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The purpose of this paper is to survey existing information security policy (ISP) management research to scrutinise the extent to which manual and computerised support has been suggested, and the way in which the suggested support has been brought about.

The results are based on a literature review of ISP management research published between 1990 and 2017.

Existing research has focused mostly on manual support for managing ISPs. Very few papers have considered computerised support. The entire complexity of the ISP management process has received little attention. Existing research has not focused much on the interaction between the different ISP management phases. Few research methods have been used extensively and intervention-oriented research is rare.

Future research should to a larger extent address the interaction between the ISP management phases, apply more intervention research to develop computerised support for ISP management, investigate to what extent computerised support can enhance integration of ISP management phases and reduce the complexity of such a management process.

The limited focus on computerised support for ISP management affects the kind of advice and artefacts the research community can offer to practitioners.

Today, there are no literature reviews on to what extent computerised support the ISP management process. Findings on how the complexity of ISP management has been addressed and the research methods used extend beyond the existing knowledge base, allowing for a critical discussion of existing research and future research needs.

This paper aims to provide a maturity model for information security awareness (MMISA), based on the literature, expert interviews and feedback. In addition to developing the MMISA, the authors investigate the role of the three decisive factors that affect ISA maturity level: risk management mechanism, organizational structure and ISA.

The research methodology is a combined one; qualitative and quantitative methods were applied, including surveying the literature, interviews and developing a survey to collect quantitative data about decisive factors that affect ISA maturity level. The authors perform a variance-based partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) investigation of the relationships between these factors.

The investigation of decisive factors of ISA maturity levels revealed that if the authors identify a strong risk assessment mechanism (through a documented methodology and reliable results), the authors can expect a high level of ISA. If there is a well-defined organizational structure with clear responsibilities, this supports the linking of a risk management mechanism with the level of ISA. The connection between organizational structure and ISA maturity level is supported by ISA activities: an increased level of awareness actions strengthens an organizational structure via the best practices learned by the staff.

The main contribution of the proposed MMISA model is that the model offers controls and audit evidence for maturity levels. Beyond that, the authors distinguish in the MMISA model controls supporting knowledge and controls supporting attitude, emphasizing that this is not enough to know what to do, but the proper attitude is required too. The authors didn't find any other ISA maturity model which has a similar feature. The contribution of the authors' work is that the authors provide a method for solving this complex measurement problem via the MMISA, which also offers direct guidance for the daily practices of organizations.

This study is aimed at assessing the information security management practice with a focus on banking card security in selected financial institutions in Ethiopia, using an international information security standard as a benchmark. It is to identify the gaps and recommend best security practices to help financial institutions meet the required security compliance.

Two financial sectors were purposively selected. A total of twenty-five respondents (IT executives and IT staff) were included in the study. Quantitative data was collected using the PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) security standard questionnaire. In addition, observation and document analysis were made.

The result shows that most of the essential security management activities in the financial sectors do not comply with the international security standard. Similarly, the level of most of the indispensable security requirements that should be in place is found to be below the acceptable level. The study also revealed major security factors that prohibit the financial sectors from PCI-DSS security standard compliance.

This study assessed the information security management practice with a focus on banking card security and tried to figure out the limitations of security practices of the organizations surveyed based on the standard adopted. The topic has not been well explored especially in the Ethiopia context. Hence, the result can positively influence security policies, particularly in the banking sector.

Information systems' security is more critical than ever before since security threats are rapidly growing. Before putting in place information systems' security measures, organizations are required to determine the maturity level of their information security governance. Literature review reveals that there is no recent study on information systems' security maturity level of banks in Ethiopia. This study thus seeks to measure the existing maturity level and examine the security gaps in order to propose possible changes in Ethiopian private banking industry's information system security maturity indicators.

Four private banks are selected as a representative sample. The system security engineering capability maturity model (SSE-CMM) is used as the maturity measurement criteria, and the measurement was based on ISO/IEC 27001 information security control areas. The data for the study were gathered using a questionnaire.

A total of 93 valid questionnaires were gathered from 110 participants in the study. Based on the SSE-CMM maturity model assessment criteria the private banking industry's current maturity level is level 2 (repeatable but intuitive). Institutions have a pattern that is repeated when completing information security operations but its existence was not thoroughly proven and institutional inconsistency still exists.

This study seeks to measure the existing maturity level and examine the security gaps in order to propose possible changes in Ethiopian private banking industry's information system security maturity indicators. This topic has not been attempted previously in the context of Ethiopian financial sector.

As evident from the literature review, the research on cyber security performance is centered on security metrics, maturity models, etc. Essentially, all these are helpful for evaluating the efficiency of cyber security organization but what matters is how the factors of internal efficiency affect the business performance, i.e. the external effectiveness. The purpose of this research paper is to derive the factors of internal efficiency and external effectiveness of cyber security and develop impact model to identify the most and least preferred parameters of internal efficiency with respect to all the parameters of external effectiveness.

