Security Culture and Information Technology

The research program Security Culture and Information Technology, SECURIT, aimed at improving the information security of organizations. In contemporary information-intensive organizations, a good security culture is vital for the information security.

The research was jointly performed by Chalmers University of Technology, FOI, the Royal Institute of Technology, the University of Gothenburg in cooperation with University West, and Örebro University in cooperation with Linköping University. Karlstad University coordinated and supported the Swedish IT Security Network for PhD students (SWITS) with funding from SECURIT.

The researchers came from various subject areas, as illustrated in the figure below. Thus, the program provided multi-disciplinary views on issues related to information security culture.
 
SECURIT included nine research projects addressing different aspects of information security culture. The results were continuously disseminated through scientific publication and other forms of presentation.
 
SECURIT was funded by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) and coordinated by
the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI). The program was launched in July 2012 and continued through November 2017.

Security culture – Shared patterns of thought, behaviour, and values that arise and evolve within a social group, based on communicative processes influenced by internal and external requirements, are conveyed to new members and have implications on information security