INFORMATION SECURITY: A STUDY ON THE PERCEPTION OF ACCOUNTING INFORMATION USERS

Abstract

Information security has become an issue that reaches the organizations, once it puts at risk the continuity of the businesses. On the basis of literature review this research identified six constructs of information security (Integrity, Availability, Confidentiality, Equipment, Policies and Procedures and People). These constructs had been used in a survey electronic questionnaire, where one sample composed by 129 users of accounting information from various Brazilian organizations provided their perceptions regarding information security. These data allowed the realization of a gap analysis which consisted in comparing the means of assessment (how the respondent evaluates information security in your organization) and importance (how much the respondent considers information security important) attributed to each construct of information security. As a result, it was evidenced the existence of statistically significant gap s for all the six constructs of information security checked, showing that the organizations are giving less importance to the matter than expected by respondents. The People construct presented the largest gap of this research, suggesting that the organizations face difficulties to control the human component in information security, and people are not aware of the importance of their role in the effectiveness of information security in the organizations.