All businesses need an overview of the company's IT security policies. An IT policy ensures good decisions that protect security – across the organization.

What is an IT policy?

An IT policy is the management's governing document for IT security within the organization. The policy describes the long-term guidelines and priorities that the company will follow to ensure good IT security in the company.

The IT policy should describe, in a clear and simple manner, the considerations and security principles that the organization uses to protect its goals and values. The policy should include an overview of the overarching security goals for the company and address the risk areas of the business. A good tip is to include some measurable targets so that one can go back after a while to assess whether the policy is sufficient.

The IT policy lays the foundation for the company's IT instructions, and therefore the policy should not address detailed guidelines, routines, various security measures, or describe the use of technology. This information should be found in the IT instructions. 

For the policy to function as a useful IT tool, it is important that it is anchored in the entire company – not just at the management level. The policy must be made available to employees so that they can familiarize themselves with it and work according to the guidelines it contains. An IT policy should be short, concise, and ideally not described in more than two A4 pages. 

Why do you need an IT policy?

As mentioned, the IT policy is the management's governing document for IT security, and the IT instructions describe the guidelines and security measures in detail. So if there is a detailed instruction, why then is a policy necessary?

Well, the IT policy provides all departments within the company a common security platform to work from. With a set of common guidelines, good decisions and consistent choices regarding IT security can be made. This simplifies the process when purchasing digital services and equipment, or entering into supplier agreements and new collaborations.