Having Two Conflicting Goals in Mind: The Tension Between IS Security and Privacy when Avoiding Threats

Abstract

Despite users of personal IT devices perceive high risks of losing their personal data if their devices get lost or damaged, many are reluctant to use userfriendly online services (i.e., online backups) to recover from such incidents. We suggest that the reason for this denial are information privacy concerns because users need to disclose their personal files to the safeguard provider. As safeguarding services promise to reduce the IS security threat of losing data, individuals are subsequently tensed between two goals: protecting their data against loss (IS security) and their information privacy. To shed light on this goal conflict, our work builds on the theory of goal-directed behavior. Based on a quantitative online survey among 446 participants, we show that privacy concerns impede threat avoidance to prevent data loss. Comparing current users and non-users of online backup services, our results confirm that provider-related privacy concerns are significantly higher for non-users.

Internet Users' Willingness to Disclose Biometric Data for Continuous Online Account Protection: An Empirical Investigation

“…Olt and Wagner [79] recently investigated the tension between the gain of security and the possible loss of privacy in the context of an online backup service. They combined the theory of goaldirected behavior [14] and the threat avoidance theory [65].…”

“…When it comes to coping with security threats, the perceived effectiveness of a mechanism plays an important role when users select mitigation strategies [79,98]. Previous surveys showed that users' perceived usefulness is one of the strongest determinants of user attitudes towards biometric technology in general [37].…”

Balancing Digital Innovation and Cybersecurity Capabilities through Organizational Ambidexterity – An Investigation in the Automotive Industry

“…From the cybersecurity perspective, the notion of a trade-off, e.g., regarding convenience [44] or data privacy [45], is not new. In this context, information asymmetry negatively influences the balance between business value and cybersecurity risk.…”