Purpose This paper aims to investigate how congruent keywords are used in information security policies (ISPs) to pinpoint and guide clear actionable advice and suggest a metric for measuring the quality of keyword use in ISPs. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative content analysis of 15 ISPs from public agencies in Sweden was conducted with the aid of Orange Data Mining Software. The authors extracted 890 sentences from these ISPs that included one or more of the analyzed keywords. These sentences were analyzed using the new metric – keyword loss of specificity – to assess to what extent the selected keywords were used for pinpointing and guiding actionable advice. Thus, the authors classified the extracted sentences as either actionable advice or other information, depending on the type of information conveyed. Findings The results show a significant keyword loss of specificity in relation to pieces of actionable advice in ISPs provided by Swedish public agencies. About two-thirds of the sentences in which the analyzed keywords were used focused on information other than actionable advice. Such dual use of keywords reduces the possibility of pinpointing and communicating clear, actionable advice. Research limitations/implications The suggested metric provides a means to assess the quality of how keywords are used in ISPs for different purposes. The results show that more research is needed on how keywords are used in ISPs. Practical implications The authors recommended that ISP designers exercise caution when using keywords in ISPs and maintain coherency in their use of keywords. ISP designers can use the suggested metrics to assess the quality of actionable advice in their ISPs. Originality/value The keyword loss of specificity metric adds to the few quantitative metrics available to assess ISP quality. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, applying this metric is a first attempt to measure the quality of actionable advice in ISPs.

Purpose This paper aims to propose a conceptual model of policy components for software that supports modularizing and tailoring of information security policies (ISPs). Design/methodology/approach This study used a design science research approach, drawing on design knowledge from the field of situational method engineering. The conceptual model was developed as a unified modeling language class diagram using existing ISPs from public agencies in Sweden. Findings This study’s demonstration as proof of concept indicates that the conceptual model can be used to create free-standing modules that provide guidance about information security in relation to a specific work task and that these modules can be used across multiple tailored ISPs. Thus, the model can be considered as a step toward developing software to tailor ISPs. Research limitations/implications The proposed conceptual model bears several short- and long-term implications for research. In the short term, the model can act as a foundation for developing software to design tailored ISPs. In the long term, having software that enables tailorable ISPs will allow researchers to do new types of studies, such as evaluating the software's effectiveness in the ISP development process. Practical implications Practitioners can use the model to develop software that assist information security managers in designing tailored ISPs. Such a tool can offer the opportunity for information security managers to design more purposeful ISPs. Originality/value The proposed model offers a detailed and well-elaborated starting point for developing software that supports modularizing and tailoring of ISPs.

Information security is a hot topic nowadays, and while top-class technology exists to safeguard information assets, organizations cannot rely on technical controls alone. Information security policy (ISP) is one of the most important formal controls when organizations work with implementing information security. However, designing ISPs is a challenging task for information security managers and to ease the burden, computerized tools have been suggested to support this design task. One important prerequisite for developing such tools is the requirements. However, existing research has, to a very limited extent, synthesized existing requirements. Against this backdrop, this study aims to elicit a set of requirements, anchored in existing ISP research, for computerized tools that support ISP design. First, we summarize existing ISP research into 14 requirement themes. Second, we suggest a set of user stories that operationalize these requirement themes from an information security manager's perspective. Third, we suggest another set of user stories that operationalize the same requirement themes from an ISP user's perspective. In total, we suggest 28 user stories that can act as a starting point for both researchers and practitioners when developing computerized tools that provide ISP design support for information security managers.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to survey existing information security policy (ISP) management research to scrutinise the extent to which manual and computerised support has been suggested, and the way in which the suggested support has been brought about. Design/methodology/approach The results are based on a literature review of ISP management research published between 1990 and 2017. Findings Existing research has focused mostly on manual support for managing ISPs. Very few papers have considered computerised support. The entire complexity of the ISP management process has received little attention. Existing research has not focused much on the interaction between the different ISP management phases. Few research methods have been used extensively and intervention-oriented research is rare. Research limitations/implications Future research should to a larger extent address the interaction between the ISP management phases, apply more intervention research to develop computerised support for ISP management, investigate to what extent computerised support can enhance integration of ISP management phases and reduce the complexity of such a management process. Practical implications The limited focus on computerised support for ISP management affects the kind of advice and artefacts the research community can offer to practitioners. Originality/value Today, there are no literature reviews on to what extent computerised support the ISP management process. Findings on how the complexity of ISP management has been addressed and the research methods used extend beyond the existing knowledge base, allowing for a critical discussion of existing research and future research needs.