Securing the Human – Exploring Current Security Awareness among Employees and Finding Ways to Improve it in the Organizational Setting

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dc.contributor.advisorVitak, Jessicaen_US
dc.contributor.authorSebescen, Ninaen_US
dc.contributor.departmentMaster in Information Managementen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2015-09-18T05:58:18Z
dc.date.available2015-09-18T05:58:18Z
dc.date.issued2015en_US
dc.description.abstractAs organizational security breaches increase, it becomes imperative to understand the factors that lead to these breaches and take the necessary steps to minimize threats. Since employees are considered the weakest link in ensuring the security of corporate data, this paper evaluates various employee characteristics (demographic, company-specific, and skills-based) to understand their relationship with security knowledge and likelihood of becoming a security breach victim. This paper accounts for four different, yet intertwined, security risk areas: phishing, passwords, BYOD and laptop usage in the organizational setting. Findings from a survey of 250 employees at a medium-sized US consulting firm identify higher-risk employees and evaluate the relationship between employee characteristics, understanding of security policies, and security risks. Based on these findings and separate interviews with security experts, the study concludes with a set of recommendations for companies to improve organizational security and reduce risks caused by human factors in securing organizations’ endpoints.en_US
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.13016/M20647
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/17079
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledInformation scienceen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledInformation technologyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledBYODen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledCompany-issues laptopsen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledHuman factorsen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledPasswordsen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledPhishingen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledSecurityen_US
dc.titleSecuring the Human – Exploring Current Security Awareness among Employees and Finding Ways to Improve it in the Organizational Settingen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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