The Role of Information Security Policy Essay Example for Free

The Role of Information Security Policy Essay The framework for an organization’s information security program is composed of policies and their respective standards and procedures. This article will examine the relationship between policies, standards, and procedures and the roles they play in an organization’s information security program. In addition, the roles that of individuals inside and outside of the organization with respect to the creation of policy and standards will be discussed. Finally, how an organization can meet information security need at each level of security and how this relates to the information security policy (ISP) content. Information Security Policy (ISP) Definition Policies form the foundation of everything an organization is and does. Likewise, an ISP is the beginning of a company’s information security program. A policy is a high-level plan on how an organization intends to respond to certain issues. An ISP sets the tone of the organizations information security program and establishes the will and intent of the company in all information security matters. The ISP also defines how the company will regulate its employees. Policies must support an organization’s objectives and promote the organization’s success. Policies must never be illegal and must be defensible in a court of law. Policies must be supported and administered fairly and consistently throughout the organization (Whitman Mattford, 2010). The following paragraphs list some tips for developing and implementing an ISP. A Clear Purpose It is essential that an ISP have a clearly defined purpose. Specific objective should guide the creation of the ISP and the purpose should articulate exactly what the policy is to accomplish (McConnell, 2002).  McConnell (2002) further notes that, â€Å"If you cannot explain why the policy exists, you cannot expect your employees to understand it or follow it† (p. 2). Employee Input In developing policies, it is a good idea to gain the input of the employees to which the policy will apply. Ideally, there should be at least one representative from each department. Allowing various employees give input to the policy, will help to ensure that nothing is overlooked and that the policy is easily understood (McConnell, 2002). Security Awareness and Training Program In addition to gaining the employee’s acknowledgement of the ISP at their orientation, the ISP should be part of the security awareness and training program. Ongoing awareness training can focus on various security policies (McConnell, 2002). It is important to keep the awareness of information security matters fresh in the minds of the employees to avoid complacent behaviors that may lead to serious violations. Enforcement Enforcement is critical to the success of any policy; policies that are not enforced are soon ignored. McConnell (2002) notes, â€Å"A policy that you are unable or unwilling to enforce is useless† (p. 2). If a policy is unenforceable, it should be removed or revised to the point where it is enforceable. Not only must a policy be enforceable, it must be enforced from the top down. When managers set the example, the rest of the staff are more likely to follow (McConnell, 2002). Standards While policy sets the overall plan or intent of the organization in regards to information security, standards define the specific elements required to comply with policy. For example, an acceptable usage policy may prohibit employees from visiting inappropriate websites; the standard defines what websites are considered inappropriate (Whitman Mattford, 2010). Standards may be developed in house, but the common preferred way is to utilize already established industry standards that can then be tailored to the  organization’s specific needs. Procedures Procedures are the step-by-step actions necessary to comply with the policy. Procedures are driven by standards that are governed by policy (Whitman Mattford, 2010). Most policy violations may be traced back to either a willful or negligent failure to follow procedures. Roles Senior Management Senior management initiates the need for policy creation; it is their intent and purpose that the policy is created to communicate. Senior management is the final authority and gives the final approval for the policy. Information Security Officer (ISO) The ISO is essentially the policies champion overseeing all aspects of the ISP and the agent reporting to senior management. The ISO creates a governance committee that works together to develop and update policy. The ISO oversees organizational compliance with security policies (California Office of Information Security and Privacy Protection, 2008). IT Staff The information technology (IT) staff is responsible for installing and maintaining the technical controls to ensure users are compliant with the security policies. For example, the IT staff may install software that blocks access to prohibited websites. The IT staff also conducts monitoring of employee activity on the company network. Managers Mangers, as already stated, must lead by example. When managers do not follow and enforce policies, it communicates to the employees that policies are not important and that following them is optional. A body will always follow its head; likewise a department will always follow the example of its managers. End Users The average end user is perhaps the greatest security asset and the greatest security threat; clear security policies and proper security awareness training are the deciding factors. People should be made aware of common  security threats such as social engineering attacks and the importance of safeguarding their password information. They should be trained to understand exactly what the organization expects form them in regards to information security (Whitman Mattford, 2010). External Agents There may be times when outside people may need to have access to an organizations network such vendors, consultants, and temporary employees. Such people should be required to sign an acknowledgement form agreeing to abide by all security policies, standards, and procedures. Security Levels The Bulls-eye Model The bulls-eye model is a way of tailoring the ISP to the needs of the organization at various security levels. The four levels of the bulls-eye are: policies, networks, systems, and applications (Whitman Mattford, 2010). Whitman and Mattford (2010) state, â€Å"In this model, issues are addressed by moving from the general to the specific, always starting with policy† (p. 120). Policy AN information security policy, as already discussed, sets the foundation for an organization’s information security program (Ungerman, 2005). While all policies are high-level, there are different levels that a policy may address. The enterprise information security policy (EISP) is the overall policy that encompasses all other information security policies within the organization. Issue specific security policies (ISSP) target specific issues and contain more low-level elements than the EISP. An example of an ISSP is an acceptable use policy (SUP). Finally, there are system specific security policies (SysSP). A SysSP is so low-levelthat it may appear more like a procedure than a policy. A SysSP through either managerial guidance or technical specifications defines system-specific controls needed to conform to an ISSP. An example of an SysSP would be the implementation of website filtering software to enforce the company’s AUP (Whitman Mattford, 2010). Network Network-level security is about securing the network and as such is heavily  focused on controlling access through user authentication. EISP may define who may access the network in addition to how and why. An ISSP may then specify what type of authentication and access control models may be used. SysSPs can then proscribe technical specifications, such as software requiring a periodic password change, to facilitate compliance with the ISSP (Whitman Mattford, 2010). System System-level security is concerned with securing the actual system components of the network such as the computers, printers, and servers. Examples of ISSPs at the system level are AUP, password policies, and policies prohibiting the installation of unapproved hardware and software by end users (Whitman Mattford, 2010). Application Application-level security deals with any type of application form out-of –the-box software like MS Office to enterprise resource planners (ERP) like SAP. Policy considerations here would be controlling user access and application update policy. Policy controls who has access to which applications and to which features (Whitman Mattford, 2010). Conclusion References California Office of Information Security and Privacy Protection. (2008, April). Guide for the Role and Responsibilities of an Information Security Officer Within State Government. Retrieved from http://www.cio.ca.gov/ois/government/documents/pdf/iso_roles_respon_guide.pdf McConnell, K. D. (2002). How to Develop Good Security Policies and Tips on Assessment and Enforcement. Retrieved from http://www.giac.org/paper/gsec/1811/develop-good-security-policies-tips-assessment-enforcement/102142 Ungerman, M. (2005). Creating and Enforcing an Effective Information Security Policy. Retrieved from http://www.isaca.org/Journal/Past-Issues/2005/Volume-6/Documents/jopdf-0506-creating-enforcing.pdf Whitman, M., Mattford, H. (2010). Management of Information Security (3rd ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Retrived from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.

