The role of remote working on cybersecurity behaviour of South African financial services employees

Abstract

Organisations put in place security policies and controls to enforce behaviours aimed at protecting computer information systems. However, these policies are put in place often ignore the context in which the behaviour occurs. Against the backdrop of Covid-19, organisations have had to abruptly adopt remote working as the new normal which presents a myriad of challenges. The purpose of this mixed-method study was to understand whether cybersecurity behaviours of employees are carried over to the remote workplace and why. Data from eight interviews with cybersecurity professionals and sixty-three questionnaires from end-users were used to answer the research question. Results showed that complaint cybersecurity behaviours were carried to the remote workplace, however, some behaviours were not always performed in the remote workplace because they impacted employee productivity. Results showed that personal attitude and sense of control had the strongest influence on employee behaviour than social influence and organisational factors. This study is important for organisations, which had to quickly adopt comprehensive remote work arrangements, by providing insights into the risks posed by remote working, formulating response strategies to reduce these risks and developing strategies that make their employees the first line in terms of protecting them against threats to cyber security