Information security risk management in small-scale organisations : a case study of secondary schools’ computerised information systems

Abstract

Threats to computerised information systems are always on the rise and compel organisations to invest a lot of money and time amongst other technical controls in an attempt to protect their critical information from inherent security risks. The computerisation of information systems in secondary schools has effectively exposed these organisations to a host of complex information security challenges that they have to deal with in addition to their core business of teaching and learning. Secondary schools handle large volumes of sensitive information pertaining to educators, learners, creditors and financial records that they are obliged to secure. Computerised information systems are vulnerable to both internal and external threats but ease of access sometimes manifest in security breaches, thereby undermining information security. Unfortunately, school managers and users of computerised information systems are ignorant of the risks to their information systems assets and the consequences of the compromises that might occur thereof. One way of educating school managers and users about the risks to their computerised information systems is through a risk management programme in which they actively participate. However, secondary schools do not have the full capacity to perform information security risk management exercises due to the unavailability of risk management experts and scarce financial resources to fund such programmes. This qualitative case study was conducted in two secondary schools that use computerised information systems to support everyday administrative operations. The main objective of this research study was to assist secondary schools that used computerised information systems to develop a set of guidelines they would use to effectively manage information security risks in their computerised information systems. This study educated school managers and computerised information systems users on how to conduct simple risk management exercises. The Operationally Critical Threats, Assets and Vulnerability Evaluation for small-scale organisations risk management method was used to evaluate the computerised information systems in the two schools and attain the goals of the research study. Data for this study were generated through participatory observation, physical inspections and interview techniques. Data were presented, analysed and interpreted qualitatively.

This study found that learners‟ continuous assessment marks, financial information, educators‟ personal information, custom application software, server-computers and telecommunication equipment used for networking were the critical assets. The main threats to these critical assets were authorised and unauthorised systems users, malware, system crashes, access paths and incompatibilities in software. The risks posed by these threats were normally led to the unavailability of critical information systems assets, compromise of data integrity and confidentiality. This also led to the loss of productivity and finance, and damage to school reputation. The only form of protection mechanism enforced by secondary schools was physical security. To mitigate the pending risks, the study educated school managers and users in selecting, devising and implementing simple protection and mitigation strategies commensurate with their information systems, financial capabilities and their level of skills. This study also recommended that secondary schools remove all critical computers from open-flow school networks, encrypt all critical information, password-protect all computers holding critical information and train all users of information systems of personal security.

The study will be instrumental in educating school managers and computerised information systems users in information security awareness and risk management in general.