an online environment (rather than face-to-face physical meetings) creates tension between parties and gives rise to cyberbullying.
From Figure 2, it can be concluded that cyberbullying for employees is mostly manifested by creating fake news and slander online (46%), as well as cyberbullying as a result of hacker attacks (38%), making it difficult to accomplish goals and tasks. Relatively, the leading priority of cyberbullying can be assumed to arise from personal relationships between employees in an online environment where information is disseminated with the context to manipulate, denigrate or coerce people to perform certain actions. Although the question about the emotional context of cyberbullying only concerns relationships in a work environment, some respondents may report communicating with their colleagues on personal social media or technology platforms, which could not be ascertained from an online survey. With the development of technology, there is also a change in this component of online information and communication, because chatbots can be created that incognito, i.e., without establishing a cybercrime by a specific person, create and share online false information so as to defame or disparage a specific person or suggest false information for black PR or propaganda. As for cyberbullying as a result of a negative impacts on the technology used, i.e., hacking attacks, it is likely due to external malicious interference with the technology used by telecom operators. Two circumstances should be considered:
- There is a breach in the technological infrastructure of the investigated enterprises, which allows malicious cybercriminals to compromise the technology and thereby affect the work of employees.
- The employees themselves commit illegal actions when working with the technology (for example, phishing) that facilitate the penetration of hacker attacks, which hinders work and threatens the extraction of personal data and corporate information.
Not a small number of respondents state that there is a spread of misleading information in the online environment (21%), which may be part of the process of creating fake news or is a deliberate sabotage by a person or group of people to discredit their colleague or colleagues. The low percentage of respondents’ answers about the lack of sexual subtext in the online environment through the use of indecent chat messages and images (3%), as well as blackmail through indecent online content—2%—is striking. This process can be due to a variety of reasons related to the majority of employees being of the same gender, creating a corporate culture with zero tolerance for sexual cyberbullying, fear of legal consequences for employees making sexual innuendos or suggestions online, etc. Either way, the low response rate in this aspect of cyberbullying indicates that employees have a corporate culture against intimate intrusion or stalking in an online environment, or that telecommunications enterprises enforce policies and controls to prevent such situations from occurring.
From the study conducted in Figure 3, it can be established that the presence of cyberbullying, regardless of its form, i.e., typology, creates discomfort in the behavior of employees, which reflects to varying degrees the work they perform. Most of the respondents (68%) claimed that cyberbullying affects their productivity, which hinders the effective performance of tasks, which can be explained by the psychological effect of the impact on the consciousness of the person and the technical issues, i.e., problems using technology. Another problem that also affects the minds of employees is that cyberbullying distracts them from their main professional activities (56%), which also reflects on the performance of work and probably on its quality. Logically, this creates prerequisites to slow down the cycle of the employees’ work activity, reflecting the time and deadlines for the completion of tasks (44%), probably due to engaging the consciousness of the human factors with problems and consequences arising from the manifestation of cyberbullying. The lack of concentration in work and commitment of employees’ attention to cyberbullying leads to errors in work (27%) and it remains unfinished (26%), of which it is normal for 13% of respondents to feel guilty about this. Either way, cyberbullying affects the psyche of employees in the telecom companies studied and leads to a drop in productivity and problems for employees at work.
In Figure 4, the survey results look for the reasons for the appearance of cyberbullying and malicious cyberattacks in the technological structure of the respective telecommunications enterprises. With given possibilities for an answer and one for one’s own interpretation of the reasons, interesting data are noticed, which in one way or another suggest the presence of problems in the enterprises themselves. For example, 91% of respondents’ responses indicated that there was no corporate-level program in place to address cyberbullying in the telecommunications enterprises surveyed, and this percentage is likely to be even higher, perhaps including responses from employees who do not know or cannot judge. It is noteworthy that 84% of respondents’ answers indicate a lack of monitoring for the prevention of cyberbullying in the surveyed enterprises, which creates problems with the use of technological infrastructure and protection and prevention mechanisms.
