Security policies are the bane of everyone’s existence. Those documents define the rules of your workplace, but you may not always agree with them. When creating these documents, it is important to balance them so that users can do their jobs, but the information systems are also protected in an organization. Now, you may ask yourself: What security documents should my organization have? Let’s explore some of these documents that assist an organization with staying secure.

Information Security Policy

The Information Security Policy is the core backbone of an organization’s security program. This policy outlines how an organization will protect its information assets and establish the grounds for the security program. This document is the overarching policy that will provide a security mission statement of the information security program, including roles and responsibilities, procedures for monitoring and enforcement, and guide the creation of other documents.

Acceptable usage policy (AUP)

An Acceptable Usage Policy, or AUPs, are essentially the workplace rules for interacting with assets that connect us to the network. These documents are meant to inform users what behavior is acceptable and what behavior they are not allowed to do while connecting to technology resources, as well as if resources are monitored to determine if any illegal or malicious behavior is occurring.

Training and awareness policy

A Training and Awareness Policy is essential to promote a security culture in an organization. This policy will define what training is required and what will be included in the education process. Training and awareness policies can consist of educational factors, including mandated HR training videos, phishing simulations, password standards, and any other key threats that may arise. Regular training and awareness assist employees in understanding their role in protecting an organization’s assets.

change management policy

A Change Management Policy ensures that all changes made within an organization are managed, approved, and tracked. This policy will define how changes are made and ensure that any changes are meaningful to the organization in a way that will not severely impact employees and customers. The change management policy includes planning, reviewing, approving, communicating, implementing, and documenting changes. Given that change management relies on timely and accurate steps, a formal and defined process is necessary to complete all the steps promptly.

incident response policy

The Incident Response Policy ensures a response plan exists for information security incidents. The policy should include information about the incident response team, personnel responsible for testing the policy’s effectiveness, and actions, means, and resources used to identify and recover compromised data. The different phases of the incident response process, including preparation, identification, containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident, will be defined, and the specific steps will be written. The most important part of this policy will be who should be notified of security incidents to ensure the proper channels are involved.

Remote Access Policy

An organization’s Remote Access Policy describes how employees can utilize an organization’s remote access resources. Remote work is highly popular, so ensuring a remote access policy exists is crucial. This policy will include that users must connect to VPNs to provide secure communications and keep data safe outside the organization’s network.

Concluding Thoughts

While this is just the tip of the iceberg regarding security policies across an organization, these are some of the ones that all users need to be aware of. Policies outline how interactions with network resources and specific tasks should be carried out to ensure they are completed to the organization’s standard. Following security policies ensures that systems remain protected and that users comply with their organization.