Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a theory of information security intelligence and examine the effects of managers’ information security intelligence (MISI) on employees’ procedural countermeasure awareness and information security policy (ISP) compliance intention. Design/methodology/approach A survey approach and structural equation modeling is utilized. Partial least squares (WarpPLS 6.0) and nonlinear algorithm are employed to analyze and examine the hypotheses. In total, 324 employees from companies in South Korea participated in the survey, which was conducted by a professional survey service company. Findings MISI positively affects employees’ awareness of information security procedural countermeasures; information security knowledge and problem-solving skills have positive effects on procedural countermeasures awareness; MISI increases employees’ compliance intention through procedural countermeasure awareness; and information security procedural countermeasures positively affect employees’ ISP compliance intention. Research limitations/implications This study proposes a theory of information security intelligence and examines its impacts on employees’ compliance intentions. The study highlights the mediating role of information security procedural countermeasures between information security intelligence and employees’ compliance intentions. Practical implications Managers should improve and explicitly demonstrate information security knowledge and problem-solving skills to increase employees’ ISP compliance intention. To protect the organization’s intellectual capital, managers should champion the development and promotion of PCM, rather than leave these functions to the information security group. Originality/value This is the first empirical study to propose and validate MISI.