A qualitative insight of success factors of information security management system

Abstract

Information Security Management System (ISMS) is the vehicle that ensures correctness, completeness, and improvement of security controls in information security management. In the Malaysian context, the number of government agencies certified by ISMS is still low and efforts to retain the certification have been challenging in the recent year. The goal of this study is to describe the success factors identified from the literature review regarding the implementation of ISMS in the selected government agencies in Malaysia. This study applied a qualitative approach, which includes semistructured interviews of nine key informants among Malaysian government technologists. A deductive thematic analysis on interviews transcript and qualitative scoring were used to describe the findings of the study. Of seven identified factors, top management and implementer commitment were revealed as the most critical components in the ISMS implementation in the context of the Malaysian government agency.