The Human Factor of Information Security: Unintentional Damage Perspective

It is widely acknowledged that employees of an organization are often a weak link in the protection of its information assets. Information security has not been given enough attention in the literature in terms of the human factor effect; researchers have called for more examination in this area. Human factors play a significant role in computer security. In this paper, we focus on the relationship of the human factor on information security presenting the human weaknesses that may lead to unintentional harm to the organization and discuss how information security awareness can be a major tool in overcoming these weaknesses. A framework for a field research is also presented in order to identify the human factors and the major attacks that threat computer security.