SECURITY MANAGEMENT SOLUTION
WITHOUT PEOPLE, PROCESS AND TECHNOLOGY, IT’S A BIG FAILURE
As digitalization on global scale escalated last year, a weakness of information security systems in large enterprises suddenly came to light. IT specialists everywhere noticed that most enterprises lacked the integration of policies, employees, and technology in different organizations. It was a test for the large enterprises and their information’s security systems.
The world witnessed an increasing number of cyberattacks, major malfunctions, or data breaches on a global scale, especially in commercial businesses and healthcare/medical sectors. So much so that the estimation of the loss through cyber-attacks was expected to be around 6 million due to less-than-adequate information security in the world. This gave a wake-up call to all the organizations to maintain their data security systems up to date. It has now become essential everywhere in the global industry for large enterprises, essential service operators, digital service providers and organisations dealing with personal data to make their information security systems secure. This process is very thorough and robust, although its effectiveness is compromised if people, process and technology are not integrated towards ensuring security objectives. But first it is essential for us to understand the essence of security management system.
WHAT IS SECURITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS?
In simple words, it can be defined as the framework of policies, procedures, guidelines, and associated resources and activities assigned to protect organizational assets. As understood by the word “System”, every system is dependent on its parts. It incorporates policies and protocols encompassing everybody exposed to the network system from the highly advanced tech-professional to the employee ranked on the lower tier who has access to a computer in an enterprise. Hence security management system depends on several aspects of an organization including responsible people, streamlined processes and efficient technology.
IMPORTANCE OF SECURITY MANAGEMENT PROCESS
In order to secure the network system of an organization, a thorough process needs to be followed. The more complex and intricate is the more robust it will be against the security threats the processes involved will be detailed and meticulous leaving no area unexplored. Here are some of the areas forming the domain of Security Management System.
1. Prioritizing of security objectives by top management
2. Setting standards, processes and security measures
3. Asset evaluation, Risk Assessment and Risk Management Plan
4. Implementing Information Security Management System by Policies, Procedures, Training, Roles.
5. Assigning jobs, defining information security roles like employees, IT administrator, Internal Auditor, Data Protection officer and top management.
6. Monitoring and maintenance of Security system.
7. Certification audit of the system
8. Maintenance continuous improvement
IMPORTANCE OF PEOPLE/DEFINED ROLES
The workforce in an organization is a huge component ofthe security system. Hence, most organisations define their roles and their access to information in order to make their network security systems
more organized.
Employee – role representing any person employed at the organization,
Internal auditor – role responsible for conducting management system audits,
IT administrator – roles representing people responsible for managing the IT, the infrastructure of the organization
Top management – roles representing the group responsible for setting directions and controlling the organization at the top level,
The Data Protection Officer (DPO) is responsible for the protection of personal data in the organization.
Apart from assigning roles and allowing access, there should be an awareness campaign. Security awareness programs would increase the compliance of employees with the security policy hence making the system more secure. Moreover, it can also be done by educating and providing training sessions on information security which will increase their adherence to the security protocols and eventually make the network systems more secure.
IMPORTANCE OF TECHNOLOGY
The business software in information technology is one of the important aspects in information security management systems. If anything could be classified as a grave danger to the data and network systems of the enterprise, it’s the poor technology used in infrastructure. The technological infrastructure of a company determines how secure its network systems are. So, information technology involves a combination of hardware and software that is used to perform the essential tasks that people need and use in the organization. It helps in all the processes including Asset Management, Repairs Management, Maintenance and continuous improvement. These are essential to keeping the system ready for any unexpected and undesired security threats.
There are some organizations that direly need security management systems: large enterprises, essential service operators, digital service providers, and organisations dealing with personal data. A strong and secure technology system is a must have for such setups because it allows companies to meet up with the regulatory requirements of certain standards that in turn ensure the trust of customers in the certifications that are owned by the company.
Information security management solutions are a multifaceted approach towards making an organization strong against security threats and data breaches but it cannot be successful without the people, process, and technology involved in it.