On the adoption of usage control technology in collaborative environments

Abstract

The extensive collaboration across system boundaries facilitated by the Internet is unfortunately also increasing the potential for misuse of shared information. While mechanisms to protect assets from active attackers (such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems and anti-virus software) are commonplace, the availability of commercial software to protect information from misuse remains limited. Businesses employ non-disclosure agreements, but have no means to prevent or detect violations of these. Usage control has been proposed as the means to protect information even after its distribution. However, despite the efforts to develop new usage control technology and the apparent need for it, the industry is less enthusiastic. In this paper we investigate existing theories of technology adoption in order to better understand the industryperspective and to improve technology development. We base our study well-known general theories on protection motivation, innovation diffusion and technology acceptance. We then utilize these theories and preliminary results of a case study to build a new model for understanding usage control technology acceptance.