Essay --

It is important for people to imitate others before they can become original and creative. Imitation can be looked down upon by society; however, it is not as bad as it is chalked up to be. Imitation allows people to establish themselves. People have role models and admire them. A person aspires to achieve as much as their idol has done. Imitating a role model is necessary to be original and creative because mimicking allows one to be put in a position to influence others and to build upon qualities of the role model. Athletes are an everyday example of imitation. Athletes have role models that they look up to while growing up. For example, superstar athlete LeBron James has stated in numerous interviews that he aspired to be like Michael Jordan while growing up. He was influenced by someone who was successful and is considered the greatest of all time. Mimicking Michael Jordan’s game, LeBron has been put into a position where he is an idol for others. He can now show off his creativity, which others can look up to. LeBron James has established himself to the point that others will ...

Forms of Government

Montesquieu holds that there are three types of governments: republican governments, which can take either democratic or aristocratic forms; monarchies; and despotisms. Unlike, for instance, Aristotle, Montesquieu does not distinguish forms of government on the basis of the virtue of the sovereign. The distinction between monarchy and despotism, for instance, depends not on the virtue of the monarch, but on whether or not he governs â€Å"by fixed and established laws† (SL 2. 1). Each form of government has a principle, a set of â€Å"human passions which set it in motion† (SL 3. 1); and each can be corrupted if its principle is undermined or destroyed. In a democracy, the people are sovereign. They may govern through ministers, or be advised by a senate, but they must have the power of choosing their ministers and senators for themselves. The principle of democracy is political virtue, by which Montesquieu means â€Å"the love of the laws and of our country† (SL 4. 5), including its democratic constitution. The form of a democratic government makes the laws governing suffrage and voting fundamental. The need to protect its principle, however, imposes far more extensive requirements. On Montesquieu's view, the virtue required by a functioning democracy is not natural. It requires â€Å"a constant preference of public to private interest† (SL 4. 5); it â€Å"limits ambition to the sole desire, to the sole happiness, of doing greater services to our country than the rest of our fellow citizens† (SL 5. ); and it â€Å"is a self-renunciation, which is ever arduous and painful† (SL 4. 5). Montesquieu compares it to monks' love for their order: â€Å"their rule debars them from all those things by which the ordinary passions are fed; there remains therefore only this passion for the very rule that torments them. †¦ the more it curbs their inclinations, the more force it gives to the only passion left them† (SL 5. 2). To produce this unnatural self-renunciation, â€Å"the whole power of education is required† (SL 4. ). A democracy must educate its citizens to identify their interests with the interests of their country, and should have censors to preserve its mores. It should seek to establish frugality by law, so as to prevent its citizens from being tempted to advance their own private interests at the expense of the public good; for the same reason, the laws by which property is transferred should aim to preserve an equal distribution of property among citizens. Its territory should be small, so hat it is easy for citizens to identify with it, and more difficult for extensive private interests to emerge. Democracies can be corrupted in two ways: by what Montesquieu calls â€Å"the spirit of inequality† and â€Å"the spirit of extreme equality† (SL 8. 2). The spirit of inequality arises when citizens no longer identify their interests with the interests of their country, and therefore seek both to advance their own private interests at the expense of their fellow citizens, and to ac quire political power over them. The spirit of extreme equality arises when the people are no longer content to be equal as citizens, but want to be equal in every respect. In a functioning democracy, the people choose magistrates to exercise executive power, and they respect and obey the magistrates they have chosen. If those magistrates forfeit their respect, they replace them. When the spirit of extreme equality takes root, however, the citizens neither respect nor obey any magistrate. They â€Å"want to manage everything themselves, to debate for the senate, to execute for the magistrate, and to decide for the judges† (SL 8. ). Eventually the government will cease to function, the last remnants of virtue will disappear, and democracy will be replaced by despotism. In an aristocracy, one part of the people governs the rest. The principle of an aristocratic government is moderation, the virtue which leads those who govern in an aristocracy to restrain themselves both from oppressing the people and from tryi ng to acquire excessive power over one another. In an aristocracy, the laws should be designed to instill and protect this spirit of moderation. To do so, they must do three things. First, the laws must prevent the nobility from abusing the people. The power of the nobility makes such abuse a standing temptation in an aristocracy; to avoid it, the laws should deny the nobility some powers, like the power to tax, which would make this temptation all but irresistible, and should try to foster responsible and moderate administration. Second, the laws should disguise as much as possible the difference between the nobility and the people, so that the people feel their lack of power as little as possible. Thus the nobility should have modest and simple manners, since if they do not attempt to distinguish themselves from the people â€Å"the people are apt to forget their subjection and weakness† (SL 5. 8). Finally, the laws should try to ensure equality among the nobles themselves, and among noble families. When they fail to do so, the nobility will lose its spirit of moderation, and the government will be corrupted. In a monarchy, one person governs â€Å"by fixed and established laws† (SL 2. 