In line with this, 79% of those surveyed share that there is no strategic policy of telecommunications enterprises to combat cyberbullying, and 71% are of the opinion that there are no prevention mechanisms in place. Another 7% of respondents expressed their own view of the presence of cyberbullying in the context of a lack of senior management commitment, poor technology support, and lack of training for employees to prevent cyberbullying or prescribed procedures for responding to such situations.
From the conducted survey and the answers of the respondents in the investigated telecommunications enterprises in three large cities in the Republic of Bulgaria, a general conclusion can be drawn that the development of modern information and communication technologies creates more and more opportunities for remote work and communication, but it also reveals weaknesses for the emergence of cyberbullying if adequate measures and mechanisms are not applied to prevent it.
The research found that telecommunications enterprises underestimate the power of cyberbullying on the behavior and actions of employees, who may experience professional problems and emotional difficulties in the process of the work performed, which also reflects on productivity. As a result, it is necessary to define some methodological guidelines for improving cybersecurity and prevention against malicious cyberbullying attacks in the technological infrastructure of the telecommunications enterprise.
5. Methodological Guidelines for Improving Cybersecurity against Malicious Cyberbullying Attacks in Technological Infrastructure of Telecommunications Enterprise
In order to improve the technological infrastructure against malicious cyberbullying attacks, the telecommunications enterprise should implement protective mechanisms to protect information and communication processes and systems, and the data and information contained therein. As a result, methodological guidelines are proposed for improving cybersecurity and prevention against malicious cyberbullying attacks in the technological infrastructure of the telecommunications enterprise.
The main emphasis should not be focused only on computer network systems but on the entire process of cybersecurity, including the human factors, overcoming manipulation or threats in the online environment and increasing information security.
On the other hand, monitoring to prevent cyberbullying in the workplace requires creating conditions and mechanisms for constant audits of personal data of human resources, cyber defense systems against malicious attacks and vulnerable enterprise processes in IT technologies. The structure of methodological guidelines for improving cybersecurity and prevention against malicious cyberbullying attacks in the technological infrastructure of the telecommunications enterprises is shown in Figure 5.
From the point of view of methodological guidelines for improving cybersecurity and prevention against malicious cyberbullying attacks in the technological infrastructure of the telecommunications enterprise, the following are considered:
- Improving processes in the technological infrastructure to deal with cyberbullying
In order to improve the technological infrastructure against data and information breaches and protect the human factors from cyberbullying in the workplace, the telecommunications enterprise needs to minimize the opportunities for cyber compromise. From the point of view of the strategy, it is necessary to consider the following more important directions:
- Creating an organizational culture to oppose cyberbullying by building a modern technological infrastructure;
- Documenting the specifications for working in the technological infrastructure of the enterprise and distributing instructions for the prevention of cybercrimes and cyberbullying;
- Software provision of protective technologies such as AI and corporate systems to prevent cyberbullying situations;
- Selecting an appropriate set of integrated cybersecurity tools for identifying and combating cyberbullying;
- Regulating the control of access to the company’s information and communication systems and making quick and adequate decisions to counter cyberbullying;
- Integrating a virtual social office for the exchange of personal information and communication, so that human resources can reduce tension, stress and harassment at work, which are catalysts for inappropriate behavior or outbursts of emotions in an electronic environment, and therefore a prerequisite for the occurrence of cyberbullying;
- Establishing clear rules for virtual communication in the workplace, when and how to interact, with whom, what platforms and software tools to use, what messages to send and a policy of zero tolerance for cyberbullying;
- Integration of software tools for collaboration and sharing of knowledge and professional information, as a means of countering cyberbullying;
- Conducting virtual quizzes to reduce aggression in the online environment and unite the collective against cyberbullying;
- Formation of a team of specialists in the field of cybersecurity to intercept and promptly ignore problems, inappropriate information and communication leading to cyberbullying;
- Organization of online training on ethical standards, norms of behavior in a cyber environment, protection from malicious cyberattacks and the interpretation of international legislation in the case of differences in human resources—a prerequisite for limiting cyberbullying in the workplace;
- Organizing online courses or using software for online virtual rooms (for example, ProProfs, Sap Litmos, eTrainCenter, Adobe Connect, etc.) so as to conduct the effective training of human resources against cyberbullying;
- Development of a plan for technological change in business processes and activities, which will reduce the dissatisfaction and uncertainty of human resources and potential dangers of cyberbullying;
- Improvement in automated information and communication systems by investing in the technological infrastructure of the telecommunications enterprise.
