Cybersecurity is the practice of defending computers, servers, mobile devices, electronic systems, networks, and data from malicious attacks. Consequently, cybersecurity policies are needed to protect your business assets. The policy is a formalized set of rules and regulations within an organization, prescribing the use of various devices and software which can lead to cybersecurity breaches of your business. The policies outline which employee behavior is considered safe and which is not. Security policies are commonly written for topics such as acceptable use of company assets, personnel security, passwords, change management, access control, physical access, etc. Moreover, the policy determines the responsibility if a certain breach happens and its consequences. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, ransomware damage costs will rise to $11.5 billion in 2019 and business will fall victim to a ransomware attack every 14 seconds at that time. In other words, failure to comply with cybersecurity measures can result in heavy financial and data losses and reputation risk.
Why should you even consider cybersecurity policy for your company?
1. Your business has a lot of internet related process and activities
By having e-commerce your business, inevitably, will face online risks. Some of them will be online security; system reliability; privacy issues; credit card fraud and intellectual property. There is a whole range of security threats to beware of out there, including malware, phishing attacks, hacking, and spam mail. Someone could use a stolen credit card to make online purchases, or a hacker could use stolen credit data from other customers in your system. However, the highest price of your business will pay is by losing valuable business information gathered throughout the years. 41 percent of companies have over 1,000 sensitive files including credit card numbers and health records left unprotected. The most recent cyber-attacks are targeting Financial and Healthcare industry sectors which have a vast amount of personal data stored conveniently in one place.
2. Customer and employee trust are based on the integrity of their data
Customers and employees expect that their data will be protected by your business. However, most IT enterprise environments are unsecured, and security levels are insufficient. Big companies as Snapchat, Facebook, Marriot, Uber, and many others have been hacked and private data about its customers or employees leaked in the public. Data and privacy are compromised increasing risk data exfiltration. Having a proper cybersecurity policy in place will assure the maintenance of accuracy and consistency of personal data over its entire life cycle. Data integrity policy includes the design, implementation and usage of any system which store, processes, or retrieves data. And ultimately, the trust of your clients and employees is what creates the continuity of your business.
3. Employees could either be a security risk or an asset
Thousands of employees interact with sensitive enterprise data on a daily basis. The 5 most common types of threat activities are an unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information; process corruption; facilitation of third-party access to an organization’s assets; physical sabotage; electronic or IT sabotage. Human error prevailing cause of breaches, more than 60% of all cyber breaches within organizations. All employees are humans; therefore, they have different personal background, feelings, and motivations. Some employees are indolent and do not bring meaningful value for a business, others are surfing the internet at the workplace and some may be unsatisfied with the position they hold within a company, reimbursement they get or simply have stress. These types of employees are a potential threat to your business security since they intentionally or unintentionally can cause a threat to the company. Having a cybersecurity policy will help inform your employees on safe online behavior in order to prevent malicious activities but also empower them to endorse business values, rules, and employee integrity.
And what should you do now?
Information security policies are the foundation of a good security program. Creating a cybersecurity policy is customized depending on your business industry type of data you collect and means by which you process it. As a start, there are a few regulations imposed by regulatory bodies as the country or EU policies which must be the core of your future cybersecurity policy. And that is why well-outlined security policy will define individual responsibilities regarding the organization’s security policy and will mitigate a possible data loss, leak, and exposure of your business. Take the future in your hands, protect your business, create a cybersecurity policy!
Do you want to know more?
Check out: Tips for Creating a Successful Cybersecurity Policy