Security+: Explain the Importance of Policies to Organizational Security

Explain the Importance of Policies to Organizational Security

Personnel

A Personnel policy is a set of guidelines and procedures that an organization has in place to manage the behavior and actions of its employees. It covers a broad range of areas, from hiring and onboarding to day-to-day operations and separation from the company.

Some Personnel policies are or cover the following areas:

Acceptable use policy: This policy outlines the acceptable use of company resources, including computers, internet, email, and social media. It informs employees of what is and is not allowed and what the consequences are if policy is violated.
Job rotation: Job rotation policy involves rotating employees through different job roles within the organization to provide cross-training and prevent fraud.
Mandatory vacation: A mandatory vacation policy requires employees to take a minimum amount of time off each year. This policy helps detect fraud or other illegal activities by giving someone else access to the employee's work during their absence.
Separation of duties: Separation of duties policy requires that no single employee has control over an entire process or system. This helps prevent fraud, errors, and unauthorized access.
Least privilege: Least privilege policy limits employee access to the minimum amount of data and systems necessary to perform their job.
Clean desk space: Clean desk policy requires employees to keep their work area clear of confidential or sensitive information. This helps prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information.
Background checks: Background checks policy outlines the procedures for conducting background checks on potential employees, vendors, and contractors.
Non-disclosure agreement (NDA): NDA policy requires employees to sign an agreement that they will not disclose company confidential information. This helps protect the company's sensitive information.
Social media analysis: Social media policy outlines guidelines for employee use of social media to ensure that employees do not harm the company's reputation.
Onboarding: Onboarding policy outlines the procedures for integrating new employees into the organization. This includes orientation, training, and support.
Offboarding: Offboarding policy outlines the procedures for separating employees from the organization. This includes exit interviews, returning company assets, and revoking access to systems and data.
User training: User training policy outlines the requirements for employee training in cybersecurity awareness, including gamification, capture the flag exercises, phishing campaigns and simulations, computer-based training (CBT), and role-based training.
Gamification: Gamification is the use of game elements such as points, rewards, and competition to make learning cybersecurity awareness more engaging and enjoyable for employees.
Capture the flag: Capture the flag exercises are cybersecurity challenges that simulate real-world attacks to teach employees about vulnerabilities and threats.
Phishing campaigns and simulations: Phishing campaigns and simulations are training exercises that simulate phishing attacks to teach employees how to recognize and respond to them.
Computer-based training (CBT): CBT is a form of training that uses interactive computer-based modules to teach employees cybersecurity awareness.
Role-based training: Role-based training is customized cybersecurity awareness training based on an employee's job role and level of access to systems and data.

Diversity of Training Techniques

Diversity of training techniques refers to the use of various methods and approaches to provide training and education to individuals in an organization. This can include traditional classroom-style training, computer-based training (CBT), role-playing, gamification, and simulations, among others. The use of a variety of training techniques can help to engage individuals with different learning styles, promote active learning, and enhance knowledge retention. It can also help to make training more interesting and enjoyable for individuals, increasing their motivation to participate and learn.

Third-Party Risk Management

Third-party risk management policies refer to the set of policies and procedures that an organization uses to manage the risks associated with its relationships with external entities, such as vendors, suppliers, business partners, and contractors.

Some third-party risk management policies are or cover the following areas:

