The Effect of Information Security Certification Announcement on the Market Value of Firms

Abstract

Recently, many Korean firms have suffered financial losses and damaged firm's trust due to information security incidents. Hence, a lot of firms have realized the importance of the information security. In particular, the demand for information security certification has increased. This study examined the effect of information security certification using the event study methodology. Our research shows that the announcement of the information security certification significantly influences the market value of the corresponding firm. The certified firms rise, on average, o.4993% (-2 day), 0.5462% (+1 day) of their market value. Further, we found that the financial sector in our data showed a 1.4% higher abnormal returns than the nonfinancial sector. On the other hand, whether a firm first acquired the information security certification is not significant. Our paper presents that it is possible to analyze the effect of the information security certification using the event study. We are expected to be used in making a decision for the investment of information security. Also, our results indicate that the firm which have acquired the information security certification