The corporate ecosystem has become a complicated tangle of devices, software and employees who must know how to make the best use of the resources offered to them, avoiding simple mistakes that in particular situations could lead to data loss or legal problems.
Such complexity requires total collaboration of all parties, as it is now well-established that security does not depend solely on the team in charge of controlling the perimeter of the company itself, but on all employees who must therefore be educated in the intelligent and safe use of the means at their disposal.
What is a policy and what are the standards to which a company must adhere?
An information security policy is a short, simple document that collects the basic guidelines for ensuring the security of the company and its employees. These guidelines are often drafted by an ICT expert and are then approved by the board of directors, which then writes the document electronically.
In case we are talking about medium-to-large companies, it is necessary to put before this process the identification of possible threats and the education of the personnel who must subsequently sign, if deemed necessary, the document to be formalized.
According to the "Information Security Management System" (ISMS), the international standard that companies should consider is the "ISO/IEC 27001 Standard," which is based on 3 cardinal points:
Analysis and monitoring of the organization to determine the presence of risks, vulnerabilities and threats;
Development of strategies to defend the organization;
Development of an efficient management of the production process to control the predefined requirements in every situation so that security is always guaranteed.
Why apply a security policy?
The importance of applying a cybersecurity policy lies in the legal and technical advantages it provides not only in the management sphere, but also on what concerns the protection of the employee, who could be charged with responsibility or sanctions due to the misbehavior operated against him by colleagues or possible attackers.
Consequently, the policy proves to be a convenient choice because:
It decreases the possibility of elaborate cyber attacks, such as phishing or social engineering, being successfully executed;
Allows for fewer resources to be devoted to security controls;
Increases the protection of customer and user information;
Simplifies recovery of operational status in the event of a data breach or critical attack (Incident Response policy).
A legal rationale is also added to these: the employer could risk being charged with conspiracy to commit cybercrime due to any errors performed by the employee alone since the lack of pre-established rules, normally expressed in a cybersecurity policy, is considered as facilitating the commission of the crime itself.
What are the recommended best practices?
The most recommended security practices within security policies are summarized below:
Install anti-malware software on every device in the company;
Keep operating systems and software adopted by staff constantly updated;
Automatically scan the contents of external media for malware or corrupted items;
Perform periodic backups of all data;
Configure permissions on various devices to prevent attackers from easily viewing confidential information;
Insert network filters to prevent browsing malicious sites;
Do not automatically open and execute attachments in emails;
Send confidential information only through encrypted emails;
Set up custom filters on corporate accounts to prevent scam or spam emails from reaching the employee's inbox;
Always provide a double authentication factor to ascertain the identity of an employee who requests access to confidential information or sends communications to other employees.
Conclusions
Adopting a cybersecurity policy is now a critical process that allows you to increase your company's productivity and security by developing a defensive strategy that is stable over time and easy to modify as needed.