Orientation

Abstract

This book is about the management of information system security. Information system security is viewed in terms of minimising risks arising because of inconsistent and incoherent behaviour with respect to the information handling activities of organisations. Such inconsistencies in behaviour could lead to the occurrence of adverse events. These could be as privately experienced as a superior-subordinate conflict in an organisation, or could be as public as the technical failure of an information system. These set-backs could have been produced by sheer carelessness or after careful premeditation. Their consequences could be as transitory as monetary loss or as terrible as a complete disruption of business and loss of life. Whatever the nature of the inconsistencies, protection demands an understanding of the underlying causes and the related patterns of behaviour. How these behavioural patterns relate to adverse consequences within organisations is the theme of the work presented in this book.