Information Security Policy

Drafts a formal Information Security Policy satisfying multi-framework regulatory requirements with enforceable operational guidance.

Prerequisites

Org profile — industry sector, employee count, jurisdictions of operation
Regulatory triggers — applicable frameworks (HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, GLBA, FERPA, PCI DSS, SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIST CSF)
Existing governance docs — current policies, data classification schemes, incident response plans
Data inventory — sensitive data categories handled (PHI, PII, payment card data, student records, trade secrets)
Approving authority — CEO, Board, CISO, General Counsel signature blocks needed

Output Structure

Document Control Block

| Field | Content | |-------|---------| | Policy Title | Information Security Policy | | Version / Effective Date | [#] / [Date] | | Approved By / Owner | [Title] / CISO or equivalent | | Next Review | [Date + 1 year] | | Supersedes | [Prior version or N/A] |

Section Outline

1. Purpose & Authority

Business rationale (financial, reputational, regulatory risk)
Authorizing resolution; relationship to other org policies

2. Scope

Entities: parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, JVs
Personnel: employees, contractors, vendors, partners
Assets: electronic data, physical records, IP, BYOD, remote environments
Exclusions: publicly available info, de-identified data (define standard)

3. Definitions Define with legal precision; flag where definitions vary by jurisdiction:

Confidential Information, Personal Data / PII (per GDPR Art. 4, CCPA § 1798.140, HIPAA 45 C.F.R. § 160.103)
Data Breach, Security Incident, Data Owner, Data Custodian, Authorized User
Classification Levels: Public / Internal / Confidential / Restricted

4. Data Classification

| Level | Description | Examples | |-------|-------------|---------| | Public | Approved for external release | Marketing materials | | Internal | Business use; not for external distribution | Org charts, internal memos | | Confidential | Limited distribution; legal obligations | Customer PII, financial data | | Restricted | Highest sensitivity; regulatory protection | PHI, payment card data, credentials |

5. Access Controls

Least privilege; separation of duties
Lifecycle: request → data owner approval → provisioning → quarterly review → revocation on role change/termination
Privileged access: separate admin accounts; logged and audited

6. Authentication

| Requirement | Standard | |-------------|---------| | Password length | 12+ characters; mixed case, numbers, symbols | | MFA required for | Remote access, privileged accounts, Restricted data, cloud admin | | Acceptable MFA | TOTP, hardware token, biometric; SMS discouraged for high-risk | | Shared credentials | Prohibited |

7. Encryption Standards

| Context | Minimum Standard | |---------|-----------------| | Data at rest (Confidential/Restricted) | AES-256 | | Data in transit | TLS 1.2+ (1.3 preferred) | | Portable devices | Full-disk encryption | | Email (Restricted) | End-to-end or secure portal | | Backup media | Encrypted; separate key management |

Review annually; superseded by org Security Standards if more stringent.

8. Acceptable Use

Prohibited: illegal activity, harassment, circumventing controls, credential sharing
Monitoring: org reserves right; no expectation of privacy on org systems
BYOD: MDM enrollment, encryption, remote wipe on loss/termination

9. Physical Security

Lock unattended devices; clean desk for Confidential/Restricted materials
Secure disposal: cross-cut shredding (paper); cryptographic erasure or destruction (media)
Visitor access: escorted in secure areas; logs maintained

10. Data Retention & Disposal

| Category | Period | Basis | |----------|--------|-------| | PHI | 6 years | HIPAA 45 C.F.R. § 164.530(j) | | Financial records | 7 years | IRS / GLBA | | Student records | Per FERPA | 34 C.F.R. § 99 | | Incident logs | 3 years min | [Regulatory basis] |

Certificate of destruction required for Restricted data.

