UT Arlington researcher earns NSF grant to protect financial institutions

A University of Texas Arlington associate professor has been awarded a National Science Foundation grant to identify insider risk and develop proper protection strategies for information systems within a financial institution.

Jingguo Wang, an associate professor in the Information Systems and Operations Management Department, received a three-year, $157,481 grant that's part of a larger $499,766 NSF grant with the University of Buffalo.

"Insiders impose great threats to information security of financial institutions," Wang said. "We use criminology theories and extend those to the domain of insider threats. Plus, the behavior they display on information systems can give us insight for designing better protections for data security within that financial institution."

Rachel Croson, dean of the College of Business, said the research will provide a needed understanding of how to protect our financial institutions.

"This research will enable banks, credit unions, credit card companies and other financial institutions to better understand and manage their cybersecurity risks." Croson said.

Wang said the large-scale field data from two large, regional financial institutions will be used to provide comparison.

Wang said part of the research also will look at intervention programs to alter insiders' behavior related to information systems and their organizational information security policies.

Wang said the ultimate goal of the research would be to reduce security risk associated with privileged users within financial institutions.

Provided by University of Texas at Arlington