Information security is one of the major challenges for organizations that critically depend on information systems to conduct their businesses. Ensuring safety of information and technology resources has become the top priority for many organizations since the consequences of failure can be devastating. Many organizations recognize that their employees, who are often considered as the weakest link in information security, can be a great resource as well to fight against information security-related risks. The key, however, is to ensure that employees comply with information security related rules and regulations of the organization. Therefore, understanding of compliance behavior of an employee is crucial for organizations to effectively leverage their human capital to strengthen their information security. This research aims at identifying antecedences of an employee’s compliance with the information security policy (ISP) of his/her organization. Specifically, we address how employees without any malicious intent choose to comply with requirements of the ISP with regards to protecting the information and technology resources of their organizations. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior, we show an employee’s attitude towards compliance results in his/her intention to comply with the ISP. Of those, Benefit of Compliance and Cost of Non-Compliance are shown to be shaped by positive and negative reinforcing factors; such as, Intrinsic Benefit, Safety of Resources, Rewards and Intrinsic Cost, Vulnerability of Resources, and Sanctions, respectively. We also investigate the role of information security awareness on an employee’s ISP compliance behavior. As expected, we show that information security awareness positively influences attitude towards compliance. We also show that information security awareness positively influences the perception of reinforcing factors and negatively increases perception of the Cost of Compliance. As organizations strive to get their employees to follow their information security rules and regulations, our study sheds light on the role of an employee’s information security awareness and his/her beliefs about the rationality of compliance and non-compliance with the ISP.

Information security management is now a major concern for any organization regardless of its type, size, or activity field. Having an information security system that ensures theavailability, the confidentiality, and the integrity of information is not an option anymorebut a necessity. Information security management identifies difficulties with user behaviourand compliance that is centralized around policies, perceptions, and practices. In order to address how they affect information security management, these three issues are holistically explored using a sociomaterial framework to engage the understanding of human andnonhuman components. A case study of a university in Sweden was conducted and it was found that despite the sophistication of the IT system, human behaviours are a pertinent component of information security management, and not one that can be ignored.

Information security is one of the major challenges for organizations that critically depend on information systems to conduct their businesses. Ensuring safety of information and technology resources has become the top priority for many organizations since the consequences of failure can be devastating. Many organizations recognize that their employees, who are often considered as the weakest link in information security, can be a great resource as well to fight against information security-related risks. The key, however, is to ensure that employees comply with information security related rules and regulations of the organization. Therefore, understanding of compliance behavior of an employee is crucial for organizations to effectively leverage their human capital to strengthen their information security. This research aims at identifying antecedences of an employee’s compliance with the information security policy (ISP) of his/her organization. Specifically, we address how employees without any malicious intent choose to comply with requirements of the ISP with regards to protecting the information and technology resources of their organizations. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior, we show an employee’s attitude towards compliance results in his/her intention to comply with the ISP. Of those, Benefit of Compliance and Cost of Non-Compliance are shown to be shaped by positive and negative reinforcing factors; such as, Intrinsic Benefit, Safety of Resources, Rewards and Intrinsic Cost, Vulnerability of Resources, and Sanctions, respectively. We also investigate the role of information security awareness on an employee’s ISP compliance behavior. As expected, we show that information security awareness positively influences attitude towards compliance. We also show that information security awareness positively influences the perception of reinforcing factors and negatively increases perception of the Cost of Compliance. As organizations strive to get their employees to follow their information security rules and regulations, our study sheds light on the role of an employee’s information security awareness and his/her beliefs about the rationality of compliance and non-compliance with the ISP.

Organisations increasingly perceive their employees as a great asset that needs to be cared for; however, at the same time, they view employees as one of the biggest potential threats to their cyber security. Organizations repeatedly suffer harm from employees who are not obeying or complying with their information security policies. Non-compliance behaviour of an employee, either unintentionally or intentionally, pose a real threat to an organization’s information security. As such, more thought is needed on how to encourage employees to be security compliant and more in line with a security policy of their organizations. Based on the above, this study has proposed a model that is intended to provide a comprehensive framework for raising the level of compliance amongst end-users, with the aim of monitoring, measuring and responding to users’ behaviour with an information security policy. The proposed approach is based on two main concepts: a taxonomy of the response strategy to non-compliance behaviour, and a compliance points system. The response taxonomy is comprised of two categories: awareness raising and enforcement of the security policy. The compliance points system is used to reward compliant behaviour, and penalise noncompliant behaviour. A prototype system has been developed to simulates the proposed model in order to provide a clear image of its functionalities and how it is meant to work. Therefore, it was developed to work as a system that responds to the behaviour of users (whether violation or compliance behaviour) in relation to the information security policies of their organisations. After designing the proposed model and simulating it using the prototype system, it was significant to evaluate the model by interviewing different experts with different backgrounds from academic and industry sectors. Thus, the interviewed experts agreed that the identified research problem is a real problem that needs to be researched and solutions need to be devised. It also can be stated that the overall feedback of the interviewed experts about the proposed model was very encouraging and positive. The expert participants thought that the proposed model addresses the research gap, and offers a novel approach for managing the information security policies.

