Establishing an Information Security Program can feel daunting, causing many startups to hesitate or overlook crucial steps. It’s a journey that often starts with uncertainty and complexity, making the initial steps the most challenging.
Businesses today confront escalating cyber threats, emphasizing the critical need for a robust Information Security Program. Ready to safeguard your company? Let’s guide you through the steps to get started.
What is an Information Security Program?
An Information Security Program encompasses the culture, policies, procedures, standards, and guidelines that outline how your team manages and secures its information assets.
It ensures data confidentiality, integrity, and availability— safeguarding against unauthorized access, tampering, and disruptions.
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Before Building an Information Security Program (InfoSec Program)
Before embarking on the construction of an InfoSec program, it’s crucial to consider these three essential points:
1.Start with a Why
As Simon Sinek, author and inspirational speaker on business leadership, famously once said, “start with why.”
- Why do you want to build an InfoSec program?
- Is it because you fear the results of not having one?
- Are customers asking you for it? Do you want to grow your startup?
- Do you want to protect what you’ve built?
- Do you want to be an industry leader or do you want to just make sure you are preparing for the modern business landscape?
All of these are great questions to ask, but until you understand why you want to build an Information Security Program, you cannot effectively begin to build your program.
It’s only after you know why that you can move into how to actually build an InfoSec program. The how is different for every business, but I can tell you one thing remains the same – the why.
The first rule of how you build an InfoSec program is understanding that you cannot secure what you don’t know.
Many startups miss this step and jump right into buying products based on buzzwords or because they think they need it and they end up with, what equates to be, an extraordinarily expensive set of locks, keys, and alarms that are securing little to nothing.
2. Asset Inventory and Management
So how do you know what you have to secure? You find out! An asset inventory is a great place to start.
An asset inventory isn’t a list of computers or depreciating purchases. According to ISO 27001, a widely used security standard set and agreed to internationally, an asset is defined as “any valuable location within an organization’s systems where information of value is stored, processed or accessible.”
Most companies would agree people are assets, often the most valuable assets to the organization. Many companies would agree that vendors, service facilities, and especially information are all valuable assets critical to the success of their business.
This understanding of how an asset is defined is key to understanding how to secure it. And that’s all that security is, Securing Assets.
InfoSec is securing information assets. But ultimately you cannot secure just informational assets without understanding all business assets and how they interact.
From that point, we don’t want to say it’s easy, but the journey is much more clear. Understand your assets first, investigate their vulnerabilities and the threats facing them, and finally use all this information to understand your risk.
👉 Discover What is Cybersecurity Risk Management? Best Practices to Prevent Cyber Attacks.
So to recap 🤔 First startup teams should figure out why they need an Information Security Program. Next is conducting an asset inventory so you have an understanding of the vulnerabilities and threats facing them. What should you do next?
Risk Assessment and Management
Now we have to objectively look at risk and make a simple business case. Ask yourself the question “If I don’t reduce this risk now, here’s what it will cost me later”.
If it’s more expensive to reduce the risk facing the asset than the asset is worth, you just don’t do it. Some risks are acceptable, some are avoidable, some you need to make sure you are investing enough in now to avoid a bigger business impact in the future.
Steps to Implementing an InfoSec Program
Ready to build your rock-solid Information Security Program? Let’s break it down step-by-step:
- Establish an InfoSec Team: Formulate a dedicated team comprising executive leadership and operational staff to oversee InfoSec strategy and implementation.
- Inventory and Manage Assets: Conduct a comprehensive inventory of assets, assigning ownership and categorizing based on criticality to prioritize security measures effectively.
- Risk Assessment and Management: Identify and prioritize threats and vulnerabilities. Develop strategies to mitigate, transfer, accept, or avoid risks based on their impact and feasibility.
- Incident Management and Disaster Recovery: Develop and test incident response and disaster recovery plans to ensure swift recovery and minimize business disruption in the event of security incidents.
- Third-Party Risk Management: Assess and monitor security risks posed by third-party vendors and suppliers with access to sensitive data. Implement contractual obligations and monitoring mechanisms to enforce security standards.
- Implement Security Controls: Deploy a combination of technical controls (e.g., encryption, firewalls) and operational controls (e.g., policies, employee training) to mitigate identified risks and ensure consistent enforcement.
- Security Awareness Training: Educate employees on InfoSec policies, best practices, and their role in maintaining security. Conduct regular training sessions and maintain records to ensure ongoing compliance.
- Continuous Auditing and Monitoring: Regularly audit and monitor the effectiveness of your InfoSec program through internal assessments and third-party audits. Use findings to refine security practices and demonstrate compliance with regulatory standards.
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Conclusion
Knowing what to do and more importantly, where to start, when it comes to building an InfoSec program can feel overwhelming. Hopefully, this post has given you more insight into how to build your Information Security program.
To learn more about how Interlaced can help your business with IT support visit contact us today.
