IT Cyber Security Policy

To be successful, companies need to embrace a concept of holistic cyber resilience, which improves their chances of resisting threats from both internal and external sources and managing those risks effectively. With this policy, outline and define expectations from the employees in your organisation with respect to the process followed in the organisation for IT cyber security and also ensure commitment of employees to adhere to IT Cyber Security policy.

This policy template is available for download in Word format.

With this IT Cyber Security policy template you can:

• Specify risk & consequences
• Implement a secure network
• Create an employee contract, do’s and don’ts by employees
• Define ways to report breach, investigate incidents

In just a few minutes, you will be able to set up a policy that covers most of the necessary information required. This policy covers rules to be followed with respect to:

• Risk to company and data breach
• Prevention and corrective measures
• Consequences of non-compliance
• Non-Disclosure Agreement to be signed by all employees for adherence and lots more

IT Cyber Security Policy

Objective

To be successful, companies need to embrace a concept of holistic cyber resilience, which improves their chances of resisting threats from both internal and external sources and managing those risks effectively.

Scope and Applicability

This policy applies to all Company employees. This policy is owned by < Name of the Person > and reachable @ < Contact Number > and < email address >

Policy/Process

Understand Risk

Cyber resilience must be a primary focus of boards and senior management. It is not something that can be left solely to the chief information officer. As strategic risk managers, board members need to take personal, legal, ethical and fiduciary responsibility for the company’s exposure to cyber compromise, regularly addressing the risk of cyber failure, and ensuring that cyber resilience is built into all aspects of their business and operating models.

Understand Consequences

We can all imagine how a prolonged breakdown of cyber security in the telecommunication sector, the banking industry or an airline could be catastrophic on a national scale. At the small and medium-size business level, cyber disruption could be equally disastrous both for the business and customers who had placed their trust in it. For any enterprise, the failure or disruption of operating systems or the compromise of intellectual property, commercially sensitive information, or data held in trust for customers (such as personal and credit card details) will be reflected in the company’s reputation, credibility, and, ultimately, its profitability.

Understand Systems and Data

Accurate assessment of risk and the consequences of failure is facilitated by a clear understanding of a company’s IT systems and the data it holds. If boards and senior management understand the value of their data to those of malicious intent, if they know where that data is, how it is protected, and who has access to it (including external sub-contractors), then they are in a stronger position to implement a cyber resilient business model.

Regular Cyber Hygiene

While some regulations are complicated and need the support of technical specialists, just four strategies (regular proprietary patching of software, as well as of operating systems; minimising the number of systems administrators with privileged access; and application white-listing) will help mitigate about 85% of the current panoply of malicious intrusions.

Redundancy, Backup Systems and Response Plans

There have been enough publicised instances of malicious destruction of data, or denial of access to data (as with ransomware), not to mention human errors causing system failure or data loss, to make it axiomatic that companies build in-system redundancy and regular real-time backing up of data and records.

Redundancy and backup systems will be essential to recovery after a successful attack. Boards must also ensure that their enterprise war games and regularly exercised response plans can be implemented immediately if an attempted attack is detected. Boards need to be proactive in ensuring these elementary measures are implemented assiduously.

Proprietary Malware Protection Systems

There is a growing range of off-the-shelf proprietary anti-malware systems available to the ordinary cyber consumer. Cyber security technology companies are developing solutions that have moved beyond the concept of ever-higher digital firewalls, necessary as those are, into exciting new realms of predictive and intuitive digital analysis, providing deeper layers of security. Major consulting companies now promote one-stop-shop cybersecurity management packages tailored to the needs of a particular enterprise.

Access Professional Expertise

Cyber security technology is now so complex that few companies can afford the expertise and resources to achieve cyber resilience on a solely in-house basis. Access to regular, independent, professional advice on cyber security is essential, as attack methodologies proliferate in depth and breadth. Increasingly niche cyber security providers, in addition to the larger business consulting firms, have the expertise and access to sophisticated protective cyber security systems that will assist boards to support their CIOs with professional advice and customised software solutions. What can never be outsourced, however, is the ultimate responsibility for cyber security within an enterprise.

Continuous Investment

The tools of cyber offence are developing so rapidly that the tools of defence are constantly struggling to keep up. For this reason, investment in cyber security can never be a one-off activity. Effective cyber resilience requires continuous investment for upgrading and refining protective systems as a normal cost of business.

The Human Factor

While the vast majority of cyber-attacks emanate from outside the enterprise, human error within the organisation, including the ones due to a lack of security awareness, is an important contributor to security breaches. Cyber resilience requires the active participation not simply of the company’s systems administrators, but of all staff who access the system and who, as normal human beings, are tempted to click on spam or open unverified email attachments. Without regular staff training and security skill upgradation, company expenditures on the most sophisticated protection systems will be less effective. A strong culture of cyber security resilience, including an informed and committed staff, creates an environment where peer behaviour reinforces positive security practices.

In my experience, staff react positively to examples-based cyber security training. They lap up the narrative of cyber security incidents. They are intrigued by the technology of cyber offence and defence, and they respond well to being included as partners within the enterprise’s cyber security effort. Cybersecurity can be professionally rewarding and fun. For some, however, it is more than fun. Another source of cyber attack is the trusted insider, a person who uses access to the company's IT system either to steal proprietary information or to vent a grievance by disrupting or disabling the system. A combination of strong security controls, including access and usage monitoring, together with sound staff management practices, can help mitigate this threat.

Report Breaches

While it is up to stock exchanges and governments to set rules for company reporting of significant cyber security breaches, it is important that anti-malware service providers and government cyber security agencies be informed of the nature and extent of cyber attacks. Timely reporting assists the anti-hackers to develop and deliver new solutions to manage and neutralise malicious intrusions. In this sense, breach reporting is both an act of self-help and an important element of cyber resilience.

Special Circumstance and Exception

There is no exception to this policy. Any Deviation from this policy has to be approved by < IT Director >. Any changes to the policy has to be approved by Legal and Compliance.

Non-compliance and Consequence

Any non-compliance of the policy must be brought to the notice of the IT Security team and the Manager immediately with as much evidence as possible. Any such violation of the policy will be dealt with accordingly as appropriate by the IT Security team along with the Manager and HR.