Protecting critical systems and sensitive information is a top priority for all organizations who rely on digital systems to deliver services and meet the needs of its stakeholders.
Enhancing one’s cybersecurity posture is becoming more and more of a challenge given the pace of technology evolution, the increase in threat actor capabilities such as use of Generative AI. Additionally, meeting regulatory obligations and managing government oversight add extra challenges to keeping a strong cybersecurity posture.
In this article, we will look at the contents of cybersecurity policies and how to structure them effectively to enhance the organizational security posture.
Cybersecurity policies are structured frameworks designed to protect an organization’s information and systems from evolving cyber threats. They include documented steps and guidelines aligned with security goals, covering corporate assets, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) protocols, and broader enterprise risk management.
Depending on the organization’s approach, these policies may be either detailed or high-level, accompanied by more specific procedures. Key details in any cyber policy will:
The cost of cybercrime is estimated to be worth $9.22 trillion in 2024, with further increases anticipated next year. To counter these risks and meet cybersecurity obligations, organizations must choose, implement and maintain strong safeguards. These measures should protect the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of their digital data.
Of the many components of cybersecurity, governance is key because it provides direction for the organization in line with strategic and compliance requirements from the board. Governance establishes the organizational attitude to cybersecurity, communicates high-level requirements to management, then monitors the implementation.
Cybersecurity policies are one type of governance controls that direct the enterprise’s management, employees, vendors, partners and other interested parties to understand the board’s requirements for cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity policies strengthen security assurance, either as part of a single, comprehensive organizational policy or as separate policies that address specific groups of requirements.
Let’s look at how one can write a policy for internet security:
According to ISO/IEC 27032:2023 Cybersecurity Guidelines for Internet Security, organizations should prepare and publish a policy concerning internet security which should address the following areas:
This cybersecurity policy should be based on the organization's risk assessment and be tailored to its specific needs.
Organizations with higher exposure due to their economic valuation, amount of PII held, or strategic positioning need policies that cover specific attack vector scenarios in greater depth. These scenarios include social engineering attacks, zero-day attacks, privacy attacks, hacking, and malware.
Your organization can choose to write these policies as either detailed or high-level documents, paired with more specific procedures. These details define the roles, methods, processes, and technical controls that protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of digital assets, while also covering key attributes like authenticity, accountability, non-repudiation, and reliability. Industry frameworks such as CMMC, NIST, and COBIT can help guide the appropriate level of detail.
The ISO/IEC 27002:2022 guidelines for information security controls specify the kind of statements that should be included in an information security policy:
Some of the popular cybersecurity topic-specific policies that cover different focus areas include:
To ensure that only authorized users access information and associated digital assets and to prevent unauthorized access. Topics include need-to-know/need-to-use principles, segregation of duties, rights management for joiner, movers, and leavers, and privilege management.
To maintain the security of information transferred within an organization and with any external interested party. Topics include information transfer agreements, encryption requirements during transfer, labelling of information, and controls to ensure traceability and non-repudiation.
To protect information against the risks introduced by using user endpoint devices. Topics include device registration, restrictions on software installation, updating, protection, storage encryption, and network connections.
To protect information in networks and its supporting information processing facilities from compromise via the network. Topics include network management, traffic segregation, filtering, logging, and restrictions.
To ensure quick, effective, consistent and orderly response to information security incidents, including communication on information security events. Topics include classification, prioritization, escalation, evidence handling, and reporting.
To enable recovery from loss of data or systems by addressing the organization’s data retention and information security requirements. Topics include business requirements e.g. RTO, backup methods, testing approach, and encryption requirements.
To ensure proper and effective use of cryptography to protect the confidentiality, authenticity or integrity of information according to business and information security requirements. Topics include key management, encryption approach, and contractual requirements for encryption providers.
To ensure identification and understanding of protection needs of information in accordance with its importance to the organization. Topics include conventions for classification, and approaches for handling different information types.
As cybersecurity policies should be designed with the audience’s context in mind, making them accessible for stakeholders to ensure compliance. Most people struggle to read lengthy internet terms and conditions, and extensive policies can be even more challenging.
The VeriSM service management guidance specifies that apart from document control elements (title, applicability, approval), effective policies should be brief and answer three questions:
According to the ITIL 4 Direct, Plan and Improve publication, a policy that is defined but not followed is useless. Some recommendations that can help make cybersecurity policies more effective include:
In today’s evolving digital world, strong cybersecurity policies are essential to protecting sensitive information and maintaining organizational resilience. By creating clear, practical, and adaptable policies, organizations can better safeguard their assets while ensuring compliance with regulatory and stakeholder expectations.
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This posting does not necessarily represent Splunk's position, strategies or opinion.