1). According to Montesquieu, these laws â€Å"necessarily suppose the intermediate channels through which (the monarch's) power flows: for if there be only the momentary and capricious will of a single person to govern the state, nothing can be fixed, and, of course, there is no fundamental law† (SL 2. 4). These ‘intermediate channels' are such subordinate institutions as the nobility and an independent judiciary; and the laws of a monarchy should therefore be designed to preserve their power. The principle of monarchical government is honor. Unlike the virtue required by republican governments, the desire to win honor and distinction comes naturally to us. For this reason education has a less difficult task in a monarchy than in a republic: it need only heighten our ambitions and our sense of our own worth, provide us with an ideal of honor worth aspiring to, and cultivate in us the politeness needed to live with others whose sense of their worth matches our own. The chief task of the laws in a monarchy is to protect the subordinate institutions that distinguish monarchy from despotism. To this end, they should make it easy to preserve large estates undivided, protect the rights and privileges of the nobility, and promote the rule of law. They should also encourage the proliferation of distinctions and of rewards for honorable conduct, including luxuries. A monarchy is corrupted when the monarch either destroys the subordinate institutions that constrain his will, or decides to rule arbitrarily, without regard to the basic laws of his country, or debases the honors at which his citizens might aim, so that â€Å"men are capable of being loaded at the very same time with infamy and with dignities† (SL 8. ). The first two forms of corruption destroy the checks on the sovereign's will that separate monarchy from despotism; the third severs the connection between honorable conduct and its proper rewards. In a functioning monarchy, personal ambition and a sense of honor work together. This is monarchy's great strength and the source of its extraordinary stability: whether its citizens act from genuine virtue, a sense of their own worth, a desire to serve their king, or personal ambition, they will be led to act in ways that serve their country. A monarch who rules arbitrarily, or who rewards servility and ignoble conduct instead of genuine honor, severs this connection and corrupts his government. In despotic states â€Å"a single person directs everything by his own will and caprice† (SL 2. 1). Without laws to check him, and with no need to attend to anyone who does not agree with him, a despot can do whatever he likes, however ill-advised or reprehensible. His subjects are no better than slaves, and he can dispose of them as he sees fit. The principle of despotism is fear. This fear is easily maintained, since the situation of a despot's subjects is genuinely terrifying. Education is unnecessary in a despotism; if it exists at all, it should be designed to debase the mind and break the spirit. Such ideas as honor and virtue should not occur to a despot's subjects, since â€Å"persons capable of setting a value on themselves would be likely to create disturbances. Fear must therefore depress their spirits, and extinguish even the least sense of ambition† (SL 3. ). Their â€Å"portion here, like that of beasts, is instinct, compliance, and punishment† (SL 3. 10), and any higher aspirations should be brutally discouraged. Montesquieu writes that â€Å"the principle of despotic government is subject to a continual corruption, because it is even in its nature corrupt† (SL 8. 10). This is true in several senses. First, despotic governments undermine themselves. Because property is not secure in a despo tic state, commerce will not flourish, and the state will be poor. The people must be kept in a state of fear by the threat of punishment; however, over time the punishments needed to keep them in line will tend to become more and more severe, until further threats lose their force. Most importantly, however, the despot's character is likely to prevent him from ruling effectively. Since a despot's every whim is granted, he â€Å"has no occasion to deliberate, to doubt, to reason; he has only to will† (SL 4. 3). For this reason he is never forced to develop anything like intelligence, character, or resolution. Instead, he is â€Å"naturally lazy, voluptuous, and ignorant† (SL 2. 5), and has no interest in actually governing his people. He will therefore choose a vizier to govern for him, and retire to his seraglio to pursue pleasure. In his absence, however, intrigues against him will multiply, especially since his rule is necessarily odious to his subjects, and since they have so little to lose if their plots against him fail. He cannot rely on his army to protect him, since the more power they have, the greater the likelihood that his generals will themselves try to seize power. For this reason the ruler in a despotic state has no more security than his people. Second, monarchical and republican governments involve specific governmental structures, and require that their citizens have specific sorts of motivation. When these structures crumble, or these motivations fail, monarchical and republican governments are corrupted, and the result of their corruption is that they fall into despotism. But when a particular despotic government falls, it is not generally replaced by a monarchy or a republic. The creation of a stable monarchy or republic is extremely difficult: â€Å"a masterpiece of legislation, rarely produced by hazard, and seldom attained by prudence† (SL 5. 14). It is particularly difficult when those who would have both to frame the laws of such a government and to live by them have previously been brutalized and degraded by despotism. Producing a despotic government, by contrast, is relatively straightforward. A despotism requires no powers to be carefully balanced against one another, no institutions to be created and maintained in existence, no complicated motivations to be fostered, and no restraints on power to be kept in place. One need only terrify one's fellow citizens enough to allow one to impose one's will on them; and this, Montesquieu claims, â€Å"is what every capacity may reach† (SL 5. 14). For these reasons despotism necessarily stands in a different relation to corruption than other forms of government: while they are liable to corruption, despotism is its embodiment.