There are two objectives for this research: Deriving the factors of internal efficiency and external effectiveness of cyber security; Developing a model to identify the impact of internal efficiency factors on the external effectiveness of cyber security since there is not much evidence of research in defining the factors of internal efficiency and external effectiveness of cyber security, the authors have chosen grounded theory methodology (GTM) to derive the parameters. In this study emic approach of GTM is followed and an algorithm is developed for administering the grounded theory research process. For the second research objective survey methodology and rank order was used to formulate the impact model. Two different samples and questionnaires were designed for each of the objectives.

For the objective 1, 11 factors of efficiency and 10 factors of effectiveness were derived. These are used as independent and dependent variable respectively in the later part of the research for the second objective. For the objective 2 the impact models among independent and dependent variables were formulated to find out the following. Most and least preferred parameters lead to internal efficiency of cyber security organization to identify the most and least preferred parameters of internal efficiency with respect to all the parameters external effectiveness.

The factors of internal efficiency and external effectiveness constructed by using grounded theory cannot remain constant in the long run, because of dynamism of the domain itself. Over and above this, there are inherent limitations of the tools like grounded theory, used in the research. Few important limitations of GTM are as below in grounded theory, it is comparatively difficult to maintain and demonstrate the rigors of research discipline. The sheer volume of data makes the analysis and interpretation complex, and lengthy time consuming. The researchers’ presence during data gathering, which is often unavoidable and desirable too in qualitative research, may affect the subjects’ responses. The subjectivity of the data leads to difficulties in establishing reliability and validity of approaches and information. It is difficult to detect or to prevent researcher-induced bias.

The internal efficiency and external effectiveness factors of cyber security can be further correlated by the future researchers to understand the correlations among all the factors and predict cyber security performance. The grounded theory algorithm developed by us can be further used for qualitative research for deriving theory through abstractions in the areas where there is no sufficient availability of data. Practitioners of cyber security can use this research to focus on relevant areas depending on their respective business objective/requirements. The models developed by us can be used by the future researchers to for various sectoral validations and correlations.

Though the financial costs of a cyber-attack are steep, the social impact of cyber security failures is less readily apparent but can cause lasting damage to customers, employees and the company. Therefore, it is always important to be mindful of how the impact of cyber security affects society as well as the bottom line when they are calculating the potential impact of a breach. Underestimating either impact can destroy a brand. The factor of internal efficiency and external effectiveness derived by us will help stakeholder in focusing on relevant area depending on their business. The impact model developed in this research is very useful for focusing a particular business requirement and accordingly tune the efficiency factor.

During literature study the authors did not find any evidence of application of grounded theory approach in cyber security research. While the authors were exploring research literature to find out some insight into the factor of internal efficiency and external effectiveness of cyber security, the authors did not find concrete and objective research on this. This motivated us to use grounded theory to derive these factors. This, in the authors’ opinion is one of the pioneering and unique contribution to the research as to the authors’ knowledge no researchers have ever tried to use this methodology for the stated purpose and cyber security domain in general. In this process the authors have also developed an algorithm for administering GTM. Further developing impact models using factors of internal efficiency and external effectiveness has lots of managerial and practical implication.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a method to formalize information security control descriptions and a decision support system increasing the automation level and, therefore, the cost efficiency of the information security compliance checking process. The authors advanced the state-of-the-art by developing and applying the method to ISO 27002 information security controls and by developing a semantic decision support system.

The research has been conducted under design science principles. The formalized information security controls were used in a compliance/risk management decision support system which has been evaluated with experts and end-users in real-world environments.

There are different ways of obtaining compliance to information security standards. For example, by implementing countermeasures of different quality depending on the protection needs of the organization. The authors developed decision support mechanisms which use the formal control descriptions as input to support the decision-maker at identifying the most appropriate countermeasure strategy based on cost and risk reduction potential.

Formalizing and mapping the ISO 27002 controls to the security ontology enabled the authors to automatically determine the compliance status and organization-wide risk-level based on the formal control descriptions and the modelled environment, including organizational structures, IT infrastructure, available countermeasures, etc. Furthermore, it allowed them to automatically determine which countermeasures are missing to ensure compliance and to decrease the risk to an acceptable level.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of supply chain managers regarding the elements that make up cyber supply chain risk management (CSCRM) and the related level of alignment, to understand how organizations can deploy a CSCRM strategy that goes beyond the technical, internal functioning of single companies and moves beyond the dyad, to create a better alignment that can ultimately lead to improved cyber supply chain resilience.

An exploratory survey in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry involving over 100 organizations in Italy was conducted. Results were analysed through one-way analysis of variance, to appraise the differences in the perceptions of the various actors of the FMCG supply chain (Manufacturers, Logistics Service Providers, Retailers).

