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If your business requires the safeguarding of confidential client or business-critical data, you know the importance of securing your digital information. Threats exist both internally and externally to your organization’s data, from cyber-criminals and hackers to disgruntled employees, and you must analyze, understand, and guard against those threats at all times and be on alert for new ones. Although it’s tempting to just throw a security tool at the problem, there’s more to data security than that. Strategic risk management and information security requires a program that must be implemented with on-going management to be successful. Securing your digital information is a process, and there are things you can do to make that process work effectively. Here are several best practices that successful information security programs all have in common: Understand the threat landscape – Many organizations use a knee-jerk approach to information security, reacting to threats that may or may not exist, instead of focusing on those that most definitely do exist. Understanding and documenting the known threats helps your organization understand whether your existing security controls are sufficient, or need to be strengthened. Get management buy-in – Making sure top management understands your information security program is crucial. After all, they have the ability to empower the Information Security (IS) team and make securing your digital information a top priority for the organization. But they can’t get on-board when the data being presented to them is too detailed or technical, or is not presented properly from a business-risk perspective. If management is not given the opportunity to buy into and support the process, IS will never be given priority status. Allow time to properly manage the program – Some organizations do not have a dedicated IS staff, and rely instead on IT operations resources to manage their information security systems on a part-time basis. If your business operates similarly, you need to assign one of your staff members the dual-role position of IT/IS manager, and describe the percentage of time to be spent securing your digital information as part of the risk management program function. Give information security priority over compliance – Protecting confidential information should supersede compliance in almost every instance. If your information security program is properly designed, it will likely be set up to address most, if not all, of the compliance mandates your organization may have anyway. If a best practice approach is taken to securing your digital information, then compliance should easily follow. Be realistic – Nothing hurts strategic risk management and proper decision making more than an unrealistic assessment of your current threats, needs, and status. When building an information security program, a true baseline is essential to the process and needs to reflect reality as it exists today, not a fantasyland of where you think it should be or where you want it to be. It’s very easy to create a gray area out of a black-and-white issue when you do. Engage everyone – Security is not the responsibility of one staff member or department. Securing your digital information is the responsibility of everyone from the company CEO to the cleaning crew. When led to believe they are part of the solution and given some degree of ownership in the process, employees become enablers of the information security program rather than offenders. Make sure you understand the needs of all employees before creating strict security policies that may hinder job performance. Employees will find creative ways to bypass security when they feel it is hindering their job. This can lead to major security risks. By understanding their needs you can create security policies that they will embrace. Risk management and information security require a well-designed program that is constantly maintained and managed, and owned by every member of your organization. The IS staff must be empowered to drive the system, backed by an upper management team that is well-versed in the potential business risks. Securing your digital information necessitates implementing a complete program solution that includes software applications, policies, procedures, and oversight. To learn more about TraceSecurity and our standalone information security program TraceCSO, visit us at our website. Also, be sure to follow us on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn, and YouTube.
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