In 2022, cybersecurity is definitely going to cement its position as the number one concern for business continuity and brand reputation. It is, therefore, important that every business seriously invested in longevity, and privacy of its customer data has an effective cybersecurity policy in place. But how does one write a policy that is actually actionable and effective in protecting your business from rising cybercrimes and complex cyber threats?

This quick guide will show you how to create an effective cybersecurity policy for your company. You can also checkout this free Cyber Security Policy Template or enlist the help of cybersecurity consultants to create your own cybersecurity policies.

Now, in order to write an effective policy, it’s important to know what this policy really is, and why it’s important to implement in your business.

What Is a Cybersecurity Policy?

A cybersecurity policy is a written document that contains behavioral and technical guidelines for all employees in order to ensure maximum protection from cybersecurity incidents and ransomware attacks. The policy contains information about a company or an organisation’s security policies, procedures, technological safeguards and operational countermeasures in case of a cybersecurity incident.

This policy makes sure that operations and security are working in tandem to ensure that the possibilities of a cyber-attack are limited and if an attack does occur, the IT team, operations and business executives are aware of exactly what steps to take to limit damage.

A cybersecurity policy also allows your information technology team to:

• Use the right tools for cybersecurity and continuously evaluate organisational breach readiness.
• Implement the right practices for cyber incident response, including but not limited to having an effective cyber incident response plan and testing this plan on a regular basis with cybersecurity tabletop exercises.
• Establish effective communications within the organisation to ensure that every team is following good cybersecurity hygiene. Good communication and clear communication channels are also critical at the time of crisis management.

A cybersecurity policy, however, can mean different things for different organisations. It can take different shapes or forms, depending on the type of organisation, nature of business, operational model, scale etc. Here are some examples of cybersecurity policies:

• Acceptable use policy (AUP)
• Access control policy
• Business continuity plan
• Data breach response policy
• Disaster recovery plan, AND
• Remote access policy