Security culture is the ideas, customs and social behaviors of a group of people, that impacts their security. Security culture is a subset of the larger cultural scope of any particular people or group. Today, "security culture" describes the kind of behaviors organizations would like to see in their employees in areas like cybersecurity, physical security, and personnel security. Government institutions within defense, police and intelligence agencies use the term to explain the focus on security and the need to train behaviors that are coherent to the security posture and needs of the organization.
All groups of people have a security culture. The difference between groups is determined by the level of security focus in their culture, which can be measured on a continuum from bad to excellent. Groups who need secrecy of their information, or have determined they require a higher level of security, tend to build better security cultures.
Activist groups and other groups who have a focus on a secure behavior of their followers also use the term to protect themselves from governmental and other adversaries. For example, a community whose members may engage in direct action or other sensitive activities will promote practices which minimize the risks of such activities being subverted by outside parties or targeted for sabotage. The main focus of a security culture is keeping infiltrators and other potentially damaging parties out.