What does security culture look like for small organizations?

The human component is a significant factor in information security, with a large numbers of breaches occurring due to unintentional user error. Technical solutions can only protect information so far and thus the human aspect of security has become a major focus for discussion. Therefore, it is important for organisations to create a security conscious culture. However, currently there is no established representation of security culture from which to assess how it can be manoeuvred to improve the overall information security of an organization. This is of particular importance for small organizations who lack the resources in information security and for whom the culture of the organization exerts a strong influence. A review of multiple definitions and descriptions of security culture was made to assess and analyse the drivers and influences that exist for security culture in small organizations. An initial representation of the factors that should drive security culture, together with those that should only influence it, was constructed. At a fundamental level these drivers are related to a formulated response to security issues rather than a reaction to it, and should reflect the responsibility allocated in a secure environment. In contrast, the influences on security culture can be grouped by communities of practice, individual awareness and organizational management. The encapsulation of potential driving and influencing factors couched in information security terms rather than behavioural science terms, will allow security researchers to investigate how a security culture can be fostered to improve information security in small organizations

Cheetah mothers' vigilance: looking out for prey or for predators?

Free-living cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) cubs are killed by a number of predators, thus vigilance in cheetah mothers may be a form of anti-predator behaviour as well as a means of locating prey. Mothers' vigilance during the day was closely associated with measures of hunting but not with measures of anti-predator behaviour. In contrast, mothers' vigilance at kills was not related to hunting but was related to anti-predator behaviour. Both forms of vigilance decreased as cubs grew older. Vigilance during the day increased with litter size which supports a model of ‘shared’ parental investment (Lazarus and Inglis 1986) because after prey had been located and caught by mothers, cubs shared the prey between them. Vigilance at kills did not increase with litter size when cubs were young; in these situations predators stole cheetahs' prey and rarely chased cubs so, at most, only a single cub would be taken. Mothers' anti-predator behaviour away from kills did increase with litter size at young cub ages however; more cubs are killed in these circumstances the greater is the size of the litter. When cubs were older and could outrun predators, neither vigilance at kills nor anti-predator behaviour increased with litter size. These results strongly support two models of ‘unshared’ investment (Lazarus and Inglis 1986) and demonstrate, not only that superficially similar behaviour has different functions in different contexts, but that parental investment is shaped by the type of benefits accrued from it.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46879/1/265_2004_Article_BF00300681.pd