Vendors: Third-party vendors provide products and services to organizations. Vendors may have access to sensitive information, systems, or networks, which may pose a risk to the organization's security posture. Vendor management policies are put in place to ensure that vendors meet the organization's security standards and compliance requirements.
Supply chain: A supply chain consists of all the entities involved in the production, distribution, and delivery of a product or service. Managing supply chain risks is important to ensure the security and integrity of the products and services that an organization delivers to its customers.
Business partners: Business partners are entities that an organization works with to achieve common business goals. Managing the security risks associated with business partnerships is crucial to protecting the organization's assets and reputation.
Service level agreement (SLA): An SLA is a contract between an organization and its vendor or service provider that outlines the agreed-upon level of service and performance. The SLA should also include provisions for security and data protection.
Memorandum of understanding (MOU): An MOU is a formal agreement between two or more parties that outlines the terms and details of a business arrangement, including security and privacy requirements.
Measurement systems analysis (MSA): MSA is a statistical analysis technique used to evaluate the performance and accuracy of a measurement system. In the context of third-party risk management policies, MSA may be used to evaluate the effectiveness of a vendor's security controls.
Business partnership agreement (BPA): A BPA is a legal document that establishes a formal relationship between two or more parties. The BPA may include provisions for security and data protection.
End of life (EOL): EOL refers to the date when a product or service is no longer supported by the vendor. It is important for organizations to have a plan for managing the security risks associated with end-of-life products and services.
End of service life (EOSL): EOSL refers to the date when a product or service is no longer supported by the vendor and is no longer receiving security updates or patches. Organizations should have a plan for managing the security risks associated with end-of-service-life products and services.
NDA: A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal agreement between two or more parties that outlines the confidential information that they will share and how it will be used and protected. NDAs are commonly used in the context of third-party relationships to protect sensitive information.

Data

Data policies are guidelines and procedures that an organization implements to manage data effectively and securely. Here are some elaborations on three types of data policies:

Classification: This policy outlines how data should be categorized based on its sensitivity, value, and criticality. Classification enables an organization to identify and prioritize protection measures based on the level of risk and potential impact if the data is compromised.
Governance: This policy defines how data should be collected, stored, managed, and used across the organization. It ensures that data is used ethically and legally and is compliant with relevant laws and regulations. Data governance policies help to maintain the quality, accuracy, completeness, consistency, and security of data throughout its lifecycle.
Retention: This policy specifies how long data should be retained, where it should be stored, and when it should be deleted or destroyed. Retention policies help organizations to manage their legal and regulatory compliance obligations, minimize risks and liabilities, and optimize data storage and usage. Retention policies may vary depending on the type and classification of data, as well as the industry and jurisdiction.

Overall, data policies provide a framework for effective data management and protection, and they should be regularly reviewed and updated to reflect changes in business, technology, and regulatory environments.

Credential Policies

Credential policies are guidelines and procedures that organizations implement to protect their credentials and sensitive data from unauthorized access, theft, or misuse. It includes policies for managing, storing, and protecting passwords, usernames, and other forms of credentials used to access the organization's information systems. The following are some of the credential policies and their elaborations:

Personnel: The personnel credential policy defines guidelines for creating and managing employee credentials, such as usernames, passwords, and security questions. This policy includes guidelines for password complexity, minimum password length, password expiration, and password reuse. It also includes guidelines for access control and authentication, such as the use of multifactor authentication (MFA) and biometric authentication.
Third-party: The third-party credential policy defines guidelines for managing third-party vendor credentials, such as usernames and passwords used to access the organization's systems. This policy includes guidelines for vetting vendors and assessing their security controls, as well as guidelines for managing and monitoring third-party access to the organization's systems.
Devices: The device credential policy defines guidelines for managing device credentials, such as usernames and passwords used to access network devices and endpoints. This policy includes guidelines for managing default credentials, ensuring secure storage of device credentials, and implementing password complexity and expiration policies.
Service accounts: The service account credential policy defines guidelines for managing service account credentials used by applications and services. This policy includes guidelines for managing and rotating service account passwords, ensuring secure storage of service account credentials, and limiting access to service accounts.
Administrator/root accounts: The administrator/root credential policy defines guidelines for managing administrative account credentials, such as usernames and passwords used to access critical systems and data. This policy includes guidelines for implementing strong password policies, limiting the use of administrative accounts, and monitoring administrative account access for unauthorized activity.

Organizational Policies

Organizational policies are a set of guidelines and procedures that govern the activities and behavior of an organization's employees. These policies provide a framework for decision-making and ensure that the organization operates in a consistent and efficient manner. Two important types of organizational policies are change management and asset management.

Change management is the process of controlling changes to the organization's IT infrastructure, including hardware, software, and networks.

Change control is the process of managing changes to IT assets in a controlled manner, ensuring that changes are made only after proper review and approval.

Asset management is the process of tracking and managing the organization's IT assets, including hardware, software, and data. This includes asset inventory, tracking asset utilization, and ensuring that assets are properly secured and maintained throughout their lifecycle.