Information Risk of Inadvertent Disclosure: An Analysis of File-Sharing Risk in the Financial Supply Chain

Firms face many different types of information security risk. Inadvertent disclosure of sensitive business information represents one of the largest classes of recent security breaches. We examine a specific instance of this problem—inadvertent disclosures through peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. We characterize the extent of the security risk for a group of large financial institutions using a direct analysis of leaked documents. We also characterize the threat of loss by examining search patterns in peer-to-peer networks. Our analysis demonstrates both a substantial threat and vulnerability for large financial firms. We find a statistically significant link between leakage and leak sources including the firm employment base and the number of retail accounts. We also find a link between firm visibility and threat activity. Finally, we find that firms with more leaks also experience increased threat.

• 저널Journal of Management Information Systems · 25(2) · 97–124
• 토픽Cybercrime and Law Enforcement Studies · Information Systems
• DOI10.2753/mis0742-1222250205
• 저자M. Eric Johnson