Cyber Security Policies

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Cyber security policies are a set of rules of how companies should practice responsible security. It begins with general security expectations, roles, and responsibilities inside the company. There are a set of templates that platforms offer to make a well efficient cuber policy.

The larger organizations have more clauses as they have more stakeholders inside and outside. While the smaller ones follow basic precautions to ensure safety at the operational level. They are mainly –

1. Rules for using email encryption

2. Steps for accessing work applications remotely

3. Guidelines for creating and safeguarding passwords

4. Rules on the use of social media

But the size is secondary, the priority should be on sensitive data, risk analysis, and previous breaches. All organizations should primarily focus on these things, no matter what. They should make these policies easy to understand so that more people can follow them.

And all employees should make it a point to follow them for a more secure workspace. There are multiple benefits of having a cybersecurity policy in place, for organizations as well as for the employees. They are mainly –

Importance of Cyber Security Policies

1. Efficient

The policies are to ensure safety at all times, resulting in higher consistency. The money and other resources are also managed more effectively due to this. The employees should be well aware of all the policies and should avoid mistakes and work more productively.

2. Disciplined and Accountable

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These policies make companies accountable to follow certain sets of instructions, which they will not otherwise. And this in turn leads to a more systematic approach because every mistake on the company’s front needs disciplinary action.

3. Business Contracts

It has the ability to manage business deals as well. When companies enter a contract, they need to share their security policies beforehand. A similar policy can lead to a longer relationship while some can lead to complications as well.

4. Security Literacy

The employees receive exposure to ethical security policies through the organizations. And now this is for all of the employees as such details come in their company contract. This leads to an increase in security literacy and fewer breaches in the company due to human errors.

Who should write the cyber security policies?

1. C-level Business Executives

They define the security needs in a business with the list of resources needed. A policy without enough is next to useless.

2. Legal Department

They analyze the policy to check if they align with government regulation and legal requirements.

3. Human Resources Department

They play a major role in employee policies and ensure that every new recruitment goes through it before beginning.

4. Procurement Departments

They manage the cloud services and verify if the server/ provides is correct or not. It runs a background check on them to see if they meet the security needs of the organization.

5. Board Members

They are the major risk holders in the company and thus review every policy before approving it. They enter the process at the final stage mainly and are the decision-makers in this case.

6. External Personnel

Companies may also call expertise from outside to contribute to policymaking. They follow a well-proven process while making successful policies.

Updating Cyber Security Policies

Cyber policies should change with time. The ideal frequency should be every 12 months so that companies can stay up to date. The stakeholders should obviously review all this before processing to avoid negligence. Avoiding it can lead to threats as well as fines and lawsuits. Some things to keep in mind are –

1. Comparison of policy guidelines with the actual practices

2. Is it catering to current work processes?

3. Where is the enforcement of the policy needed?

4. Organization’s exposure to internal threats

5. Risk evaluation of external threats

Cyber Security Policies

Some of the common cybersecurity policies that organizations follow are –

1. Virus and Spyware Protection policy

This policy ensures the detection and removal of viruses by reducing security risk. It uses digital signatures to authenticate signals and detect suspicious behavior. It also uses SONAR heuristics and reputation data in its security process.

2. Intrusion Prevention policy

This policy has an automatic feature to detect network or browser attacks. It also protects applications from vulnerabilities and uses legal ways for content checking. This includes data packages and malware as well.

3. LiveUpdate policy

LiveUpdate Content policy and LiveUpdate Setting Policy are their two types. The policy has features about client computers downloading and when the content updates. The policy defines the computer needs of how the client can check for updates and what is the frequency for it.

4. Application and Device Control

This policy is for the protection of the system’s resources from different parts of the system. This applies to applications in the computer and the peripheral devices attached to a system. The device control policy is applicable for Apple and Windows while the application control is only for Windows.

5. Exceptions policy

This policy gives a free pass to many applications and processes from undergoing virus and malware scans.

6. Host Integrity policy

This policy allows companies to make changes to a client’s computer for security reasons. This includes defining, enforcing, and restoring the computers for data protection.

7. Access Control Policy

This policy defines the outlines accessible to the company’s employees in terms of data and information. NIST’s Access Control and Implementation Guides are usually part of this policy. Other important instructions are – user access, network access controls, corporate passwords, etc. Above this, it may have workstation security, corporate systems monitoring, and more.

8. Change Management Policy

This policy defines the formal process that companies need to go through for making IT and security changes. This is to monitor such changes and increase awareness about standardizing such processes for less impact on its functioning.

9. Information Security Policy

These high-level policies are for employees to keep the company’s rules and guidelines in mind and follow them in terms of security. It is to make them accountable for handling company information every day and ensure that they are alert at all times.

10. Incident Response Policy

A policy to manage an incident and remediate the impact it on the company. This policy defines how companies can handle incidents while reducing the damages at every front.

Business operations, customers, and cost are the major factors at risk in such situations. Disaster recovery policy is like an extension of this but it includes both cybersecurity and IT teams’ input.

11. Remote Access Policy

This policy defines the method to remotely connect an organization’s internal networks. The company’s network often reaches insecure network locations where they come under the vulnerable radar. This policy ensures safety in times like this.

12. Business Continuity Plan

It uses the recovery plan to restore everything essential for the company’s work. Important hardware, applications, and data are all part of this emergency restoration process. Basically, it defines how an organization should act during an emergency.

13. Acceptable Use Of Information Systems Policy

This policy lays the name of the computer equipment allowed at the company. It ensures that users and the company are under protection. There is a limitation to risk as unauthorized devices will not bring in virus attacks and malware inside the company.

