Internationalization of research is reflected in the distributed nature of research communities. Research has a strong collaborative dimension. It is often carried out by non-collocated individuals and teams in the context of national / international funded programs, institutionally led projects, or simply self-motivated initiatives. Universities form a strong and influential component of these virtual research communities. Advances in information and communication technologies (ICT), including the Internet, have helped sustain these virtual research communities. However, despite the strategic nature of research, there exist various levels of awareness about the security risk factor linked with virtual collaboration. This study examines the security awareness of academics and researchers across higher education institutions with a focus on three different academic settings. The paper suggests that a security awareness program aimed at academics should be initiated across universities to pave the way to security aware research collaborative communities.