Everything You Need to Know About Security Procedures

By Brant Wilkerson-New
August 19, 2024

Security procedures keep your company organized and streamlined. They also protect your team and your premises from unwanted intruders, physical or digital. To achieve all this, though, and operate safely and predictably, a company must have a clear set up of its security procedures.

Business owners and managers know how to grow a business and manage personnel. But when it comes to drafting an information security policy that keeps everyone and everything safe, you need protocols and guidelines that define how the business functions and what happens when something goes wrong. This makes identifying and writing down the security procedures for your business a complicated affair, especially if your don’t have the expertise and know-how to do so.

This post explains the importance of security procedures and what businesses must do to protect themselves. 

Why Are Security Procedures Important?

Most people go through their daily lives without asking themselves, “What can go wrong?” And yet, so many things can — and do — go wrong with a business. That’s why you should have a security business process ready. It can make your life as a business owner or manager much easier and straightforward.

Protection of Sensitive Data

Businesses handle a vast amount of sensitive data, including customer information, financial records, and proprietary information. Security procedures help protect this data from unauthorized access, breaches, and cyber-attacks. Just imagine the impact on your business reputation if your customers’ data was compromised and you’ll understand why this is one of the most important aspects of business security.

Business Continuity

What would happen if your business stopped working for a week? It would face downtime and loss of productivity. Security incidents can disrupt business operations and make you lose money. Plans for disaster recovery and business continuity can help keep your business going even after a security breach.

Prevention of Financial Loss

Security breaches can lead to significant financial losses due to theft, fraud, or business disruption. Security procedures mitigate these risks because they enforce security controls such as surveillance systems, access controls, and incident response plans.

Regulatory Compliance

An organization’s security is often subject to strict regulations regarding data and privacy. This is especially true in the health sector and finance, but it’s also the case with many other sectors where businesses must comply with these regulations or face hefty fines, legal action, and damage to the company’s reputation. 

Employee Safety

Physical security measures protect employees from threats such as theft, violence, and natural disasters. Procedures like emergency evacuation plans, access control systems, and regular safety drills help employees know how to respond to various security threats.

Risk Management

The risks every business faces are different. If, for example, your business has a warehouse, your security policies will be different from a company that works remotely. Even so, some risks are common, such as cyber threats and natural disasters. Security procedures identify and assess the risks for your specific circumstances and provide the right framework for risk management.

Operational Efficiency

With a well-defined security procedure, the management team knows exactly what steps to take in different scenarios. They are not confused and know how to keep the business going under any scenario.

What Areas Do Security Procedures Cover?

Physical Security Procedures

If you have an office and business premises, you want everyone working there to be safe. You also want your assets and equipment to be protected. That’s where physical security procedures come in place.

You can control access with different system options like key cards, biometric scanners, and security personnel. Meanwhile, cameras and monitoring systems oversee activities within and around the company’s property.

Finally, you plan against natural disasters with systems in place for fire prevention, flood control, and other environmental threats.

Cybersecurity Procedures

Cybersecurity procedures protect a company’s digital assets and information systems from cyber threats. Many companies keep most of their business online, including cloud storage. This makes cybersecurity procedures a big part of their security.

Firewalls and antivirus security programs prevent unauthorized access and malware. Encryption technologies protect data in transit and at rest. Strong password policies, multi-factor authentication, and role-based access controls restrict access to sensitive information. And regular software updates keep your systems up to date with the latest security patches.

All these must be handled according to the company’s security procedures.

Data Security Procedures

Data security procedures protect sensitive and confidential information from unauthorized access and breaches. That includes customer information and data as well as business-related information that is proprietary.

Security procedures categorize data based on its sensitivity and implement appropriate controls for each category.

Regular backups save data and recovery plans restore information in case of data loss. Imagine losing all your documents, customers’ information, or product data and you’ll see how important data security is to your company!

Incident Response Procedures

How would you handle security incidents and minimize their impact? You need a security procedure to establish methods for detecting and reporting security incidents.

The procedure creates a response team and defines their roles and responsibilities. For example, during a crisis, you need to communicate developments with all kinds of stakeholders, including employees, customers, and law enforcement. After the crisis, you need to see what went right and what went wrong and establish new protocols.

Employee Security Training

Security procedures train and educate employees on security best practices and their role in maintaining security, with regular training sessions and updates on security policies and threats. For instance, simulated phishing attacks can help employees recognize them and respond to them.

The security procedure establishes employee training based on their roles and access levels.

Compliance and Audit Procedures

Does your company have to comply with laws, regulations, and industry standards?

Internal and external audits assess compliance with security policies and regulations. Reviews and updates to security policies reflect changes in laws and regulations as well as new potential threats. 

What’s in a Security Procedure?

