Cybercrime: an emerging threat to the banking sector of Pakistan
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JFC-11-2017-0118 |
| Pages | 50-60 |
| Published date | 07 January 2019 |
| Date | 07 January 2019 |
| Author | Muhammad Shoukat Malik,Urooj Islam |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & Finance,Financial risk/company failure,Financial crime |
Cybercrime: an emerging threat to
the banking sector of Pakistan
Muhammad Shoukat Malik and Urooj Islam
Institute of Banking and Finance, Bahauddin Zakariya University,
Multan, Pakistan
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this study is to gain more insightinto the impact of cybercrime incidents in the
banking sector of Pakistan. This study investigates the significant contribution of information security
awarenesson the relationship of cybercrimes and organizational performance.
Design/methodology/approach –The impact of cybercrimeincidents on organizational performance is
investigated by furtherexploring the moderating effects of information security awareness.A sample of 302
employeesin the banking industry of Pakistan was studied by usingsurvey design.
Findings –Cybercrime incidents have negative impact on organizational performance, but information
securityawareness weakens the negative impact of cybercrimeson organizational performance.
Research limitations/implications –The present study focuses on the bankingsector so its finding
cannot be generalized in other sectors.Further, in-depth comparative studies in other sectors with different
culturalsettings will help to authenticate the research findings.
Practical implications –Informationsecurity awareness weakens the negative impact of cybercrimes on
organizationalperformance; therefore, it is important for banks’HRmanagers to set up more security training
courses to increaseemployees’awareness on cybercrimes.
Originality/value –This study explores the impact of cybercrimes on banks’performance with the
moderating role of employees’information security awareness. Linkingthese topics has created a new study
within the cybercrimes discipline.The present study also enhances the understanding of employees’role to
combat the impactof cybercrimes on organizational performance.
Keywords Organizational performance, Cybercrimes, Information security awareness
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Organizations have become highly virtual in nature with the increased use of internet
(Arachchilage and Love,2014). The potential risks of online hacking, virus attacks and other
information security breaches have increased rapidly with the increased dependence on
internet (Böhme and Moore, 2012;Arachchilage and Love, 2014). Wada and Odulaja (2012)
stated that with the expansion of information communications technologies (ICT) cyber
attacks have increased in an unprecedented direction. Over the past two decades, cybercrimes
have become an emergent concern for information security policies of various organizations
and also have become the most important area of investigation for criminologists. The illegal
activities committed by criminals by using internet and other digital technologies are termed
as cybercrimes.
Cybercrimes include a broadrange of criminal activities that are related to the use of ICT
for unlawful objectives (Hunton, 2009;Kraemer-Mbula et al.,2013). Academia, government
and law enforcement agencies also use the term “cybercrimes”to describe the online
criminal activities such as include denial-of-service (DOS) attacks, unauthorized access to
user confidential data, phishing, hacking and virus attacks (Hunton, 2009). Cybercrimes
includes online crimes such as unauthorizedaccess to users’confidential data, DOS attacks,
JFC
26,1
50
Journalof Financial Crime
Vol.26 No. 1, 2019
pp. 50-60
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1359-0790
DOI 10.1108/JFC-11-2017-0118
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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