IT Policy Creation
Assessment & Management
IT Policy Creation, Assessment & Management
Crafting policies can be a daunting task, even in the smallest environments. Knowing where to start with policy creation can be confusing and the manpower needed to write them from scratch is costly. Companies that must meet multiple sets of regulatory standards face an even larger task ensuring that their policies meet the needs of third party accreditors as well as internal compliance requirements.
Without IT policies in place, plans for policy maintenance and ongoing training, your IT team is just operating on their best guess about what compliance looks like, who should have access and permissions, what is zero-tolerance SOP, and how it all changes depending on organizational developments.
What are IT Policies and Procedures?
Policies are the foundation of all IT, security and compliance environments. Policies are written documentation outlining the standards, rules and practices that an IT team must meet. Without IT Policies, your IT team is just operating on their best guess of what is compliant, what is correct and what is allowed by company management.
IT Policies are typically a set of documents, written specifically for a particular company and environment that are agreed on by IT, management, legal and compliance departments. A typical IT team can have upwards of 40-50 policies outlining things like network security standards, employee access controls, risk management practices, mobile device management, server security standards, physical access controls and data security standards.
Why do I need Policies?
Policies define the company standards for things like, who can connect their phone to the company wifi, who can have access to places like server rooms or document storage areas, and what types of encryption are required when moving sensitive data between business partners. Without standards like these, employees and processes have free reign over the IT environment and by extension the security of your company data.
Policies and procedures can also be required by law, depending on your industry. For example, HIPAA covered companies, such as medical service providers and physicians offices, must maintain a set of IT Security and Privacy policies to meet compliance with HIPAA and safeguard their sensitive patient data.
What types of policies do I need?
Below are just a few examples of IT Policies that every company should have to ensure the security of your systems and data.
Access Authorization
Outlines the process for granting access to users for all your systems and software
Breach Notification
Outlines how to track data breaches, how to notify consumers and how to manage a breach internally
Data Backup & Recovery
Outlines the requirements for how your company backups up it's data and how fast it can be retrieved when needed
Disaster Recovery Plan
Defines the processes and steps your company needs to restore operations after a disaster
Facility Access Control
These policies define how you secure your building, servers and sensitive information and who can access them and when
Event Monitoring
Defines how your company regularly reviews server, network and application logs to ensure proper operation with no security incidents
Media Management
These policies outline how things such as USB drives, portable drives and CD's are used and controlled in your environment
Encryption and Decryption
Defines how your company secures its private and sensitive data while in motion and at rest
Workstation Security
Outlines the security settings for company computers and how employees are allowed to use them
Why Adsero Security?
Adsero’s IT Policy Creation, Assessment and Management services can help get your policy challenges under control and let you focus on your business. Our team will work to fully understand your current policies, help define what your compliance needs are and then work with you to craft a comprehensive set of policies to get you covered.
Call us today to find out how we can help your company craft a single policy, or a complete policy set covering multiple regulations. When it comes to policy, we’re on your side.