Information constitutes one of an organisation’s most valuable assets. It provides the modern organisation with a competitive edge and in some cases, is a requirement merely to survive. An organisation has to protect its information but due to the distributed, networked environment of today, faces a difficult challenge; it has to implement a system of information security management. Software applications can provide significant assistance in managing information security. They can be used to provide for centralised feedback of information security related activities as well as for centralised configuration activities. Such an application can be used in enforcing compliance to the organisation’s information security policy document. Currently there are a number of software products that provide this function in varying measures. In this research the major players in this space were examined to identify the features commonly found in these systems, and where they were lacking in terms of affordability, flexibility and scalability. A framework for an information security management application was defined based on these features and requirements and incorporating the idea of being affordable, but still flexible and extendable. This shifted the focus from attempting to provide a comprehensive list of interfaces and measurements into general information security related activities, to focusing on providing a generic tool that could be customised to handle any information fed back to it. The measurements could then be custom-developed as per the needs of the organisation. This formed the basis on which the prototype information security management application (InfoSure) was developed. / Prof. S.H. Solms

Information security risk management is a business principle that is becoming more important for organisations due to external factors such as governmental regulations. Since due diligence regarding information security risk management (ISRM) is necessitated by law, organisations have to ensure that risk information is adequately communicated to the appropriate parties. Organisations can have numerous managerial levels, each of which has specific functions related to ISRM. The approaches of each level differ and this makes a cohesive ISRM approach throughout the organisation a daunting task. This task is compounded by strategic and tactical level management having specific requirements imposed on them regarding risk management. Tactical level management has to meet these requirements by instituting processes that can deliver on what is required. Processes in turn should be executed by operational level management. However, the available approaches of each managerial level make it impossible to communicate and consolidate information from the lower organisational levels to top level management due to the differing terminology, concepts and scope of each approach. This dissertation addresses the ISRM communication challenge through a systematic and structured solution. ISRM and related concepts are defined to provide a solid foundation for ISRM communication. The need for and institutions that impose risk management requirements are evaluated. These requirements are used to guide the solution for ISRM communication. At strategic level, governmental requirements from various countries are evaluated. These requirements are used as the goals of the communication processes. Different approaches at tactical and operational level are evaluated to determine if they can meet the strategic level requirements. It was found that the requirements are not met by most of the evaluated approaches. The Bornman Framework for ISRM Methodology Evaluation (BFME) is presented. It allows organisations to evaluate ISRM methodologies at operational level against the requirements of strategic management. This framework caters for the ability of ISRM methodologies to be adapted to organisational requirements. Developed scales allow for a qualitative comparison between different methodologies. The BFME forms the basis of the Bornman Framework for ISRM Information Communication (BFIC). This communication framework communicates the status of each ISRM component. This framework can be applied to any ISRM methodology after it has been evaluated by the BFME. The Bornman Risk Console (BRC) provides a practical implementation of the BFIC. The prototype utilises an existing ISRM methodology’s approach and provides decision-enabling risk information to top level management. By implementing the BRC and following the processes of the BFME and BFIC the differences in the approaches at each managerial level in different organisational structures are negated. These frameworks and prototype provide a holistic communication framework that can be implemented in any organisation. / Prof. L. Labuschagne

