Information Security Policy: Overview, Key Elements and Best Practices
Organizational policies act as the foundation for many programs, rules and guidelines by providing a framework to ensure clarity and consistency around an organization's operations. The importance of information security can't be overstated. If compromised, customer and employee data, intellectual property, trade secrets and other highly sensitive and valuable information can mean the downfall of an organization, which makes keeping it secure one of the most critical operations to maintain. Therefore, a policy accounting for information security becomes an expected progression. With so many different types of data, systems that handle and store it, users that access it and risks that threaten its safety, it becomes increasingly important to have a documented information security policy. Furthermore, compliance requirements regulate ways in which organizations need to keep this information private and secure, further promoting the need for a document that will ensure those requirements are met. Regardless of size or industry, every organization needs a documented information security policy to help protect their data and valuable assets. But where to begin? What is an information security policy? An information security policy (ISP) is a high-level policy that enforces a set of rules, guidelines and procedures that are adopted by an organization to ensure all information technology assets and resources are used and managed in a way that protects their confidentiality, integrity and availability. Typically, an ISP would apply to all organization's users and IT data as well as infrastructure, networks, systems, third and fourth parties. Information security policies help organizations ensure that all users understand and apply the rules and guidelines, practice acceptable use of an organization's IT resources, and know how to act. Ultimately, the ISP's goal is to provide valuable direction to users with regard to security. The way an effective policy is shaped and customized is based on how an organization and its members operate and approach information. ISP sets the tone for the implementation of security controls that will address an organization's relevant cybersecurity risks and procedures to mitigate them as well as the responsibilities needed to manage security properly. Furthermore, it's implemented in a way that supports their business objectives while adhering to industry standards and regulatory requirements. Organizations across industries design and implement security policies for many reasons. These include establishing a foundational approach to information security; documenting measures, procedures and expected behaviours that support and dictate the direction of overall security management; protecting customer and user data; complying with industry and regulatory requirements; and ultimately protecting their reputation. The CIA triad As mentioned, the main goal of an IT security policy is to maintain the confidentiality, integrity and availability of an organization's systems and information. Those three principles—confidentiality, integrity and availability—make up what is known as the CIA triad, a somewhat outdated, but still well-known model that remains at the foundation of many organizations' security infrastructure and security programs. Confidentiality refers to an organization's efforts to keep sensitive data private. Personally identifiable information (PII), credit card data, intellectual property, trade sectors and other sensitive information need to remain private and accessible only to authorized users. This is generally conducted by controlling access to data, often seen in the form of two-factor authentication when logging into accounts or accessing systems, apps, and the like. Integrity in this context describes data that can be trusted. This means that data needs to be kept accurate and reliable during its entire lifecycle, so that it can't be tampered with or altered by unauthorized users. In...