While a certain degree of alignment of the perceptions across the FMCG supply chain exists, the study found that Logistics Service Providers can play a crucial role as orchestrators of the CSCRM process towards a more “supply chain-oriented” response to cyber threats and risk events. The research also highlights the necessity to see people as key elements for improving cyber resilience in the supply chain.

Through a vertical analysis of a supply chain, the study extends the existing theory on CSCRM, which contains isolated case studies. It also contributes to extending the current theory with the proposal of the paradigm of Logistics Service Providers as orchestrators of the CSCRM process. The study combines different classifications of CSCRM initiatives and embraces theories external to the supply chain literature.

Through the empirical analysis, this study helps practitioners in streamlining the design of cyber security strategies and actions that span across the supply chain for better alignment. This could mean more coordination of efforts and more targeted/accurate investments in CSCRM initiatives. The study invites practitioners to ponder the perceived relevance of the human factor as a source of risk and the perceived importance of countermeasures aimed at mitigating risk events stemming from that source.

By focusing on an entire supply chain, this is one of the first studies on CSCRM that goes beyond the dyad. Its originality also lies in its use of the investigations of perceptions along the supply chain as pillars for the alignment of CSCRM strategies and mitigation initiatives. This original perspective allows for discovering the role of Logistics Service Providers in driving the alignment of the efforts towards better outcomes of the CSCRM process.

This paper aims to propose a conceptual model of policy components for software that supports modularizing and tailoring of information security policies (ISPs).

This study used a design science research approach, drawing on design knowledge from the field of situational method engineering. The conceptual model was developed as a unified modeling language class diagram using existing ISPs from public agencies in Sweden.

This study’s demonstration as proof of concept indicates that the conceptual model can be used to create free-standing modules that provide guidance about information security in relation to a specific work task and that these modules can be used across multiple tailored ISPs. Thus, the model can be considered as a step toward developing software to tailor ISPs.

The proposed conceptual model bears several short- and long-term implications for research. In the short term, the model can act as a foundation for developing software to design tailored ISPs. In the long term, having software that enables tailorable ISPs will allow researchers to do new types of studies, such as evaluating the software's effectiveness in the ISP development process.

Practitioners can use the model to develop software that assist information security managers in designing tailored ISPs. Such a tool can offer the opportunity for information security managers to design more purposeful ISPs.

The proposed model offers a detailed and well-elaborated starting point for developing software that supports modularizing and tailoring of ISPs.

This paper aims to investigate the connection between different perceived organizational cultures and information security policy compliance among white-collar workers.

The survey using the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument was sent to white-collar workers in Sweden (n = 674), asking about compliance with information security policies. The survey instrument is an operationalization of the Competing Values Framework that distinguishes between four different types of organizational culture: clan, adhocracy, market and bureaucracy.

The results indicate that organizational cultures with an internal focus are positively related to employees’ information security policy compliance. Differences in organizational culture with regards to control and flexibility seem to have less effect. The analysis shows that a bureaucratic form of organizational culture is most fruitful for fostering employees’ information security policy compliance.

The results suggest that differences in organizational culture are important for employees’ information security policy compliance. This justifies further investigating the mechanisms linking organizational culture to information security compliance.

Practitioners should be aware that the different organizational cultures do matter for employees’ information security compliance. In businesses and the public sector, the authors see a development toward customer orientation and marketization, i.e. the opposite an internal focus, that may have negative ramifications for the information security of organizations.

Few information security policy compliance studies exist on the consequences of different organizational/information cultures.

This paper proposes a holistic, proactive and adaptive approach to cybersecurity from a service lens, given the continuously evolving cyber-attack techniques, threat and vulnerability landscape that often overshadow existing cybersecurity approaches.

Through an extensive literature review of relevant concepts and analysis of existing cybersecurity frameworks, standards and best practices, a logical argument is made to produce a dynamic end-to-end cybersecurity service system model.

Cyberspace has provided great value for businesses and individuals. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly motivated the move to cyberspace by organizations. However, the extension to cyberspace comes with additional risks as traditional protection techniques are insufficient and isolated, generally focused on an organization's perimeter with little attention to what is out there. More so, cyberattacks continue to grow in complexity creating overwhelming consequences. Existing cybersecurity approaches and best practices are limited in scope, and implementation strategies, differing in strength and focus, at different levels of granularity. Nevertheless, the need for a proactive, adaptive and responsive cybersecurity solution is recognized.

This paper presents a model that promises proactive, adaptive and responsive end-to-end cybersecurity. The proposed cybersecurity continuity and management model premised on a service system, leveraging on lessons learned from existing solutions, takes a holistic analytical view of service activities from source (service provider) to destination (Customer) to ensure end-to-end security, whether internally (within an organization) or externally.