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In the corporate/organizational world, if not all but most business activities run on computer networks/ IT systems which has made it a necessity for the management to build a security system into their infrastructures. This is based on security policies that the staff and management team has to imbibe to ensure that data/information is not only safe but also secured.
Organizational security management and policy is the practice of identification, implementation and management of the rules, procedures and policy that individuals, employees, teams must follow when using an information/data resources and assets. The essence of management and policies is to address vulnerabilities, risks, threats and implement strategies to combat security crimes/ attacks as well as create definite measures to recover from security breaches or compromise.
Security management is the definition and implementation of security policy and objectives of the organization that is communicated to the personnel within the various division within the company.
Security policy refers to the collections of statement or statements that helps to guide employees’ behavior in handling organizational information/data and IT systems. The security policies are designed to follow the principles of CIA (confidentiality, integrity and availability) triad defining who, what, and why the desired behavior play an essential role in the overall security management of a company/ organization.
It is necessary for organization, whether small or big must have documented policies to protect the data/ information as well as other valuable assets from internal and external breaches such as the criminally minded staff or hackers.
The Necessity of organizational security management and policies
Organizations either large or small, needs to regularly document and upgrade their security policies. More so, employees are to be updated of the changes either working in the office or remotely. The potential risks are high and the need for security management cannot be under emphasized.
- Security management and policies well implemented helps to strengthen productivity, keep the organization running securely.
- It is a duty for employees to take advantage of the policies and to conduct themselves in a manner that does not put the corporate/personal security at risk or under fraudulent activities.
- Security training, awareness and education as well as the co-operation of personnel ensures that the policies are effective to mitigate security thefts and attacks.
Policy Elements Employed by Organization Management
Confidential data/information: this means that all data/ information must be kept secret and valuable. These include; data of customers/ vendors/ partners or users, unpublished financial information, formulas, patents or the introduction of new technologies, customer bio lists or other forms of data. Staff/employees are enjoined to protect such data and taught how to avoid security attacks.
Protection of personal and company devices: many organizations across the globe adopts modern digital devices that enable them to access company accounts or emails which might bring about security vulnerabilities or risks. Organizational staff are instructed to keep personal/corporate computer, tablets, or other types of devices safe and secured. They are to keep all devices passwords protected, select the best antivirus software and regularly upgrade, devices must not be exposed or unattended at any time, installment of security updates and browsers, use of secured private networks to log into accounts and systems, avoid accessing internal systems and accounts from external computer systems or lending their devices to others and make proper enquirers from security specialists or the network engineers.
Keep Emails Safe and Secured: corporate emails are at risk of breaches as they often host scams and malicious worms. Employees are duly instructed to avoid links or attachments that the contents cannot be verified, be suspicious of clickbait or unverified titles or headlines, and verify email addresses, names to establish legitimacy, search out inconsistencies in grammatical constructions or giveaways and IT specialists should be contacted for further security measures.
Proper Password Management: passwords are often the easiest way for cyber criminals to attack. Password(s) leaks can compromise the security systems or the entire infrastructure; hence, should be kept secret to avoid hacking. The employees are briefed to choose passwords with at least eight characters, capital and lower case letters, numbers and symbols that cannot be easily guessed for fraudulent activities. They are to securely keep papers or digital documents of recorded passwords confidential and destroyed as at when due, exchange credentials when necessary and verified, change passwords regularly and create well secured passwords word each tool used.
Securely transfer data: data/ information transfer bring about security risks and breaches. Employees/staff are informed to avoid the transfer of sensitive data and share confidential data using the network/system, WIFI or private connection, ensure data recipient are authorized in line with the organization security policies, report scams, hacking or phishing attempts and privacy breaches to security management team.
Remote Access Policy: the Covid-19 pandemic gave rise to the need for remote working system adopted by many organization in the world. Employees will remotely access work devices or computers, tablets or mobile phones, check work emails which raises security concerns. Employees are informed of remote security threats to organizations and how they can prevent such breaches, use of public WI-FI and accessing sensitive information in public spaces, storing information on devices and the security measures to be taken while working outside the normal 9am-5pm within the organization.
Acceptable usage within and outside the organization: policies on acceptable usage of devices, accessing of company’s data/information, software, downloading of files should be spelt out to employees. Certain websites can be blocked to prevent downloading of files from sites that are known for malware. The policies should state the type of usage, off-limits and acceptable sites and software, prohibition of visitation to listed unsafe sites and the consequences for violating the stated policies. This policies should be accepted by the employees with the acknowledgement of proper understanding of the organization’s expectations.
Staff Procedures Policies: these are policies the create rules that govern all staff in accessing websites, emails, contacts, data/information and other corporate infrastructures to be secured.
The final words
Organizational security management should be treated as a serious business process. The CIA (confidentiality, integrity and availability) triad must be maintained. Having security policies and plans should be a necessity.
