Addressing Cultural Dissimilarity in the Information Security Management Outsourcing Relationship

Organizational culture influences the way a) information security is perceived, b) security countermeasures are adopted, and c) the organization reacts to the cultural changes of a new security program. In Information Security Management Outsourcing (ISMO), cultural differences may arise between the organization and the provider, for example conflict between the countermeasures applied by the provider and the company's internal policies. We propose a conceptual framework of security mechanisms in order organizations that choose ISMO to identify and manage cultural dissimilarity.