Before going into detail about what’s in a security procedure, let’s remember that everything needs to be written down and available both online and in physical format for easy access. If you feel that this is beyond your abilities, then a technical writer can help put on paper your company’s full security procedures.

Purpose and Scope

A security procedure lays down the security goals it aims to achieve. It then defines the areas, assets, or operations it covers. This could be specific to a department, a type of data, or a particular security threat.

Roles and Responsibilities

The security procedure identifies the individuals and teams involved. There are detailed duties and responsibilities assigned to each role. This way, everyone knows what is expected of them.

Definitions

‘Let’s be clear’: this statement is at the center of a security procedure. Terms, acronyms, and jargon are clearly explained so that everybody is on the same page and all employees understand the same thing,

Procedural Steps

Step-by-step guidelines outline how to perform the tasks. These should be clear, concise, and easy to follow. Visual aids can help illustrate the process flow and clarify complex steps.

Tools and Resources

The security protocol lists tools, software, or equipment needed to carry out the procedure.

Security Controls

Security controls include details of technical measures such as firewalls, encryption, access controls, etc.

Physical security measures include locks, surveillance cameras, and alarm systems.

As for administrative controls, they speak of policies and procedures that define the behavior of employees and the management of security concerns, such as access management and incident response plans.

Compliance Requirements

If the business must comply with legal and regulatory requirements, this is where these are defined.

Incident Response and Reporting

This part describes the necessary steps to identify, report, and manage security incidents. It also includes guidelines on how to communicate during and after an incident, whom to contact, and how to document the incident.

Penalties

What happens when a staff member fails at their task? The security procedure defines the penalties. The existence of penalties and contingencies helps uphold the security procedure and encourages employees to follow rules and regulations.

Training and Awareness

Employees must be trained on how to understand and follow the procedure, otherwise it’s just a theoretical process. You need to make it hands-on. Employees must also be trained on updates and changes to stay on top of their game.

Review and Revision

How well did we do? After an incident, you must assess how well the security procedure worked. If changes are made, these are noted here.

Approval and Authorization

Who has approved the documentation? All authorization information goes here. This part is important for legal responsibility. 

What Makes Writing a Security Procedure so Difficult?

A security procedure requires extensive knowledge and experience in writing this sort of document.

Complexity of Security Threats

There are so many threats out there, from cyber-attacks and data breaches to physical intrusions and insider threats. It can be daunting to understand and address all potential risks.

Also, technology is always one step ahead of us, with artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud computing. There are many opportunities but also risks associated with these.

Regulatory Compliance

Different industries are subject to various regulations and standards (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS) that mandate specific security measures. The security procedure writer must know and understand these regulations and apply them to the organization.

Regulations and standards are regularly updated: think of the food or pharma industries. There needs to be constant monitoring and adjustment to remain compliant.

Customization to Specific Needs

All businesses are different. Each organization has its own operations, assets, and risk profiles. A security procedure writer must customize the protocol to match the business needs.

Integration Across Departments

Security procedures often need to integrate with existing policies and processes across various departments. They must be consistent and coordinate with different teams, such as IT, HR, and facilities management. This can be daunting, as different departments may have varying levels of understanding and priorities regarding security. There must be effective communication and collaboration, which sometimes is challenging.

Technical Complexity

Technical security measures such as encryption protocols, network security configurations, and access control systems, require specialized knowledge and skills. To add to the complexity, modern organizations use interconnected systems and technologies, where changes in one area can impact others.

Human Factors

Who applies the security procedure? Employees. They play the most important role in security, but human behavior can be unpredictable. Procedures must account for human error and social engineering attacks and help ensure employee compliance through training and awareness. This is sometimes difficult, especially if employees resist new security measures or perceive them as inconvenient or disruptive.

Documentation and Clarity

An acceptable use policy for security procedures needs to be meticulously documented, with clear and detailed instructions that are easy to follow. This level of detail can be time-consuming to achieve.

Continuous Improvement

Security threats and technologies are always changing. Security procedures must keep up. This can be time-consuming, especially as it’s good to gather feedback from employees and stakeholders to improve procedures and implement changes based on this feedback. A security procedure is a living document and an ongoing process.

Security Procedures Matter

If everything goes fine in your business, you will never know whether the security procedures you have set up work. But things are bound to go awry at some point. This is when you will know whether the security procedure performed and protected your business.

As with everything in life, being proactive and well-prepared is the best policy. If you want solid security procedures, ask a professional to help set them up and write them down, because you will witness the difference when it really matters.

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A technical writer who specializes in security procedures could help plan your business security setup in a coordinated way. Contact us today and find out for yourself why TimelyText is a trusted professional writing service and instructional design consulting partner for Fortune 500 companies worldwide!