International Journal of Innovative Research in Engineering & Management (IJIREM)
ISSN: 2350-0557, Volume:-3, Issue: - 4, July 2016
Copyright © 2016. Innovative Research Publications. All Rights Reserved 353
Factor of Awareness in Corporate Governance
Sham Sul Kamal Wan Fakeh, Julina Tajul Ariffin, Zaharudin Ibrahim, Zahari Mohd Amin, Wan Abdul
Malik, Mohd Jailani Paiman, A’dillah Mustafa, Mohd Ridzuan Ibrahim, Yanti Rahayu Rambli, Juwahir Ali
Faculty of Information Management, University Technology MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam,
MALAYSIA
ABSTRACT
The research began with definitions of information, information
security, and information security awareness, as identified by
previous publications. The four independent variables established
in this study are policy of information security, education of
information security, knowledge of IT, and employee’s behaviour
towards information security in the workplace. A survey was
selected as a research method for the study, and was conducted in
order to gain respondent’s feedback on the level of information
security awareness. The survey findings showed that the level of
information security awareness was considered high, but the
relation or contribution factors proposed by this study were only
slight correlated.
Keyword
Information, awareness, organization, variables, integrity
I. INTRODUCTION
Most of the information on security issues relies on physical
devices. The device is used to guarantee the three main
elements of information security. They are confidentiality,
integrity, and availability. Discussion about these three
elements, how equipment can protect data in the system or
database, how the firewall protects to prevent outside
attacks, how secure are the software or applications used to
dispel hackers, and why technology cannot ensure against
humans making mistakes. This forms another part of the
information security issue, namely information security
awareness.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Factor of awareness focuses more on the motivation of the
employee in an organization to follow the policy and
regulations towards the security of information in the
company. An approach which is often taken to raise
awareness is having a program, training, or a seminar in the
workplace. The objective of awareness is to minimize
human related faults (Siponen M. T., A conceptual
foundation for organizational information security
awareness., 2000). Several authors state that the motive of
information security awareness is to define that term. It is to
refer to a state where people in a company are aware of their
security mission (Siponen M. T., A conceptual foundation
for organizational information security awareness., 2000).
For instance, it means that a company wants to secure its
confidential information from its competitors. Therefore,
employees should not reveal particular information to their
opponents; otherwise, the level of awareness amongst staff
in that company is not as good as their mission. More
disturbing, is the existence of those that are complacent and
ignore the issue of information security, until their
behaviour leads to information leakage. Either intentionally
or unintentionally, information leaks can harm a company.
Without trouble, these people do not work hard for the
company, hacking and stealing information, with little
regard for the people in the organization itself, and this
information falls into the hands of unscrupulous people
easily. In 1998, Solms stated that the aim of information
security is to ensure business continuity and to minimize
business damage, by preventing and minimizing the impact
of security incidents. Information protection usually relies
on an information security plan and management, which
involves humans (Kruger, Drevin, & Styen, 2010). This
means that knowledge, education, and awareness, plays a
role in the success of information security, to protect
information in an organization. For example: When an
employee does not logoff from a computer after use,
unscrupulous people can steal data from the computer and
use it for personal gain or to compete with that particular
company. Therefore, this is the effect of a behaviour that
does not consider information security matters, or in other
words, does not realize the importance information security
awareness.
III. RESEARCH FRAMEWORK
According to Stanton, Stam, Mastrangelo, & Jolton (2005),
appropriate and constructive behaviour by end users, system
administrators, and others, can enhance the effectiveness of
information security; while inappropriate and destructive
behaviour can substantially inhibit its effectiveness. An
article by Thomson & Solms (1998) talked about changing
human interest for information security awareness program,
by using psychological principles that have been ignored by
information security practices. Gordon (2010) directly
determined the relationship between security awareness and
security behaviour in individuals. According to Kruger &
Kearney (2006), human behaviour consists of an intention to