Measuring Effectiveness of Information Systems Security: An Empirical Research

The objective of the present research is to put forth a theoretical model that measures information systems security effectiveness in minimizing security breaches. Very few studies were undertaken in this area. The model includes a number of literature-supported constructs. A number of hypotheses based on the influence of these constructs on IS security effectiveness are presented. These hypotheses are grounded using the appropriate literature. In the next phase of the study, we intend to revise and empirically validate the model using a pilot study utilizing a number of practitioners from Brazil, Finland, and the United States. The data obtained from the pilot study will be used to make improvements on the initial instrument designed for the study. In the third stage of the research a large sample of data will be collected from the aforementioned countries and a regression analysis will be conducted on the data to investigate which constructs influence IS security effectiveness

Enhanced superconductivity in atomically thin TaS2

The ability to exfoliate layered materials down to the single layer limit has presented the opportunity to understand how a gradual reduction in dimensionality affects the properties of bulk materials. Here we use this top-down approach to address the problem of superconductivity in the two-dimensional limit. The transport properties of electronic devices based on 2H tantalum disulfide flakes of different thicknesses are presented. We observe that superconductivity persists down to the thinnest layer investigated (3.5 nm), and interestingly, we find a pronounced enhancement in the critical temperature from 0.5 to 2.2 K as the layers are thinned down. In addition, we propose a tight-binding model, which allows us to attribute this phenomenon to an enhancement of the effective electron-phonon coupling constant. This work provides evidence that reducing the dimensionality can strengthen superconductivity as opposed to the weakening effect that has been reported in other 2D materials so far

Market reactions to publicly announced privacy and security breaches suffered by companies listed on the United States stock exchanges: A comparative empirical investigation

Using a sample of security and privacy breaches the present research examines the comparative announcement impact between the two types of events. The first part of the dissertation analyzes the impact of publicly announced security and privacy breaches on abnormal stock returns, the change in firm risk, and abnormal trading volume are measured. The second part of the dissertation analyzes differential impact between security and privacy breaches on abnormal stock returns, the change in firm risk, and abnormal trading volume are measured. Using a sample of 114 security (65) and privacy (49) breaches on average, security breaches resulted in more negative abnormal stock returns than do privacy breaches. While firm risk for privacy events does not change appreciably, firms experiencing security events show a significant increase in risk. The risk shifts between the security and privacy breaches is significantly different. Firms that announced a security or privacy breaches experienced abnormal trading volume