11. Roles & Responsibilities

| Role | Obligations | |------|-------------| | Board / Exec | Policy approval; resource allocation | | CISO | Program ownership; standards; audit; regulator liaison | | IT / Security | Controls; patching; monitoring; vulnerability mgmt | | Legal / Privacy | Breach notification decisions; regulatory liaison | | Managers | Access approval; team compliance; off-boarding | | All Employees | Credential protection; incident reporting; training | | DPO | Required under GDPR Art. 37 if applicable |

12. Incident Response

Lifecycle:

Detect & Report — within [1–4 hours] to security hotline
Assess — severity triage; activate IRT if Sev 1/2
Contain — isolate systems; preserve evidence; chain of custody
Eradicate — remove threat; patch vulnerability
Recover — restore from clean backups; verify integrity
Post-Incident Review — within 14 days; root cause; corrective action plan

IRT: CISO (lead), IT Security, Legal, HR, PR/Comms, Executive Sponsor.

13. Breach Notification

| Framework | Deadline | Recipients | |-----------|----------|-----------| | HIPAA | 60 days (individuals); 60 days HHS + media if 500+ | Individuals, HHS, media | | GDPR | 72 hours to SA; without undue delay to individuals if high risk | SA, affected individuals | | CCPA/CPRA | Expedient / without unreasonable delay | Consumers; AG if 500+ CA | | State laws | 30–90 days (varies) | Residents, AGs, credit bureaus | | PCI DSS | Immediately | Card brands, acquiring bank |

Legal counsel notified immediately upon any incident involving personal data.

14. Third-Party & Vendor Management

Security assessment before vendor access to Confidential/Restricted data
Required contractual provisions: DPA / BAA as applicable
Right-to-audit for Restricted data vendors
Access revoked immediately on contract termination

15. Regulatory Compliance Matrix

| Framework | Applicability | Key Requirements | |-----------|--------------|-----------------| | HIPAA (45 C.F.R. §§ 164.302–318) | Healthcare / PHI | Admin, physical, technical safeguards; BAAs | | GLBA (16 C.F.R. § 314) | Financial institutions | Risk assessment; safeguards; service provider oversight | | FERPA (34 C.F.R. § 99) | Education | Student record protection; disclosure restrictions | | GDPR | EU personal data | Lawful basis; data subject rights; DPIAs; SCCs | | CCPA/CPRA | CA residents | Consumer rights; opt-out; privacy notice | | PCI DSS v4.0 | Payment cards | Detailed controls in separate PCI procedures | | NIST CSF 2.0 | Voluntary | Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover, Govern | | ISO 27001 | Voluntary | ISMS; Annex A controls |

16. Training & Awareness

All personnel: at hire + annually; phishing simulation semi-annually
High-risk roles (sysadmins, developers, finance): role-specific training annually
Completion tracked; non-completion escalated; records retained 3 years

17. Compliance Monitoring & Audit

Annual risk assessment; quarterly vulnerability scans; annual penetration test
Access reviews: semi-annual (Confidential), quarterly (Restricted)
Remediation SLAs — Critical: 30 days, High: 60 days, Medium: 90 days

18. Enforcement Progressive discipline: retraining → written warning → suspension/termination → civil liability → criminal referral. Factors: intent, severity, prior violations, self-reporting.

19. Policy Administration

Review: annually or upon major incident, regulatory change, material org change
Approval: [CEO/Board] on CISO + General Counsel recommendation
Employees acknowledge receipt in writing; at-will status unaffected

Signature Block

| Role | Name | Signature | Date | |------|------|-----------|------| | CEO | | | | | CISO | | | | | General Counsel | | | |

Employee Acknowledgment

I acknowledge receipt of, have read, and agree to comply with the Information Security Policy (Version [#], effective [Date]).

Name: ______ Title: ______ Date: ______ Signature: ______

Guidelines

Multi-jurisdiction conflicts: apply most stringent standard or add jurisdiction-specific schedules
Encryption floors: AES-256 / TLS 1.2+ are minimums; revise per NIST guidance updates
GDPR DPO: required if org is public authority, conducts large-scale monitoring, or processes special category data at scale — confirm applicability before drafting [VERIFY]
HIPAA BAAs: policy cross-references but does not replace BAA; maintain separate vendor register
PCI DSS: detailed technical controls in separate PCI documentation to allow updates without policy re-approval
At-will disclaimer: verify enforceability under applicable state law [VERIFY]
Collective bargaining: if unionized workforce, confirm no bargaining obligation before implementation
Do not fabricate citations — use [VERIFY] for any citation not confirmed against primary source