Information Technology Security Concerns in Global Financial Services Institutions: Do Socio-Economic Factors Differentiate Perceptions?

Practitioners in Global Financial Services Institutions (GFSI) know that they must concern themselves with protecting customer data and thwart emerging threats in their industry. The objective of this study is to provide a level of understanding and insight not apparent in a recent survey that investigated Information Technology (IT) security concerns across GFSI. This research builds on that prior effort and aims to investigate whether socio-economic factors differentiate IT security concerns across GFSI. It has been suggested that security concerns vary by socioeconomic contexts. The authors analysis of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT) data showed that perceptions of IT security issues across surveyed GFSI varied on a few security concerns, but remained unchanged on a majority of issues when grouped according to selected socio-economic measures. This finding permitted us to suggest that IT security threats and risks in the financial sector compare reasonably well across socio-economic contexts. As a consequence, managers of GFSI may avail themselves of this information as they develop and propose measures (and counter-measures) for managing security concerns in their industry. Further, the attention of managers is alerted to areas where differences were noticed.