M.Tech. (Information Technology) / This study conceptualises the effects of socio-organisational factors during Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations and the impact these have towards ERP system security. Social Exchange Theory (SET) is applied in the study. SET is premised on the notion that there is a reward exchange between actors, the main purpose being to maximise benefits and minimise costs to the different actors involved in the ERP implementation. The study looks at SET‟s three independent socio-constructive factors: exchange relations, dependency and power in relation to ERP system security. Pertinent discourse dwells on power and exchange relations that occur during an ERP implementation and how these relations influence information security. Potential benefits and risks towards information security are examined across these relations. The research is quantitative in nature and a survey was directed to people involved in ERP implementations. The study contributes to the discipline by developing a framework for conceptualising the relationship between power, dependency and exchange relations applicable during an ERP implementation. The main goal would be for such a model to be useful for ERP system security. The main findings from this study are that some of the socio-organisational factors like Expert Power, Referent Power, Coercive Power and Exchange Relations influence the implementation of Information Security during ERP implementations. Socio-organisational factors like Reward Power, Positional Power and Dependency were found to have no influence or minimal influence on the implementation of Information Security during ERP implementations.

Information security is one of the major challenges for organizations that critically depend on information systems to conduct their businesses. Ensuring safety of information and technology resources has become the top priority for many organizations since the consequences of failure can be devastating. Many organizations recognize that their employees, who are often considered as the weakest link in information security, can be a great resource as well to fight against information security-related risks. The key, however, is to ensure that employees comply with information security related rules and regulations of the organization. Therefore, understanding of compliance behavior of an employee is crucial for organizations to effectively leverage their human capital to strengthen their information security. This research aims at identifying antecedences of an employee’s compliance with the information security policy (ISP) of his/her organization. Specifically, we address how employees without any malicious intent choose to comply with requirements of the ISP with regards to protecting the information and technology resources of their organizations. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior, we show an employee’s attitude towards compliance results in his/her intention to comply with the ISP. Of those, Benefit of Compliance and Cost of Non-Compliance are shown to be shaped by positive and negative reinforcing factors; such as, Intrinsic Benefit, Safety of Resources, Rewards and Intrinsic Cost, Vulnerability of Resources, and Sanctions, respectively. We also investigate the role of information security awareness on an employee’s ISP compliance behavior. As expected, we show that information security awareness positively influences attitude towards compliance. We also show that information security awareness positively influences the perception of reinforcing factors and negatively increases perception of the Cost of Compliance. As organizations strive to get their employees to follow their information security rules and regulations, our study sheds light on the role of an employee’s information security awareness and his/her beliefs about the rationality of compliance and non-compliance with the ISP. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

Throughout history, information has been core to the communication, processing and storage of most tasks in the organisation, in this case in Small-Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs). The implementation of these tasks relies on Information and Communication Technology (ICT). ICT is constantly evolving, and with each developed ICT, it becomes important that organisations adapt to the changing environment. Organisations need to adapt to the changing environment by incorporating innovative ICT that allows employees to perform their tasks with ease anywhere and anytime, whilst reducing the costs affiliated with the ICT. In this modern, performing tasks with ease anywhere and anytime requires that the employee is mobile whilst using the ICT. As a result, a relatively new phenomenon called “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) is currently infiltrating most organisations, where personally-owned mobile devices are used to access organisational information that will be used to conduct the various tasks of the organisation. The use of BYOD in organisations breeds the previously mentioned benefits such as performing organisational tasks anywhere and anytime. However, with the benefits highlighted for BYOD, organisations should be aware that there are risks to the implementation of BYOD. Therefore, the implementation of BYOD deems that organisations should implement BYOD with proper management thereof.

One of the most critical assets in most organisations is information. It is often described as the lifeblood of an organisation. For this reason, it is vital that this asset is protected through sound information security practices. However, the incorrect and indifferent behaviour of employees often leads to information assets becoming vulnerable. Incorrect employee behaviour could have an extremely negative impact on the protection of information. An information security solution should be a fundamental component in most organisations. It is, however, possible for an organisation to have the most comprehensive physical and technical information security controls in place, but the operational controls, and associated employee behaviour, have not received much consideration. Therefore, the issue of employee behaviour must be addressed in an organisation to assist in ensuring the protection of information assets. The corporate culture of an organisation is largely responsible for the actions and behaviour of employees. Therefore, to address operational information security controls, the corporate culture of an organisation should be considered. To ensure the integration of information security into the corporate culture of an organisation, the protection of information should become part of the way the employees conduct their everyday tasks – from senior management, right throughout the entire organisation. Therefore, information security should become an integral component of the corporate culture of the organisation. To address the integration of information security into the corporate culture of an organisation, a model was developed which depicted the learning stages and modes of knowledge creation necessary to transform the corporate culture into one that is information security aware.