Development of virtue ethics based security constructs for information systems trusted workers

Abstract

Despite an abundance of research on the problem of insider threats only limited success has been achieved in preventing trusted insiders from committing security violations. Virtue ethics may be a new approach that can be utilized to address this issue. Human factors such as moral considerations and decisions impact information system design, use, and security; consequently they affect the security posture and culture of an organization. Virtue ethics based concepts have the potential to influence and align the moral values and behavior of Information Systems workers with those of an organization in order to provide increased protection of IS assets. This study examines factors that affect and shape the ethical perspectives of individuals trusted with privileged access to personal, sensitive, and classified information. An understanding of these factors can be used by organizations to assess and influence the ethical intentions and commitment of information systems trusted workers. The overall objective of this study’s research is to establish and refine validated virtue ethics based constructs which can be incorporated into theory development and testing of the proposed Information Systems security model. The expectation of the researcher is to better understand the personality and motivations of individuals who pose an insider threat by providing a conceptual analysis of character traits which influence the ethical behavior of trusted workers and ultimately Information System security.