Cybersecurity Essentials: 3 C’s of Policies and Procedures

Lack of governance documentation, such as policies and procedures, is an all-too-common gap in many organizations’ cybersecurity programs. Cybersecurity policies outline an organization’s goals and approach to security, while procedures offer detailed steps for task completion. These documents aim to provide measures to improve the organization’s cybersecurity posture and efficiently safeguard assets. In this blog, we will examine the benefits of governance documentation as it pertains to maturing an organization’s cybersecurity posture. 

1. Cohesion 

Policies and procedures allow for a cohesive approach to managing data and security in an organization. Leveraging governance documents, employees can uniformly understand and execute data protection practices, incident response protocols, and compliance requirements. For example, a Data Management Policy can guide employees on how to accurately use and store data depending on defined data classification levels. This ensures consistent categorization and management of data. Further, documentation also removes uncertainty when maintaining the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data, by clearly defining who can access sensitive information, how to prevent unauthorized modification, and how to ensure data is accessible to authorized users.  

Cyber policies and procedures are necessary for organizations to comply with legislative, contractual, non-regulatory, and regulatory requirements such as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), ISO (International Standards Organization, and NIST CSF (National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework). For example, a robust policy and procedure library is required for an organization to obtain an ISO 27001:2022 certification, a coveted feat that proves a company’s commitment to data security.  

Remaining in compliance with frameworks like those identified above also minimizes the risk of hefty fines, misconduct, and legal consequences. The American Medical Association states that an unknowing HIPAA violation can cost an organization anywhere between $100 and $50,000 for a first offense, and up to $1 million for a second offense. With increased federal budgets for cybersecurity and talks of new minimum federal standards for critical infrastructure, it is important to have strong policies in place to stay ahead of evolving regulations.  

Incident Response, Disaster Recovery, and Business Continuity plans are vital for organizational resilience against a cyberattack. In these stressful and time-sensitive situations, it is crucial to have documentation in place to help prevent data theft, eliminate lengthy disruption to operations, and inform employees of their role in the recovery process. These plans also outline post-event communications, helping facilitate appropriate messaging to mitigate any reputational impact the attack might have caused. According to IBM's Cost of A Data Breach 2023 Report, “organizations with high levels of these [incident response plan] countermeasures in place incurred USD 1.49 million lower data breach costs compared to organizations with low levels or none, and they resolved incidents 54 days faster.”  Documented plans allow organizations to stay resilient and recover quickly from an attack, minimize financial losses, maintain customer trust, and allow operations to continue as scheduled.  

Conclusion: 

In this blog post, we have explored three critical reasons your organization should prioritize cybersecurity policies and procedures: ensuring cohesion among your organization, maintaining compliance with standards and legal requirements, and enhancing continuity after an attack. K logix offers expertise for developing governance documentation to enhance business maturity, strengthen knowledge around existing policies and procedures, and ensure documents are well-equipped for today’s digital landscape.