1.3.1 The Security Policy
Organizations operate with well-defined corporate, employee, and security policies.
The “Security Policy” document contains policies that inform users, IT staff, and managers of the requirements for protecting technology and information assets. As shown in the figure, there are policies for:
- Specifying how users are identified and authenticated
- Setting password length, complexity, and refresh interval
- Defining what behavior is acceptable on the corporate network
- Specifying remote access requirements, etc.
The Security Policy document is a constantly evolving document that reacts to changes in the threat landscape, new vulnerabilities, and business and employee requirements. The Security Policy helps the IT team understand what they must do to keep the network operational and secure by using:
Standard operating procedures (SOP) – These define step-by-step actions that must be completed for any given task to comply with a policy. There are SOPs to follow when replacing network devices, installing (or uninstalling) applications, onboarding new employees, terminating existing employees, and more.
Guidelines – These cover the areas where there are no SOPs defined.
When users encounter a problem or need network support, they must contact a “help desk.” The help desk assists users by following the defined SOPs and guidelines. The help desk will use a ticketing system to manage the steps within the troubleshooting life cycle shown in the following figure.
This topic will focus on using a ticketing system to complete the first three steps shown in the figure.
