Importance of Governance in Information Security

Organizations today face shortages and challenges in defining their governance, especially in information security. The importance of governance is significant in securing the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the information and data by promoting the habit of safeguarding sensitive information. This blog will explore the significance of governance and how organizations can implement it to fortify their defenses.

Accountability: Governance ensures that the proper roles, responsibilities, and clear segregation of duties are defined. Key stakeholders understand their roles in safeguarding information security and carry them out as necessary.

Policies and Procedures: The objective of the governance is to make sure that the effective practices are in place to regulate how information is processed, handled, accessed, and protected throughout the organization. Communication with the key stakeholders within the organization ensures availability of the policies to the interested parties.

Regulatory Compliance: It is critical to develop compliances policies that are aligned with local and regional applicable laws, regulations, and industry standards. This ensures that the legal repercussions are avoided, and that the organization operates in a reputable manner.

Risk Assessment Process: Governance will establish the risk assessment process that will generate valid, consistent and comparable results when performed repeatedly. This streamlines process of risk treatment that is consistent and reliable.

Communication: Governance will determine the communication process, including who will communicate, when to communicate, with whom to communicate, and how to communicate. This guarantees that the organization’s methods of communication for internal and external stakeholders are consistent.

Real-World Examples of Governance in Information Security:

Equifax Data Breach: The Equifax data breach in 2017 exposed the personal data of millions of individuals (CVE-2017-5638). One of the contributing factors was a lack of proper governance in their security practices. Failure to patch a known vulnerability in a timely manner left the company vulnerable to cyber attackers.

Target Data Breach: In 2013, Target suffered a massive data breach that affected millions of customers. The breach was facilitated through a third-party HVAC contractor that had access to Target’s network. This incident highlighted the importance of robust governance in managing third-party access and implementing adequate security controls.

Conclusion:

Good governance in information security ensures the implementation of proactive and effective measures that can be monitored and measured. The results can be evaluated on a regular basis to ensure that any organization’s information security is always improving. Good governance does not imply that an organization is incident-free, but it does ensure that a response is in place and key stakeholders are aware of their duties to properly address the incident.