New research from the University of Delaware’s John D’Arcy, to be featured in Information Systems Journal, suggests that people’s positive or negative moods can affect the likelihood that they will engage in insecure computing behavior in the workplace.
Insecure workplace computing behavior includes things like using weak passwords, accessing unapproved software or not using two-factor authentication, said D’Arcy, an associate professor at UD’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics.
Most organizations have formal policies that prohibit such behavior. To try and predict why people violate these policies, D’Arcy worked with City University of Hong Kong’s Paul Benjamin Lowry to survey professionals in organizations throughout the United States about their workplace computing behavior.
The longitudinal survey found that “moods and emotions influence people’s security-related behavior,” D’Arcy said. “And these things vary from day to day, which can make people’s behavior vary from day to day.”
Click here for the full story from the University of Delaware.