Differences in Gender Communication - 2246 Words

Introduction This paper attempts to review for the reader a selection of literature that study and analyze the differences that exist between men and women and the manner in which they communicate. Not only do these pieces of literature fall into different categories and specialties, they also deliver varied opinions and results as to what causes the differences discussed. By becoming familiar with the many aspects of gender communication differences, the responsible worker or manager can synthesize those findings into a methodology that enhances work place communication. The literature available on gender communication differences, when analyzed, display themes of discussion. They are listed below in order of importance, followed†¦show more content†¦Most of the authors above conclude their findings with references to gender stereotypes. Still others, represented in this review by Hayes and Samartseva, focus on and detail the way stereotypes affect gender communication . Hayes states that stereotypes are the single most cause of misunderstandings between the genders in the work place, especially larger organizations where the work force doesn’t have a chance to develop closer relationships (2004). Hayes argues that when people are placed in a confrontation with an unknown person, or when that person’s mood and attitude is an unknown factor, people fall back subconsciously to their stereotyped images in order to interpret both verbal and non-verbal communication (2004). Samartseva discusses how stereotypes are conceptual frameworks built from observable behaviors that act as a way of predicting the world. However, she also points out that the development of stereotypes can lead to situations in which self-filling prophecies rule perceptions (2002). This finding is also evidenced by studies of management styles in the workplace. Stewart and Van der Lippe depict the varying ways in which men and women view their opposite-gendered superior. 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