14. Account Management

This policy establishes a process for creating and administering accounts that have access to the information. This may be an employee’s or client’s account, they need to abide by the policy while using it and at the time of removal.

15. Owned Mobile Device Acceptable Use And Security Policy

The employees may have an urgent need to use a network outside the company’s control and this policy for the exact purpose. The users need to follow instructions under this policy while using such networks to avoid data theft and security issues.

16. Clean Desk Policy

The idea is to promote a more organized desk inside the office to avoid information theft from users’ workspace. The employees need to be mindful of this and treat their workspace with care as it is the home to confidential information.

17. E-Commerce Policy

The companies which have an active e-commerce presence need to follow this policy. It ensures that the management and operation of these services are according to the policy guidelines.

18. E-Mail Policy

Emails are the main means of communication in the formal sector. And thus this policy regulates the rules for handling emails inside an organization. This may be from receiving or sending the end of the email.

19. Firewall Policy

The firewall is present in all company’s network and this policy monitors its traffic. It ensures that internet traffic coming is secure and doesn’t pose any threat to the organization.

20. Hardware And Electronic Media Disposal Policy

This policy covers all hardware and fixed technical assets owned by the company. The idea is to sell the assets before they depreciate to their lowest value and make money out of them. The policy has instructions on how to sell it with proper legal procedure. This ensures that companies are using the latest technology inside.

21. Information Technology Purchasing Policy

When the company uses its funds to buy any technical asset or service, it needs to follow this policy. It has a set of standards, procedures, and restrictions that they need to abide by while making a purchase decision. And IT department must be in the loop while this process goes on.

22. Internet Policy

No company in the world now functions without the internet. And this policy is useful for all of them as it has regulations about using company internet. This for employees, clients, and even other stakeholders.

23. Log Management Policy

This is a data entry system where the companies maintain a record of security performance. It has columns for enhancing security, management, resources, and regulatory compliance.

24. Safeguarding Member Information Policy

This policy aligns with the federal laws that companies need to follow. It lays down instructions about the laws companies need to follow and the consequences of not following them.

25. Network Security And VPN Acceptable Use Policy

This policy defines the process of connecting a company’s network to any host. This reduces the damages that may come with unauthorized users, Not following it can lead to – intellectual property loss, goodwill loss, etc.

26. Personal Device Acceptable Use And Security Policy

Many employees in the firms now prefer to work on their own devices for business purposes. this policy allows that with ceratin standards, procedures, and restrictions that these users need to follow. This is applicable for using mobile phones inside the organization as well.

27. Password Policy

This policy restricts companies from using easy to guess passwords, they should create strong passwords and change them frequently to avoid security breaches.

28. Patch Management Policy

The security vulnerabilities come in hand with computer systems. And this policy enables companies to use software patches to overcome these vulnerabilities. This takes into accounts both hardware and software.

29. Physical Access Control Policy

The departments inside the company using the information system need to follow this policy at all times. Because they have physical access to the equipment, this policy regulates that they are following proper security measures.

30. Cloud Computing Adoption

Cloud networks have also become famous amongst organizations. This policy has regulations on how to make appropriate cloud adoption decisions ethically. It has a list of acceptable and unacceptable cloud adoption case studies that companies can refer to.

31. Server Security Policy

This policy defines internal server base configuration standards and restrictions. This is applicable for servers owned by the company as well as outsourced by them.

32. Social Media Acceptable Use Policy

The use of social media in business has grown rapidly in the last few years. And this has led to a blurring line between personal and business accounts. To overcome this need, tools to centrally manage accounts have come up in the market. This policy takes care of these things to maintain security inside the organization.

33. Systems Monitoring And Auditing Policy

This policy is for monitoring and auditing systems to identify any sort of inappropriate actions. The monitoring takes place in real-time while auditing is done on the collected data.

34. Vulnerability Assessment

This policy lays down the frequency for vulnerability assessments. This shows that companies are alert enough to identify security issues and resolve them at the right time. The information remains secure at all levels under this policy.

35. Website Operation Policy

The companies which have an active website need to follow this policy for communication and updates of the website. It ensures information protection. Standard confidentiality and ethical transactions on the website.

36. Workstation Configuration Security Policy

This policy is to increase the productivity of employees by enhancing the security and quality of workstations. The IT teams need to follow them while setting up workstations and the users need to follow them while using the stations.

37. Server Virtualization

It defines the server virtualization requirements and how to manage them. It brings into account that server virtualization is as important as business objectives. Platform Architecture policies are the major ones to monitor all server virtualization technologies.

38. Wireless Connectivity Policy

The companies are very particular about the wifi networks they and their employees use. And it is largely because of this policy. It defines the guidelines that organizations need to follow while using free and unsecured Wi-Fi, to keep the data safe.

39. Telecommuting Policy

This policy is for the telecommunication industry and its employees. It defines telecommuting work arrangement and accountability for the equipment that employees use provided by the company.

40. Internet Of Things Policy

This policy designs a flow of IoT structure ensuring its safety and smooth operation. These devices have become relevant in the industry and a policy for their security is essential for the company.

Conclusion

The policies for cybersecurity are not a foreign concept and have been there for a long time. And looking at the growing technology scenario, they are bound to be part of our daily lives. Even when artificial intelligence takes over and bots take care of cybersecurity, humans will make up the organization.

And they need regular supervision to work efficiently and ethically. And thus these policies become an integral part of any organization. Following them can ensure minimum risk and maximum protection.

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