Key issues in information systems security management

The increasing dependence of organizations on information and the need to protect it from numerous threats justify the organizational activity of information systems security management. Managers responsible for safeguarding information systems assets are confronted with several challenges. From the practitioners' point of view, those challenges may be understood as the fundamental key issues they must deal with in the course of their professional activities. This research aims to identify and prioritize the key issues that information systems security managers face, or believe they will face, in the near future. The Delphi method combined with Q-sort technique was employed using an initial survey obtained from literature review followed by semi-structured interviews with respondents. A moderate consensus was found after three rounds with a high stability of results between rounds. A ranked list of 26 key issues is presented and discussed. Suggestions for future work are made.This work is funded by FEDER funds through Programa Operacional Fatores de Competitividade – COMPETE and National funds by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia under Project FCOMP-010124-FEDER-022674.