
104 ◾ Information Security Management Handbook
repeated use, the assumptions slowly drop out of people’s consciousness, but continue to influence
organizational decisions and behaviors even when the environment changes and different deci-
sions are needed. ey become the underlying, unquestioned, but largely forgotten reasons for
“the way we do things here”—even when the ways may no longer be appropriate. ey are so basic,
ingrained, and completely accepted that no one thinks about or remembers them. (See the section:
“Organizations Are Institutions” for more detail.)
In the public sector (Table 8.1), it seems that almost every employee has worked ...