ASSESMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CYBER SECURITY STRATEGY IN PROTECTING ORGANIZATIONAL ASSETS IN TANZANIA:

Abstract

Cybercrime is global pandemic that has affected various countries in the world, thus it is imperative to have effective cycler security strategies to protect organizational assets. This study has assessed the effectiveness of cyber security strategy towards protection of organizational assets in selected national parks under TANAPA in Northern Zone. The study has identified cyber security measures used to protect its assets; assessed the effects of the cyber security measures used in protecting its assets and explored challenges affecting implementation of cyber security strategy on protection of organizational assets. The study was theoretically be guided by two interrelated theories, namely the Moving Target Defenses (MTD) System Theory and the theory of Cyber Attacks. The study engaged the explanatory research design and took on the survey strategy. The study has also engaged the concurrent mixed method triangulation and used a sample of 225 respondents to collect needed data. Both non-probability and probability sampling systems were used. Quantitative data was collected through structured questionnaire, and interview guide was used to collect qualitative data from members of management. The quantitative data was analyzed by means of descriptive statistics with means and standard deviation, and the Pearson correlation analysis was used to examine relationship between cyber security measure and level of asset protection at TANAPA. Findings showed that TANAPA has significantly established policies to guide use of ICTs and consequently protect its assets. It is also evident that TANAPA has established rules to prevent unauthorized access to computer networks, provides cyber security education to employees so as to prevent cybercrimes, employs cyber security experts, allocates budget for cyber security strategies; use strong passwords to prevent hacking; use of strong anti-virus to prevent malware attacks; reports suspicious activities to law enforcement authorities; use file integrity monitoring; uses log forensic to detect suspicious activities, and use real time alerting. It is concluded that cyber security measure taken by TANAPA has high effect in protecting the organizational assets, and there is a positive linear relationship between asset protection level and the cyber security strategies. It is also concluded that implementation of cyber security strategies to protect organizational assets at TANAPA is highly constrained by inadequate employees' awareness on cyber security, insufficient budget to invest in cyber security.