An information security policy is a set of rules enacted by an organization to ensure that all users of networks or the IT structure within the organization’s domain abide by the prescriptions regarding the security of data stored digitally within the boundaries the organization stretches its authority.
An information security policy governs the protection of information, which is one of the many assets a corporation needs to protect. We will discuss some of the most important aspects a person should take into account when contemplating developing an information security policy.
Thinking logically, one would say that a policy should be as broad as the creators want it to be: basically, everything from A to Z in terms of IT security. For that reason, we will be emphasizing a few key elements. However, you should note that organizations have liberty of thought when creating their own guidelines.
Institutions create information security policies for a variety of reasons:
An information security policy should address all data, programs, systems, facilities, other tech infrastructure, users of technology and third parties in a given organization, without exception.
An organization that strives to compose a working information security policy needs to have well-defined objectives concerning security and strategy. Management must agree on these objectives: any existing disagreements in this context may render the whole project dysfunctional.
The most important thing that a security professional should remember is that his knowledge of the security management practices would allow him to incorporate them into the documents he is entrusted to draft. That is a guarantee for completeness, quality and workability.
Simplification of policy language is one thing that may smooth away the differences and guarantee consensus among management staff. Ambiguous expressions are to be avoided, and authors should take care to use the correct meaning of terms or common words. For instance, “musts” express negotiability, whereas “shoulds” denote a certain level of discretion. I
Ideally, the policy’s writing must be brief and to the point. Redundant wording makes documents long-winded or even illegible, and having too many extraneous details may make it difficult to achieve full compliance.
How management views IT security is one of the first steps when a person intends to enforce new rules in this department. A security professional should make sure that the information security policy is considered to be as important as other policies enacted within the corporation. In cases where an organization has a very large structure, policies may differ and therefore be segregated in order to define the dealings in the intended subset of this organization.
Information security is considered as safeguarding three main objectives:
Donn Parker, one of the pioneers in the field of IT security, expanded this threefold paradigm by suggesting additional objectives: “authenticity” and “utility”.
Typically, a security policy has a hierarchical pattern. Junior staff is usually required not to share the little amount of information they have unless explicitly authorized. Conversely, a senior manager may have enough authority to make a decision about what data can be shared and with whom, which means that they are not tied down by the same information security policy terms. This means that the information security policy should address every basic position in the organization with specifications that will clarify their authorization.
Policy refinement takes place at the same time as defining the administrative control or authority people in the organization have. Essentially, it is a hierarchy-based delegation of control in which one may have authority over his own work, a project manager has authority over project files belonging to a group he is appointed to and the system administrator has authority solely over system files.
A user may have the need-to-know for a particular type of information. Therefore, data must have enough granularity to allow the appropriate authorized access and no more. This is all about finding the delicate balance between permitting access to those who need to use the data as part of their job and denying such to unauthorized entities.
Access to the company’s network and servers should be via unique logins that require authentication in the form of either passwords, biometrics, ID cards or tokens etc. Monitoring on all systems must be implemented to record login attempts (both successful ones and failures) and the exact date and time of logon and logoff.
As the IT security program matures, the policy may need updating. While doing so will not necessarily guarantee an improvement in security, it is nevertheless a sensible recommendation.
Data can have different values. Gradations in the value index may impose separation and specific handling regimes/procedures for each kind. An information classification system will therefore help with the protection of data that has a significant importance for the organization and leave out insignificant information that would otherwise overburden the organization’s resources.
A data classification policy may arrange the entire set of information as follows:
Data owners should determine both the data classification and the exact measures a data custodian needs to take to preserve the integrity in accordance to that level.
In this part, we could find clauses that stipulate:
Sharing IT security policies with staff is a critical step. Making them read and acknowledge a document does not necessarily mean that they are familiar with and understand the new policies. On the other hand, a training session would engage employees and ensure they understand the procedures and mechanisms in place to protect the data.
Such an awareness training session should touch on a broad scope of vital topics: how to collect/use/delete data, maintain data quality, records management, confidentiality, privacy, appropriate utilization of IT systems, correct usage social networking and so on. A small test at the end is perhaps a good idea.
Things to consider in this area generally focus on the responsibility of persons appointed to carry out the implementation, education, incident response, user access reviews and periodic updates of an information security policy.
Prevention of theft, information know-how and industrial secrets that could benefit competitors are among the most cited reasons as to why a business may want to employ an information security policy to defend its digital assets and intellectual rights.
There are a number of different pieces of legislation which will or may affect the organization’s security procedures. For example, in the UK, a list of relevant legislation would include:
An information security policy may also include a number of different items. These include, but are not limited to: virus protection procedure, intrusion detection procedure, incident response, remote work procedure, technical guidelines, audit, employee requirements, consequences for non-compliance, disciplinary actions, terminated employees, physical security of IT, references to supporting documents and more.
Many organizations simply choose to download IT policy samples from a website and copy/paste this ready-made material. This is a careless attempt to readjust their objectives and policy goals to fit a standard, too-broad shape. But one size doesn’t fit all, and being careless with an information security policy is dangerous.
A high-grade information security policy can make the difference between a growing business and an unsuccessful one. Improved efficiency, increased productivity, clarity of the objectives each entity has, understanding what IT and data should be secured and why, identifying the type and levels of security required and defining the applicable information security best practices are enough reasons to back up this statement. If you want to lead a prosperous company in today’s digital era, you certainly need to have a good information security policy.
Dimitar Kostadinov applied for a 6-year Master’s program in Bulgarian and European Law at the University of Ruse, and was enrolled in 2002 following high school. He obtained a Master degree in 2009. From 2008-2012, Dimitar held a job as data entry & research for the American company Law Seminars International and its Bulgarian-Slovenian business partner DATA LAB. In 2011, he was admitted Law and Politics of International Security to Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands, graduating in August of 2012. Dimitar also holds an LL.M. diploma in Intellectual Property Rights & ICT Law from KU Leuven (Brussels, Belgium). Besides legal studies, he is particularly interested in Internet of Things, Big Data, privacy & data protection, electronic contracts, electronic business, electronic media, telecoms, and cybercrime. Dimitar attended the 6th Annual Internet of Things European summit organized by Forum Europe in Brussels.
Management, compliance & auditing
Management, compliance & auditing
November 18, 2023
Management, compliance & auditing
Management, compliance & auditing
