Achieving a Security Culture

A security culture can be a competitive advantage when employees uphold strong values for the protection of information and exhibit behavior that is in compliance with policies, thereby introducing minimal incidents and breaches. The security culture in an organization might, though, not be similar among departments, job levels, or even generation groups. It can pose a risk when it is not conducive to the protection of information and when security incidents and breaches occur due to employee error or negligence. This chapter aims to give organizations an overview of the concept of security culture, the factors that could influence it, an approach to assess the security culture, and to prioritize and tailor interventions for high-risk areas. The outcome of the security culture assessment can be used as input to define security awareness, training, and education programs aiding employees to exhibit behavior that is in compliance with security policies.

Empowering Adolescents Through Instilling Information Security Culture in Zimbabwean Schools

There is an excellent opportunity to ensure that information security culture (ISU) is embedded in school children before they are employed in the industry. However, for the majority of time spent in primary and secondary school education, pupils are alienated from supervised use of technology, making it difficult to teach pupils proper use of technology. Thus, there is no deliberate effort to empower and impart ISC to school pupils in Zimbabwe. The purpose of this study is to develop a framework for instilling information security culture in secondary school pupils. Based on the literature, the first version of the framework was developed and subjected to a focus group for review. Data from this focus group was analysed, resulting in a second improved version of the framework. Consequently, it was shown that the framework was relevant, useful, and applicable within Zimbabwean settings.

Cyber-Security Culture towards Digital Marketing Communications among Small and Medium-Sized (SME) Entrepreneurs

Cybersecurity is a multidisciplinary field of study that focuses on preserving and protecting data and information from a wide range of threats and dangers. This study presents a cyber-security culture for assessing the knowledge, attitude and practice towards digital marketing communications among small and medium-sized entrepreneurs. The objectives of this study were to identify the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of cyber-security culture toward digital marketing communications among small and medium-sized entrepreneurs in Selangor, as well as to look into the relationship between knowledge and practice in this area. This study utilized a quantitative methodology in the form of a survey, with respondents being selected at random from a list of numbers and from a box of random numbers. Several lists were generated using Instagram business account listings, telegram entrepreneur groups, the National Entrepreneurs Institute, and the Kuala Selangor District Council webpage for recruiting respondents. From the findings, this study found that there is a strong relationship between the level of knowledge and practices towards cybersecurity in digital marketing communications among small and medium-sized entrepreneurs. The study concluded that good knowledge of cybersecurity is crucial among entrepreneurs for them to establish good practices in managing their business.

Personal Safety and Security Culture – Similarities and Differences

There are briefly presented two trends in security sciences developed in the last 10 years: the issues of security culture and the issues of personal safety. Both approaches to security designate methods of threefold insight into the state of security and ways to improve it for an individual and a group. The subject of the discussion will be a comparative analysis of these two approaches to securitology. The research hypothesis is that the approach focused on personal safety emphasizes the importance of the cultural tradition of an individual or group, while the approach focused on the culture of security raises the importance of appropriate shaping of the security structure. This correspondence clearly refers to the determinants of personal safety. The discussed topic is very important for the development of theoretical securitology, especially in connection with the increasingly topical issues of the so-called multiculturalism in a globalizing world. Determinants of personal safety make it possible to study (also in an empirical way) of the individual and group feelings of security. In this way, the combination of the security culture and the presented concept of personal safety opens the way to the humanization of securitology.

Determining the Level of Security Culture of the Entity Using the Midified Shalom Schwartz Value Model

Each consciously existing entity has its own unique, hierarchical set of values, helping to make decisions and set directions for action. This power is a security culture, also defined as a set of universal values, attitudes and beliefs. The foundation upon which the security culture grows is the three pillars of security – the three energy streams of the security culture. The objective is to estimate the level of the entity’s security culture and present its structure. The determination of the empirical size of a security culture is made by adapting Shalom Schwartz’s value theory and his ten types of fundamental values. The values placed on the Schwartz circle model are aggregated to the appropriate energy streams of the security culture, and this move allows for empirical determination of the level of the security culture of an individual. The obtained results show the structure of energy streams and determine the empirical level of the subject’s security culture. The approach taken shows that the level of security culture is computable.

Brexit and Western Balkans

This article analyses effects of Brexit on relations between the United Kingdom and the Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia). First, the symbolism of the UK departure from the EU for the Western Balkans is explained. In the following step, multiple types of relations (in trade, security, culture) between the post-Brexit UK and this region are analysed using the theoretical concepts of linkage, leverage and soft power. Finally, the consequences of Brexit on further EU enlargement are presented. The research has confirmed the initial hypotheses. First, as expected, the volume and density of UK-Western Balkan relations will be reduced after Brexit. Second, Western Balkans is of a very limited interest for the UK, primarily in security. Third, Brexit has not in a serious way changed the already existing low chances of EU accession for the Western Balkan countries. The reason for this has little to do with the UK’s presence in or absence from the EU and is rather a consequence of the majority view within the Union (that Britain had already shared before Brexit) concerning further enlargement and low level of preparation of Western Balkan countries for EU membership.

SECURITY CULTURE IN THE FUNCTION OF CREATING A CULTURE OF PEACE

The current crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has destroyed many lives and economies of many countries around the world, has shown, more than ever, how much the need for security has become more pronounced. Due to uncertainty, fear of the unknown and permanent concern about how the crisis will affect them, their loved ones and their existence in general, people are trying to regain predictability, order and control in their lives. Of course, this includes all aspects of “security”: emotional security, physical security, financial security, the effectiveness of law and justice, freedom from fear, social stability, security of property, health and well-being. stress, and even today they face a life in which there is little order and predictability. Although rational beings, they have not yet adopted a security culture as a kind of skill of living, which is a precondition for creating cultures of peace and non-violence, which is key to human existence and prosperity.

A COMPARATIVE VIEW ON SECURITY CULTURE AS REFLECTED IN ROMANIA’S NATIONAL DEFENSE STRATEGIES

The present paper aims at analyzing the concept of security culture by, firstly, pinpointing its theoretical underpinnings and, secondly, by undertaking a qualitative thematic analysis of the concept as it is presented in Romania’s National Defense Strategies from the last decade. The objective is to examine to what extent the evolutions in the security environment are mirrored in the understanding of the concept at strategic level and in the objectives and actions proposed for the implementation of security culture at societal level.