The policy to improve the technological infrastructure should be a priority of the telecommunications enterprise, so that it continuously builds and maintains cyber protection to the information and communication processes and systems, and the data and the information contained in them. The socialization of the human factors is important, which, under the influence of the management of the enterprise, assists cybersecurity experts to identify and eliminate the threats of cybercrime and cyberbullying in the workplace.
- Monitoring to prevent cyberbullying
In order to identify, influence and carry out the prevention of information and communication processes and systems, and the data and information contained in them, the telecommunications enterprise should conduct effective monitoring for the prevention of cyberbullying. Through an automated process of constant monitoring of the technological infrastructure and the behavior of the human factors, warning signals are provided for irregularities in the traffic of data and information in the network or unregulated actions of human resources. In terms of strategy, the following guidelines should be considered:
- Comprehensive monitoring of cybersecurity and management systems to introduce up-to-date technological solutions to protect against malicious cyberbullying attacks (monitoring of devices connected to the network and analysis of their functionality to overcome cyberbullying threats);
- Maintaining a modern automated system and tools (for example, Argus, Nagios, OSSEC, etc.) for monitoring and feedback, signaling emerging dangers and risk factors in the technological infrastructure and work in a cyber environment;
- Monitoring of the network and its individual components in terms of technical devices for communication and data and information sharing;
- Monitoring and controlling the work of cybersecurity experts to improve anti-cyberbullying activity;
- Verification and continuous testing of the security of IT technologies and information and communication systems for their technical compliance with the goals and strategy of the enterprise and the requirements for the prevention of cyberbullying;
- Review of enterprise business processes to proactively identify critical events and issues leading to cybersecurity breaches and workplace cyberbullying;
- Tracking the weak points and assessing the opportunities for cyberbullying in the digital transformation of the enterprise in the conditions of digital business models, cloud services and virtual workplaces;
- Verification of compliance with the requirements for the triad of privacy, reliability and availability of data and information, as well as security in relation to the Internet of Things (IoT);
- Taking advantage of the Zero Trust methodological framework to improve the cybersecurity of processes and data in on-premises, cloud or hybrid networks.
Monitoring against cyberbullying threats creates an opportunity for the telecommunications enterprise to constantly monitor information and communication processes and systems, and the data and information contained in them, in real time.
Cybersecurity experts will be able to take adequate measures to deal with cyberbullying before it causes serious harm to the human factors and the enterprise’s operations. The impact and prevention of cyberbullying as part of a telecommunications enterprise’s strategy is a mandatory requirement to improve the cyber work environment and human factors’ behavior.
For this purpose, it is necessary to create conditions for the staged integration of processes and technology for the prevention of cyberbullying and the socio-psychological and health problems of the human factors. It requires initiatives and efforts from the management of the telecommunication enterprise to design a workable system for cybersecurity and the protection of corporate assets and to optimize the operation in an online environment.
6. Conclusions
The purpose of the publication was to investigate the typology and manifestation of cyberbullying in the work environment in the activities of a certain sample of small- and medium-sized telecommunications enterprises in the Republic of Bulgaria, so as to establish the main areas of impact on the work and behavior of the human factors. Through the publication, results were formed, the interpretation of which showed the presence of cyberbullying in the investigated telecommunications enterprises, which is mainly due to the lack of protective mechanisms for its prevention in the online environment.
