Towards a framework for securing a business against electronic identity theft

The continuing financial losses incurred by individuals and companies due to identity information being phished are necessitating more innovative approaches to solving the problem of phishing attacks at the company level. Security standards are developed by respected experts in the profession and are widely accepted in the industry. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a standard can be adapted to develop a framework that may guide companies in determining how to protect themselves against phishing attacks. A qualitative approach using design research as the methodology was used during the research. The data collection took place by means of a literature survey and semi-structured interviews. The artefact developed was a phishing-prevention framework based on the ISO/IEC 17799 standard, and the evaluation thereof took place through test cases. The findings communicated to the managerial audience was a set of recommendations as a further investment in their security protection against phishing attacks; the findings communicated to the technical audience was the successful adaptation of an existing security standard to produce a usable framework. Further research initiatives should extend the types of test cases that the phishing-prevention framework was evaluated against, and explore the use of tools for determining compliance with the framework.