Defining the Information Security Posture: An Empirical Examination of Structure, Integration, and Managerial Effectiveness

The discipline of information security management is still in its infancy as evidenced by the lack of empirical scholarly work in this area. Most research within the information security domain focuses on specific technologies and algorithms and how it impacts the principles of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. But, an important area receiving little attention is the antecedents of effective information security management at the organizational level (Stanton, Guzman, Stam & Caldera, 2003). The little empirical research that has been conducted in this area has shown that information security management in many organizations is poor (Baskerville, 1993; Shimeall & McDermott, 1999). Several researchers have identified the need for methods to measure the organization-wide information security posture of organizations (Eloff & Von Solms, 2000; James, 1996). This dissertation attempts to measure the organization-wide information security posture by examining benchmark variables that assess role, planning orientation, and performance structure within the organization. Through this conceptualization of an organization's information security posture, a means is presented to measure overall information security and how it impacts the effective utilization of information security strategies. The presence of the dependent variable, effectiveness, gives academics and practitioners a success measure which can guide more effective decision making in the information security domain. An additional aim of this dissertation is to empirically examine the influence of management practices and decisions on effective use of information security strategies within the organization. The issues of centralization versus decentralization of information security activities will be evaluated along with its impact on information security posture of organizations and the effectiveness of the organization's information security strategies. Data was collected from 119 IT and information security executives. Results show that how the organization structures information security activities is not correlated with more effective utilization of information security strategies. Meanwhile, the organization's information security posture is significantly correlated with more effective utilization of information security strategies. The implications of this research is discussed