Disassociations in Security Policy Lifecycles

Continued high profile security breaches indicate that Information Systems Security remains a significant problem within organizations. The authors argue that one of the major contributors to this ongoing problem is a disconnect between security policy formulation and implementation. This disconnect can lead to a failure of policy. This paper is aimed at understanding the disconnect by analyzing the meanings that are attributed to policy formulation and implementation by the stakeholders involved in the process. A case study was carried out and a “snapshot in time” of the lifecycle of IS Security Policy formulation at the organization under study demonstrated that a disconnect is evident between these two sides of security policy.