The most recent cyberattack on the famous airline Air Canada is a classic case of extortion.
According to a statement released by the company, their systems remained operational. Also, they plan to avoid such data breaches with enhancements in measures and cybersecurity policies.
Falling victim to a cyberattack can change the destiny of a business.
If you don’t want the status of your business to go from famous to notorious, work on cybersecurity policies.
Read on to get on track for creating effective cybersecurity policies:
Related Blog: Cyber Security 101: How To Protect Your Company From Cyber Attacks
What Are Cybersecurity Policies?
These are documents in writing providing technical and behavioural standards for every employee to follow.
Cybersecurity services maximize protection against ransomware attacks or similar events by setting up the right policies.
A company’s or organization’s security rules, practices, technology protections, and operational countermeasures are all present in the cybersecurity policies.
With the help of this policy, operations and security will collaborate to guarantee that the likelihood of a cyberattack is reduced.
Even if one occurs, the business executives, operations, and IT staff will all know exactly how to minimize damage.
Additionally, cybersecurity policies enable the IT staff to
- Make a robust plan
- Frequent testing
- Employ the best technologies
- Assess the organization’s response action to breaches regularly.
- Promotes internal communications to ensure all teams adhere to cybersecurity best practices.
When it comes to crisis management, effective communication and clear communication routes are also essential.
A study conducted at the University of Maryland’s Clark School states that every 39 seconds, there is an attack by hackers. Therefore, on average, it affects one in three Americans annually.
Classification of Cybersecurity Policies by Scope
There is a criterion for cybersecurity policies.
Here are the three types of cybersecurity policies you must know:
1. Organizational Security Policy
An organization’s commitment to information security and its security goals are outlined in its organizational security policy.
It can be considered the main document that serves as the basis for all other security policies.
Additionally, it influences the organization’s compliance objectives.
When the policy tackles progressively lower-level challenges, the organizational security policy is the most comprehensive.
It is most intangible, with an increase in aim and rule specificity.
2. System-Specific Policies
Information security guidelines specific to a certain system are the focus of system-specific security guidelines.
For instance, guidelines for data archiving systems, payroll systems, and customer-facing apps.
Usually, they state the goals of security and the operational security guidelines meant to help achieve them.
3. Problem-Specific
Security policies tailored to specific issues offer instructions for specific dangers or groups of risks.
For example, a company may develop a security strategy that addresses general email security or phishing attacks.
List of Cybersecurity Policies for Security
The purpose of implementing comprehensive cybersecurity policies is to give the IT staff direction for carrying out security processes.
Cybersecurity policies give clarity to employees and evidence of the measures they use to safeguard the company from security risks.
For a company to make solid cybersecurity policies, it must compare its list of policies against the ones mentioned below.
Basically, these are the areas a company’s cybersecurity policies should address:
- Acceptable Use Policy
- Acceptable Encryption
- Key Management Policy
- Policies for the Clean Desk
- Data Breach Response
- Disaster Recovery Plan
- Personnel Security
- End-User Encryption Key Security Procedure
How to Develop Cybersecurity Policies?
For developing cybersecurity programs and policies, you can use some easy tips.
1. Identify the Threats
For cybersecurity policies and procedures, the auditor needs to conduct a gap analysis to pave the way toward an effective plan.
These elements influence cybersecurity policy’s organizational structure:
- Technology
- Investors
- Offerings
- Sales
- Clients
- Stakeholders
Because normally, a cyber crisis in an organization begins with human intervention, you even need to incorporate training into your staff training program.
It’s important to recognize and rank your assets for any possible threats or hazards that can damage them.
2. Define Achievable Goals
Writing cybersecurity policies should start with attainable cybersecurity goals.
Make sure you share your objectives with your staff, clients, and investors as well.
You can start by signing up for high-quality cyber incident planning and response training or an ethical hacking course for important members of the IT and incident response teams.
3. Align with the Recognized Standards
Your policy needs to comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including federal ones.
Take these standards into account:
- Export Administration Regulations (EAR)
- International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)
- PCI Security Standards
Other regulations that comply with HIPAA
You may take a brief evaluation on trustworthy websites to determine whether your policy complies with the aforementioned regulations.
4. Evaluation
Companies should make sure that their cybersecurity policies are functioning properly by testing them.
It won’t be sensible to wait for a cybercrime to occur before assessing your cybersecurity policy’s efficacy.
To keep ahead of cyber threats, you need to regularly do cybersecurity assessments, including ransomware readiness assessments, NIST cyber health checks, incident response tabletop exercises, and ransomware tabletop exercises.
Why Use Cybersecurity Services?
Companies offering these cybersecurity services use automation, cloud and fully managed security services and much more.
Cybersecurity services proactive multi-layered approach to cyber security protection services to transform your company.
With the cybersecurity policies, these services enable your company to recognize, stop, and recover from a cyber attack incident.
For instance, Q4 Gems provides comprehensive cybersecurity services that encompass these domains:
Security posture, risk and compliance, cloud security, incident response, advanced malware and ransomware protection, risk management, risk assessment, and cloud security technology.
We provide cyber security and IT security risk assessment services that help companies get a clearer insight into cyberattacks and improve the security of the company.
FAQs
How frequently should cybersecurity policies be evaluated by an enterprise using the cobit 5 framework?
To stay ahead of the threats, companies should review policies at least once a year.
What are national cybersecurity policies?
The Department of Electronics and Information Technology’s National Cyber Security Policy provides a framework for policy (DeitY). Its goal is to defend against cyberattacks on both public and private infrastructure.
What part does cybersecurity play in encryption?
Protecting against ransomware attacks and cybercriminals requires the use of encryption.
What are cybersecurity insurance policies?
Cyber insurance is a type of policy that offers a defence against the consequences of cyberattacks.
Summary
With this quick overview of cybersecurity policies, it is evident that these can act as a barrier against cyberattacks for companies.
Developing and implementing solid cybersecurity frameworks or policies is not an easy or quick process.
In this situation, collaborating with certified cybersecurity specialists is the best approach to assist the employees.
