IT Policies Every Business Should Have

If you are anything like me then creating policies and procedures is a necessary evil. Creating them can be time consuming and meticulous but they are very important. The security of your organization’s network infrastructure is more important now than ever. This is evident by turning on the news. It seems like everyday another business, organization or government entity suffers from a data breach. Policies and procedures can help strengthen the security posture of your organization. That’s why we have created a list of “must have” policies that you should definitely have in place.

Acceptable Use Policy

An acceptable use policy defines how the people in your organization are allowed to use the company’s computer equipment. They are important for many reasons. An acceptable use policy can help ensure that your employees are not breaking the law, putting the security of your network in jeopardy or causing harm to your company’s brand through social media. An acceptable use policy can also help ensure that your employees are being productive while the company is paying them.

Password Policy

The dreaded password policy. We understand that it can be hard to remember your username and password for all of your accounts. We also understand that using complex passwords and changing them on a regular basis is cumbersome but it sure beats the alternative. Many of the data breaches we have seen are due to the fact that people are using weak passwords, using the same passwords for multiple accounts and almost never change them.

Clean Desk Policy

A clean desk policy helps protect sensitive data be ensuring that everything is put away at the end of the day. It also helps by letting your employees know that writing down passwords or other sensitive data on post it notes and sticking them to computer monitors or cork boards is forbidden. There have been many times in which I have seen my friends post selfies on social media with passwords clearly visible in the background. I quickly ask them to take the post down but by that time it may be too late and the information may be out there.

Disaster Recovery Policy and Procedure

I always tell my clients that it is not “if” but “when”. At some point in time every organization is going to have a system failure of some type. Being unprepared for such an event can be devastating. Imagine losing all of your organization’s data. How much would it cost you to reproduce it? Can you reproduce it? You also may want to ask yourself how much money your organization would be losing every hour your computer systems are down. Lost productivity can be expensive. That is why it is not only important to have a policy in place that outlines the criteria that must be met but also a procedure that can be immediately deployed in the event that a system failure or data breach occurs.

For the policy and procedure above we highly recommend talking with an IT or Cybersecurity consultant.

As always, thank you for reading. I hope you found this post to be informative and useful.

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