Janine Spears is an Associate Professor at DePaul University’s School of Computing where she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in cybersecurity and information systems. Professor Spears’ research focuses on information security risk management, cybersecurity workforce development, and online consumer privacy. Her research has been published in MIS Quarterly, Behaviour & Information Technology, Information & Management, Journal of Information Systems Education, International Journal of Knowledge Management, ISACA Journal, and in HICSS, IEEE and AIS conference proceedings. She serves as DePaul-Atlantis Director, a dual-degree study abroad program with partner universities in France and Sweden.
Professor Spears holds a PhD from Penn State University's Smeal College of Business, an MBA from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management, and a B.S. from California State University at Los Angeles. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at HEC Montreal, a business college in Canada, and has been a visiting professor at Ecole de Management in Strasbourg, France. Her previous industry experience was as a systems analyst in the aerospace and major motion picture studio industries in California, and as a technical account manager in France for a manufacturer of network authentication devices.
Selected publications:
Spears, J., Padyab, A. (2021) " Privacy Risk in Contact Tracing Systems," Behaviour & Information Technology, DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2021.1901990.
Obi Ogbanufe, Spears, J., (2019) “Burnout in Cybersecurity Professionals”, The 14th Pre-ICIS Workshop on Information Security and Privacy (WISP), Munich, Germany, Dec.
Spears, J., (2019) “How Does Bryan’s Online Behavior Impact His Privacy Risk Exposure? TREO Series, Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Aug.
Spears, J., (2018) "Gaining Real-World Experience in Information Security: A Roadmap for a Service Learning Course," Journal of Information Systems Education, vol. 29(4), pp. 183-202., Best Paper Finalist Award.
Ginn, J., Spears, J., Kweder, K., DePeppe, D., (2018) “Sports-ISAO World Cup 2018 Report” on Cyber Threat Intelligence Constructed from Pop-up Security Operations Center, pp. 1-10, Aug.
Mead, N., Shull, F., Spears, J., Hiebl, S., Weber, S., Cleland-Huang, J. (2017) “Crowd Sourcing the Creation of Persona-Non-Gratae for Requirements-Phase Threat Modeling," 25th IEEE International Conference on Requirements Engineering, Sept.
Spears, J., San Nicolas-Rocca, T., (2016) “Information Security Capacity Building in Community-Based Organizations: Examining the Effects of Knowledge Transfer,” the 49th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Jan.
Spears, J., San Nicolas-Rocca, T., (2015) “Knowledge Transfer in Information Security Capacity Building for Community-Based Organizations,” International Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 11(4), Oct-Dec.
Spears, J., Dopp, T., (2015) “Information Security Risk Assessment for Nonprofit Organizations,” the 44th Annual Conference of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), Poster Session, Nov.
Spears, J., Erete, S., (2014) ““I have nothing to hide; thus nothing to fear”: Defining a Framework for Examining the ‘Nothing to Hide’ Persona,” Workshop on Privacy Personas and Segmentation at the Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS).
San Nicolas-Rocca, T., Schooley, B., Spears, J., (2014) “Designing Effective Knowledge Transfer Practices to Improve IS Security Awareness and Compliance,” the 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS)
Spears, J., Barki, H., Barton, R., (2013) “Theorizing the Concept and Role of Assurance in Information Systems Security,” Information & Management, vol. 50(7), pp. 598-605
Spears, J., Parish, J., (2013) “Security Requirements Identification from Conceptual Models in Systems Analysis and Design: the Fun & Fitness, Inc. Case," Journal of Information Systems Education, Special Issue: Incorporating Global Information Security and Assurance in I.S. Education, vol. 24(1), pp. 17-30
Spears, J., (2013) “The Effects of Notice versus Awareness: An Empirical Examination of an Online Consumer’s Privacy Risk Treatment,” the 46th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS)
Spears, J., (2012) “Conceptualizing Data Security Threats and Countermeasures in the E-Discovery Process with Misuse Cases,” Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS)
Spears, J., Barki, H., (2010) “User Participation in IS Security,” MIS Quarterly, vol. 34(3), pp. 503-522
Spears, J., (2005) “A Holistic Risk Analysis Method for Identifying Information Security Risks,” in: Security Management, Integrity, and Internal Control in Information Systems, P. Dowland, S. Furnell, B. Thuraisingham and X.S. Wang (eds.), Springer Publishers, pp. 185-202.