All About Information Security Management System
Companies and Organizations constantly deal with data. From their operational processes to their marketing and decision-making, data sits right at the center of all. These businesses store and process massive amounts of information both physically and in the digital space.
These include information from their customers, such as behavioral analytics, personal information, usage data, credit cards, and payment details, health care information, and more. Organizational data include job family, job role, line of business, cost of production, organization, location, level, region, and more.
Oftentimes, companies do not want to share or reveal some information to the public due to the potential threats it may pose to the company or its customers if such information gets into the wrong hands. Hence the need to manage and secure information.
Information Security Management (ISM) refers to an organization’s methodology towards the protection, security, and confidentiality of sensitive information from the wrong hands and its availability for authorized access at the required time. Simply put, it’s how a company or organization chooses to protect its data and information from attacks and unauthorized access.
On the other hand, Information Security Management System (ISMS) relates to the procedures that regulate, manage, and continuously improve an organization’s information security. The international security standards for businesses and organizations that contain full details of an effective ISMS requirements are the ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO 27002. The standards state that the protection goals of Information Security entail three core aspects :
- Confidentiality: this is when information is viewed and accessed only through authorized means and by authorized persons.
- Integrity: this is when information is accurately and wholly protected from undetected manipulations.
- Availability: this is when information, services, or resources are made available and usable for authorized users at all times.
Other aspects include authenticity, reliability, accountability, and commitment.
Pillars of Information Security Management
There are six core pillars of ISM that work collectively to provide adequate security management strategies. They are:
· Information Security Controls
These are measures or safeguards taken to prevent, detect, or reduce Information Security risks. They come in 3 folds, namely
– Prevention, which are controls taken to counteract security incidents
– Detection, the controls taken to detect potential and successful security breaches and alert the necessary departments.
–Correction, which are controls taken to reduce the effect of a successful security breach and rectify the threat.
· Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC)
relates to creating effective risk management structures for businesses and organizations
–Governance involves the collection of processes supported and executed by the executives to ascertain that all organizational activities are managed and positioned to back up the business goals of an organization
–Risk management relates to forecasting and dealing with organizational risks that can potentially cause setbacks and prevent the organization from achieving its goals.
–Compliance has to do with ensuring that your organization meets the numerous controls recommended by the law or regulatory authority to safeguard the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data.
· Cybersecurity Audit Management
The security audit serves as a checklist that guarantees that a cybersecurity team’s policies are on ground and there are available controls for their implementation.
· Security Program Management
comprises projects, activities, processes, technologies, and policies combined to achieve a common objective.
· Third-party Risk Management (TPRM)
refers to all the processes involved in evaluating suppliers, partners, and vendors in order to ensure that they meet specific expected requirements.
· Strategic Planning
Strategic planning allows organizations to accept or prevent, transfer, or mitigate the information risk relating to processes, people, and technologies.
With all these six core aspects of Information Security Management in check, your company will enjoy effective and secured management strategies for Information Security and organizational development.
Bottom Line
Information Security Management is essential to your company, and that’s obvious. But how do you create the perfect security management system that ensures maximum protection against digital and non-digital attacks?
That’s what Formatour is all about. We have a staggering 15 years+ of experience helping businesses like yours maintain a safe and optimized security system. We’re just a click away!
Reach out to us at FormaTour to schedule a meeting.