A security policy is a collection of rules and standards that define how security is implemented within an organization. This document also outlines the primary risks, and measures for their prevention, detection, and mitigation. The organization’s management approves the security policy, which is then sent to all employees and external contractors.
The term “security policy” is also used to refer to the system rules and settings that govern access to an organization’s devices, software, and data.
What is a security policy for?
A security policy fulfills the following objectives.
- It establishes the procedures for handling sensitive data and granting access to information assets, as well as outlines general security practices to protect against threats and manage organizational resources. It also specifies the actions to be taken, and the responsible individuals, in the event of a security incident. This simplifies information security decision-making and enables centralized communication of security regulations to employees.
- It ensures regulatory compliance. Some countries and industries mandate this document by law: implementing and enforcing a security policy is not optional, and failure to do so may result in legal consequences. In all other instances, the security policy can explicitly outline the regulations and standards set by the governing body.
Security policy contents
As a rule, a corporate security policy includes the following components:
- Definition, objectives, and principles of information security within the organization.
- Standards and requirements for various aspects of security, such as:
- access management, including granting remote access to the corporate network, onboarding new employees, and revoking access upon termination;
- use of computer hardware and information systems;
- security incident management, including all stages of incident response: preparation, identification, containment, eradication, recovery, and implementing improvements;
- malware protection;
- corporate data backups;
- best practices for password creation and storage, including password expiration policies, minimum length requirements, permitted character sets, and prohibited password lists;
- management of changes in the organization’s information system, including the procedure and frequency of their implementation;
- employee training.
- Measures and technology that are used to enforce the established standards.
- Authorities, responsibilities, and duties of departments and units within the security sector. This includes defining individual accountability for designated personnel and outlining procedures for addressing users who violate or are incapable of complying with security policy mandates.
- Provisions on handling deviations and exceptions to the outlined rules.
Additionally, in some cases, a security policy may cover steps to ensure the physical security of facilities and employees, including access control rules, safety and labor protection requirements, equipment handling standards, and more.