Information Security Awareness Report: Importance and Strategies

This report delves into the critical importance of information security awareness, emphasizing the need to identify vulnerabilities and engage stakeholders effectively. It highlights the significance of understanding human elements, which are often exploited by criminals, and the importance of ethical decision-making by management. The report underscores the value of non-technical aspects in security awareness and addresses the challenges associated with management involvement, financial considerations, and stakeholder performance analysis. It also examines the role of interpersonal relationships in overcoming political obstacles within awareness plans and the use of data sets to measure program success. Furthermore, the report discusses factors impacting security awareness, such as metrics, consistency, enforcement, and policy. It emphasizes the importance of user awareness sessions, the need for continuous training, and the application of bidirectional platforms to ensure the security of both clients and stakeholders. The report concludes by stressing the critical role of plan implementation and the need for organizations to prioritize client satisfaction through robust information security awareness programs, even more so than security tools. The report includes an analysis based on an interview with an information security professional, highlighting the significance of education and user awareness in mitigating security issues and fostering a positive working environment.

INFORMATION SECURITY AWARENESS
Information security awareness
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author Note

1
INFORMATION SECURITY AWARENESS
Summary
The paper focuses on the importance of information security awareness. The
vulnerabilities associated with the projects needs to be identified in the first place and the
awareness should be identified using all the stakeholders of the project. Understanding the
human elements is one of the key aspects which are utilized by the criminals. The concept of
right and wrong about any aspect of the project should be understood in a broader way. The
decision making regarding a project needs to be accurately done by the management squad of
the project (Peltier). Non-technical tasks should be given very much importance considering
the information security awareness. The biggest challenge of information security awareness
program is associated with the management team as they take care of the financial issues of
the projects.
The stakeholders of the project are subjected to major test so that their performance is
identified and analysed. The purpose of the analysis is also helpful to understand whether the
project is undergoing as it was proposed in proposals. The inter personal relationships is very
important for overcoming the political obstacles which are included in the awareness plan.
The success rate of the information security awareness program can be measured with the
help of the data sets (Peltier). There are different factors which have a direct negative impact
on the security awareness plan such as the lack of metrics, lack of consistency, lack of follow
through, lack of enforcement and policy. The success rate of individual clients can also be
identified with the help of the user awareness sessions as thus help in focussing on one client.
The market conditions keep on changing according to business conditions so long training
cycles are not adequate for this security awareness plan.
The skills required to mitigate any kinds of challenges related to the plan is not
dependent on specific factors, frequent training sessions are highly recommended so that

2
INFORMATION SECURITY AWARENESS
success can be attained. The application of the bidirectional platforms ensures the security of
both client as well as the stakeholders as it is very much essential to meet the needs and
requirements of the business as well as the individuals.
The complacency of any sort is a very important issue regarding the information
security awareness plan. The main success criteria of security plan entirely depend upon the
implementation of the plan. It does not really matter if the plan is created by the stakeholders
of the project or any other person from outside the environment. Every organization should
be having an efficient information security awareness plan which will have a positive impact
on the organisation.
The growth and productivity of the organisation are sometimes dependent on the
information security plan. Satisfaction of client should be the main point of concern for every
organisation as they are the end users of the service provided by the organisation.
Organisations should be taking all the necessary steps so that maximum client satisfaction is
achieved (Serfontein, Lynette and Hennie). The importance of the clients is much more than
all the information security measures such as the intrusion detection system, firewall or any
type of antivirus software application. The different types of security tools which are used for
testing the security awareness program should also be subjected to tests also.
View Analysis
The foremost determination of this unit of the paper is to focus on the personal
opinion based on the interview (McIlwraith). The statement given by the experienced
information security professional helps in understanding the importance of the information
security awareness plan. The knowledge shared by him is also very much important in
understanding the different factors which have an impact on the growth and productivity of
the organisation. The specifications of information security plan can be identified with the

3
INFORMATION SECURITY AWARENESS
help of this interview. The different types of privacy and security issues must be seriously
considered while making the security plan (Tsohou et al.). The importance of education and
user awareness can be identified in this conversation along with that it can be said that this
interview helps in having a perception about giving importance to the choices of the clients.
Awareness is the most important factor in mitigating any kinds of issues related to the
information security. The stakeholders of an organisation should be having a good
relationship among themselves which will be very much important to maintain a good
working environment (Lebek et al.). A good working environment is useful from the point of
view of both the internal stakeholders of the organisation such as the management teams as
well from the perspective of the clients who are the foremost reason for the existence of the
business.

4
INFORMATION SECURITY AWARENESS
Reference
Lebek, Benedikt, et al. "Information security awareness and behavior: a theory-based
literature review." Management Research Review 37.12 (2014): 1049-1092.
McIlwraith, Angus. Information security and employee behaviour: how to reduce risk
through employee education, training and awareness. Routledge, 2016.
Peltier, Thomas R. "Security awareness program." Information Security Policies,
Procedures, and Standards. Auerbach Publications, 2016. 163-174.
Peltier, Thomas R. Information Security Policies, Procedures, and Standards: guidelines for
effective information security management. Auerbach Publications, 2016.
Serfontein, Rudi, Lynette Drevin, and Hennie Kruger. "The Feasibility of Raising
Information Security Awareness in an Academic Environment Using SNA." IFIP World
Conference on Information Security Education. Springer, Cham, 2018.
Tsohou, Aggeliki, et al. "Managing the introduction of information security awareness
programmes in organisations." European Journal of Information Systems 24.1 (2015): 38-58.