Many people consider policies and procedures fixed in stone and believe no one should modify these policies. Instead, your rules should be live documents that evolve as your organization grows and changes. Effective policies do not gather dust on a shelf. Suppose you last evaluated your security policies a while ago. In that case, you may discover that they need to be updated, comply with new laws and regulations, or address the systems and technologies you use today. Outsourcing cybersecurity in San Diego County, California, can be helpful. Consider your information security policies the backbone and basis of your security program, as well as a guide to guaranteeing that everyone in your organization understands what they need to do to secure data and assets.
When should your policies be reviewed, updated, or created? Annually examine security policies. That's a fantastic start, but you should consider other factors if your policies need to be reviewed.
1. As Part Of A Planned Assessment
Regardless of your organization type, you should include a regular timetable in the governance document for your cybersecurity policy. Whether this evaluation occurs quarterly, semiannually, or annually, ensure that it is scheduled in your company's calendar.
You can avoid having to execute a substantial revision of your cybersecurity policy every few years by arranging regular policy reviews. Instead, you can utilize these regular review periods to assess the effectiveness of your policies and, if necessary, make minor revisions. Moreover, you can take the help of your IT partner if you have outsourced cybersecurity services in San Diego County, California.
The crucial thing is to make policy evaluations a regular aspect of your organization, regardless of the schedule or frequency.
2. Incident of Cybersecurity
Consider the following scenario: your company discovers a data leak incident in which secret information was leaked when an employee accessed company information via an insecure network. The intrusion prompts a security assessment, which reveals a need for improvement in security policies, including encryption of critical data and scanning computers for malware.
Your security rules are in place to ensure staff understand what is expected of them and decrease risk to the firm. If policies and processes are in place, you can examine the specifics of an occurrence to determine whether or not everything done by employees are appropriate.
Changing policies before an incident to avert a breach is preferable, but this is an example of when a violation or incident could trigger information security policy modifications.
3. When There Is a Problem with Employee Compliance and Adoption
Another sign that it's time to revisit your cybersecurity policy is if you're having problems with staff compliance. Again, this does not necessarily necessitate changes to the policies themselves, but it should result in a greater emphasis on training and employee education. For example, at Fusion Factor, we provide security guidance that can assist business management in determining how well their employees recognize phishing emails and other vulnerable attacks. You can also solicit input from your employees to evaluate how you can improve the policies and training.
4. Introducing New Technologies
Technology implementations are ongoing considerations to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of companies. New technologies, such as cloud-based storage, the Internet of Things, and sophisticated detection and protection tools required for threat identification or warnings, maybe on your list to deploy, or you may already have. This is the moment to revise policy to reflect how technology should be used and safeguarded.
Many companies wait years before changing their rules on how to use technology correctly within their firm. As a result, introducing new technology may expose your business to an increased risk of data loss if you do not evaluate and update existing policies and processes.
Conclusion!!
The security rules of your firm are crucial in protecting your company from financial, reputational, and data losses. Update at least once a year, but explore other triggers to stay ahead of potential dangers, minimize risk, and comply with laws, contracts, and regulations.