It was found that employees experience cyberbullying in their professional activity as a result of online messages sent by both managers and employees outside of regular working hours, as well as in the process of communication, including various forms of cyber provocation and cyberattacks. Emotionally, employees have been affected by the effects of cyberbullying due to the spread of false information online and obstruction of their job duties through hacker attacks. From the perspective of employees’ work performance, cyberbullying has led to a drop in productivity and distraction from their primary tasks, including unfinished ones. As the main reason for the manifestation of cyberbullying, employees point to the lack of adequate mechanisms on the part of telecommunications enterprises for the prevention and monitoring of cyberbullying.
The study found that the SMEs surveyed lacked an anti-cyberbullying approach, relying solely on employees to report it or, if they did not, find ways to deal with the problem. The publication proposes methodological guidelines for improving cybersecurity and prevention against malicious cyberbullying attacks in the technological infrastructure of the telecommunications enterprise. This is only one small step in the construction of a strategy and follow-up measures for impacting against cyberbullying in a practical environment of the investigated telecommunications enterprises.
In this regard, future research should identify the potential outcomes of improving processes in the technological infrastructure to address cyberbullying and monitoring for its prevention. Also, future studies should not focus only on the technological infrastructure of telecommunications enterprises, but they should examine the prerequisites for the occurrence of cyberbullying from the point of view of the management mechanisms for its manifestation.
Funding
This research was funded and supported in part by the Research and Development Activity at the University of Telecommunications and Post, Sofia, Bulgaria, Project Number 3O-292/14.03.2024.
Institutional Review Board Statement
The study does not investigate medical/clinical issues related to people and does not endanger their lives in any way. Ethics approval and informed consent were obtained.
Informed Consent Statement
The research conducted was carried out with the consent of the management of the investigated telecommunications enterprises and based on the informed consent of the respondents, taking into account the conditions for data confidentiality. The requirements of the general regulation on the protection and processing of personal data (GDPR) of the respondents were met, and the information obtained was used only in the form of a sociological sample for the development of the publication.
Data Availability Statement
More detailed data presented in this study (except confidential) are available upon request from the corresponding author.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks the management of the researched telecommunications enterprises and the respondents for their assistance in the conducted research.
Conflicts of Interest
The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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Figure 1.
Manifestation of workplace cyberbullying in human factors in professional terms.
Figure 2.
Manifestation of workplace cyberbullying in human factors in emotional terms.
Figure 3.
Impact of cyberbullying on human factors’ productivity in the workplace.
Figure 4.
Reasons for the appearance of cyberbullying and malicious cyberattacks in the technological infrastructure of the telecommunications enterprise.
Figure 4.
Reasons for the appearance of cyberbullying and malicious cyberattacks in the technological infrastructure of the telecommunications enterprise.
Figure 5.
Methodological guidelines for improving cybersecurity against malicious cyberbullying attacks in the technological infrastructure of telecommunications enterprises.
Figure 5.
Methodological guidelines for improving cybersecurity against malicious cyberbullying attacks in the technological infrastructure of telecommunications enterprises.
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Stoyanov, I.T. Cybersecurity and Prevention against Cyberbullying on Human Factors in Small- and Medium-Sized Telecommunications Enterprises in the Republic of Bulgaria. Eng. Proc. 2024, 70, 48. https://doi.org/10.3390/engproc2024070048
AMA Style
Stoyanov IT. Cybersecurity and Prevention against Cyberbullying on Human Factors in Small- and Medium-Sized Telecommunications Enterprises in the Republic of Bulgaria. Engineering Proceedings. 2024; 70(1):48. https://doi.org/10.3390/engproc2024070048
Chicago/Turabian StyleStoyanov, Ivaylo Ts. 2024. "Cybersecurity and Prevention against Cyberbullying on Human Factors in Small- and Medium-Sized Telecommunications Enterprises in the Republic of Bulgaria" Engineering Proceedings 70, no. 1: 48. https://doi.org/10.3390/engproc2024070048
APA StyleStoyanov, I. T. (2024). Cybersecurity and Prevention against Cyberbullying on Human Factors in Small- and Medium-Sized Telecommunications Enterprises in the Republic of Bulgaria. Engineering Proceedings, 70(1), 48. https://doi.org/10.3390/engproc2024070048