Monday, August 8, 2022

Principle of Information Security Module 3 Information Security Management part 8



Policies are living documents that must be managed. It is unacceptable to create such an important set of documents and then shelve them. These documents must be properly distributed, read, understood, agreed to, uniformly applied, and managed. How they are managed should be specified in the policy management section of the issue-specific policy described earlier. Good management practices for policy development and maintenance make for a more resilient organization. For example, all policies, including security policies, undergo tremendous stress when corporate mergers and divestitures occur. In such situations, employees are faced with uncertainty and many distractions. System vulnerabilities can arise, for instance, if incongruent security policies are implemented in different parts of a newly merged organization. When two companies merge but retain separate policies, the difficulty of implementing security controls increases. Likewise, when one company with unified policies splits in two, each new company may require different policies.


To remain viable, security policies must have a responsible manager, a schedule of reviews, a method for making recommendations for reviews, and a policy issuance and revision date.


Responsible Manager


Just as information systems and information security projects must have champions and managers, so must policies. The policy manager is often called the policy administrator. Note that the policy administrator does not necessarily have to be proficient in the relevant technology. While practicing information security professionals require extensive technical knowledge, policy management and policy administration require only a moderate technical background. It is good practice, however, for policy administrators to solicit input both from technically adept information security experts and from business-focused managers in each community of interest when revising security policies. The administrator should also notify all affected members of the organization when the policy is modified.


It is disheartening when a policy that required hundreds of staff hours to develop and document is ignored. Thus, someone must be responsible for placing the policy and all subsequent revisions into the hands of people who are accountable for its implementation. The policy administrator must be clearly identified in the policy document as the primary point of contact for additional information or suggested revisions to the policy.


Schedule of Reviews


Policies can only retain their effectiveness in a changing environment if they are periodically reviewed for currency and accuracy and then modified accordingly. Policies that are not kept current can become liabilities as outdated rules are enforced (or not) and new requirements are ignored. To demonstrate due diligence, an organization must actively seek to meet the requirements of the market in which it operates. This applies to government, academic, and nonprofit organizations as well as private, for-profit organizations. A properly organized schedule of reviews should be defined and published as part of the document. Typically, a policy should be reviewed at least annually to ensure that it is still an effective control.


Review Procedures and Practices


To facilitate policy reviews, the policy manager should implement a mechanism by which people can comfortably make recommendations for revisions, whether via e-mail, office mail, or an anonymous drop box. If the policy is controversial, anonymous submission of recommendations may be the best way to encourage staff opinions. Many employees are intimidated by management and hesitate to voice honest opinions about a policy unless they can do so anonymously. Once the policy has come up for review, all comments should be examined, and management-approved improvements should be implemented. In reality, most policies are drafted by a single responsible employee and then reviewed by a higher-level manager, but even this method does not preclude the collection and review of employee input.


Policy, Review, and Revision Dates


The simple action of dating the policy is often omitted. When policies are drafted and published without dates, confusion can arise. If policies are not reviewed and kept current, or if members of the organization are following undated versions, disastrous results and legal headaches can ensue. Such problems are particularly common in a high-turnover environment. Therefore, the policy must contain the date of origin and the date(s) of any reviews and/or revisions. If the policy is reviewed and considered up to date, a review date is applied to the document. If it is reviewed and determined to need updating, a revision date is applied once the update is complete. Some policies may also need a sunset clause that indicates their expiration date, particularly if the policies govern information use in short-term business associations. Establishing a policy end date prevents a temporary policy from mistakenly becoming permanent, and it also enables an organization to gain experience with a given policy before adopting it permanently.


Automated Policy Management


In recent years, a new category of software has emerged for the management of information security policies. This type of software was developed in response to the needs of information security practitioners. While many software products can meet the need for a specific technical control, software now can automate some of the busywork of policy management. Automation can streamline the repetitive steps of writing policy, tracking the workflow of policy approvals, publishing policy once it is written and approved, and tracking when employees have read the policy. Using techniques from computer-based training and testing, an organization can train staff members and improve its awareness program.



Security Education, Training, and Awareness Program


Once your organization has defined the policies that will guide its security program, it is time to implement a security education, training, and awareness (SETA) program. The SETA program is the responsibility of the CISO and is a control measure designed to reduce incidents of accidental security breaches by employees. Employee errors are among the top threats to information assets, so it is well worth developing programs to combat this threat. SETA programs are designed to supplement the general education and training programs that many organizations use to educate staff about information security. For example, if an organization detects that many employees are opening questionable e-mail attachments, those employees must be retrained. As a matter of good practice, systems development life cycles must include user training during the implementation phase. Practices used to take control of the security and privacy of online data are sometimes called cyber hygiene.


The SETA program consists of three distinct elements: security education, security training, and security awareness. An organization may not be able or willing to undertake all three of these elements, and it may outsource elements to local educational institutions. The purpose of SETA is to enhance security by doing the following:


  • Improving awareness of the need to protect system resources

  • Developing skills and knowledge so computer users can perform their jobs more securely

  • Building in-depth knowledge as needed to design, implement, or operate security programs for organizations and systems

Table 3-4 compares the features of security education, training, and awareness within the organization.


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