Abstract:
This study investigated human factors compromising information system security in Tanzania's
Public Sector, focusing on Tanzania National Parks HQ. The specific objectives included
analysing human errors, personality traits, and motivational factors leading to security breaches
of information systems. The research employed a mixed-method approach with 154 targeted
respondents, utilising structured questionnaires and interviews. Data was analysed using SPSS
26 for quantitative aspects, the descriptive statistics on frequencies and percentiles, presenting
descriptive results, while qualitative data underwent manual interpretive techniques and content
analysis. The results show that human errors such as forgetting printouts, failing to log off
computers, and losing sensitive information are significant occurrences. Personal traits like
sharing login credentials and falling victim to social engineering pose a considerable security
risk. Motivational and reward issues that pose security breaches include financial gain, personal
grievances, Personal satisfaction, Recognition, and personal conflicts. It is recommended that
public institutions implement comprehensive training and awareness programs, enforce security
policies and practices, promote responsible social media use, enforce secure document
disposal procedures, foster a security-conscious culture, and implement multi-factor
authentication (MFA) and access controls.
