LINKING LAND QUALITY, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY, AND FOOD SECURITY

Land quality and land degradation affect agricultural productivity, but quantifying these relationships has been difficult. Data are limited, and impacts are sensitive to the choices that farmers make. Summarizing new research by economists, soil scientists, and geographers, this report explores the extent to which land quality and land degradation affect agricultural productivity, how farmers' responses to land degradation are influenced by economic, environmental, and institutional factors, and whether land degradation poses a threat to productivity growth and food security. Results suggest that land degradation does not threaten food security at the global scale, but does pose problems in areas where soils are fragile, property rights are insecure, and farmers have limited access to information and markets.Land quality, land degradation, soil erosion, agricultural productivity, food security, Food Security and Poverty, Land Economics/Use, Productivity Analysis,

A Meta-Analysis of Current Global Information Systems Research

Even though global information systems/technology research is a young stream of research, it is important to understand its current status. In this study, we have analyzed 53 global IT articles published from 1998 to 2003 in six leading IS journals. The main subjects, variables (independent and dependent variables), hypotheses, and findings were identified and analyzed. Some of the results show that Resource Management and IS Management Issues are the most studied subjects in global IT research, while subjects such as IT security and privacy, outsourcing, and organizational design have been somehow neglected. Interestingly, USA and Singapore are the most targeted countries for global information technology research. A comprehensive framework consisting of national environmental factors and organizational environmental factors as independent; and system quality, information quality, service quality, information use, user satisfaction, individual impact, organizational impact, and national impact as dependent, is proposed for assisting global IT researchers

Threat Perceptions and Drivers of Change in Nuclear Security Around the World: Results of a Survey

Leaders at the 2010 nuclear security summit agreed on the goal of securing all vulnerable nuclear material in four years. This goal implied that many countries would change their nuclear security policies. But the factors that drive changes in nuclear security policies, and that constrain those changes, are not well understood. We conducted a survey of selected nuclear security experts in countries with nuclear weapons, highly enriched uranium (HEU), or separated plutonium, to explore this issue. The survey included: (a) perceptions of which threats are credible; (b) approaches to nuclear security based on a design basis threat (DBT); (c) changes in nuclear security policy in the last 15 years; (d) factors causing and constraining changes in nuclear security policy; and (e) policy on how much information to release about nuclear security. This paper describes the survey, its results, and implications for next steps to strengthen global nuclear security

Assessment of users\u27 information security behavior in smartphone networks

With the exponential growth of smartphone usage, providing information security has become one of the main challenges that researchers and information-security specialists must consider. In contrast to traditional mobile phones that only enable people to talk and text, smartphone networks give users a variety of convenient functions such as connection to the Internet, online shopping, e-mail and social media, data storage, global positioning systems, and many other applications. Providing security in smartphone networks is critical for the overall information security of individuals and businesses. Smartphone networks could become vulnerable to security breaches if users do not practice safe behaviors such as selecting strong passwords, encrypting their stored data, downloading applications only from authorized websites, not opening emails from unknown sources, and updating authorized security patches. Users of smartphone devices play an important role in providing information security in smartphone networks, which affects the information security of private and public networks. This study assessed the factors that affect users’ security behavior on smartphone networks. By reviewing the theoretical frameworks that evaluate human behavior, this study formed a research model. The research model identified attitude, intention, computing experience, breaching experience, and facilitation condition as the main and direct factors that influence information security behavior in smartphone networks. This study performed several analyses on the investigator-developed survey questionnaire to ensure validity and reliability. Examining all of the proposed direct constructs, this study found that users’ facilitation condition does not have significant impact on the information security behavior in smartphones. This research also showed that gender and employment status have moderating effects on several hypothesized paths. The findings of this research could help information security developers to design better systems that could provide stronger information security for individuals and businesses that share their networks with users’ smartphones

Implementation of ISMS and its Practical Shortcomings

Information security has been a global issue and challenge from many years. Protection of vital information of the organization has always been a huge challenge for all as millions of intruders put continuous efforts to get access to this information. The information whether stored in physical form on papers or in electronic form in computers, is the most critical element of any successful business and its high values make it the focused target of intruders. Organizational data face threats from external as well as internal factors of the organizations and there is no surprise that organizations implement security measures for their data assets in their premises and networks. Companies spend huge efforts, time, and money on the security of their crucial data and make best possible efforts to keep their data confidential and private yet face losses at many places due to limitations of their security systems. This white paper highlights some most common practical shortcomings in the security systems of the companies

Human and organizational factors of healthcare data breaches: The swiss cheese model of data breach causation and prevention

Copyright © 2014, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Over the past few years, concerns related to healthcare data privacy have been mounting since healthcare information has become more digitized, distributed and mobile. However, very little is known about the root cause of data breach incidents; making it difficult for healthcare organizations to establish proper security controls and defenses. Through a systematic review and synthesis of data breaches literature, and using databases of earlier reported healthcare data breaches, the authors re-examine and analyze the causal factors behind healthcare data breaches. The authors then use the Swiss Cheese Model (SCM) to shed light on the technical, organizational and human factors of these breaches. The author\u27s research suggests that incorporating the SCM concepts into the healthcare security policies and procedures can assist healthcare providers in assessing the vulnerabilities and risks associated with the maintenance and transmission of protected health information

Cultural Influence and the Effective Use of Security Awareness in Congolese Organizations

In today’s global economy, there is a growing need to apply technological advancements as well as training and awareness materials from western countries on information security programs in developing nations. To understand the underlying drivers of employees’ effective use behaviors in relation to security awareness programs in organizations, this study examines the extrinsic and intrinsic motivation factors that influence employees located in developing nations. The results indicate that influencing employees’ attitudes toward security is a better predictor of employees’ effective use of security awareness programs than their intention to comply. Cultural effects has also proven to have an influence on employees’ effective use of security awareness programs

Cultural Influence and the Effective Use of Security Awareness in Congolese Organizations

In today’s global economy, the need to reuse technological advancements as well as training and awareness materials for information security programs from western countries in developing nations is growing. To understand the underlying drivers of employees effective use behaviors as it relates to security awareness programs in organizations; this study examined the extrinsic and intrinsic motivation factors that influence employees’ effective use of security awareness programs in organizations located in developing nations. The results showed that influencing employees’ attitudes toward security is a better predictor of employees’ effective use of security awareness programs than compliance intention. Cultural has also shown to have an influence over employee’s effective use of security awareness program

A Zero-Trust Federated Identity and Access Management Framework for Cloud and Cloud-based Computing Environments

Identity and Access Management (IAM) is an important aspect of information security. The deployment of cloud computing (CC) and cloud-based computing (CbC) creates a complex information security scenario involving multiple global stakeholders and geographically dispersed infrastructures. Therefore, implementing IAM in CC/CbC requires the consideration and consolidation of multiple factors. A trust-based approach towards information security may not be a credible option for the CC/CbC environment as trust-based relationships among different architectural elements and including human beings may pose an additional security threat to the cloud space. In this paper, we propose a zero-trust framework for federated IAM in CC/CbC. The proposed framework incorporates a decentralised approach towards IAM that aims to minimise any single entity’s controlling power over the digital assets in the CC/CbC space. The critical component of the proposed framework is the decentralised audit log

Measuring the Onlooker Effect in Information Security Violations

Todays’ organizations need to be ensured that their critical information is secure, not leaked, and inadvertently modified. Despite the awareness of organizations and their investment in implementing an information security management plan, information security breaches still cause financial and reputational costs for organizations. A recent report of the Ponemon Institute for 2019 showed that the global cost and frequency of data breach increased, and negligent insiders are the root cause of most incidents. Many insider threats to cybersecurity are not malicious but are intentional. Specifically, more than 60 percent of reported incidents in 2019 were due to negligent or inadvertent employees or contractors (Ponemon Institute 2020). Many behavioral cybersecurity research projects investigate factors that influence mitigating information security violations, but still, there is a need to have a better understanding of behavioral factors. One of these factors is the perception of being overseen by onlookers who are organization members to whom one’s security policy violations are visible, but who are not directly involved in the behavior. This study examines the onlooker effect through the lens of Sociometer Theory and Affective Events Theory, which were used to investigate the impact of the perception of being overseen in a workplace on an intention to violate information security policies. In addition, this study tests the hypothesis that individuals under this situation experience different negative affective responses. Finally, this research tests the hypothesis that perceived onlooker threat intensifies these relationships by examining its moderating influence. An experimental vignette study was conducted with the Qualtrics platform with the currently employed population who are aware of information security policies in their organizations to determine responses to treatment conditions. The results suggested that the interaction of the perceived presence of onlookers and perceived onlooker threat results in experiencing negative affective responses such as shame, guilt, fear, and embarrassment. Moreover, the results showed that employees experiencing fear, guilt, or embarrassment are less intended to violate information security policies. Overall, this research the understanding of the onlooker effect and the essential role of perceived onlooker threat. This study has substantial theoretical and practical implications for information security scholars and practitioners