The Fortune 500 organization is known for its products and services worldwide, with a significant competitive advantage coming from several factors. For this reason, it demands a robust security system capable of protecting private information about clients, product lines, recipes, and methods used to guarantee the high quality of products and services. The stable functioning of this system is one of the basic factors necessary for the further development of the company and the preservation of leading positions in the market (Budzak, 2016). Along with the closest rivals, the organization can also suffer from the attacks of hackers and other malefactors aimed at causing severe damage or substantial harm.
Currently, the company, represented by the Board of Directors, demands upgrading the existing information security strategy to create a safe cloud collaboration between suppliers and resellers. Under these conditions, the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) should offer the approach to accomplish the task and structure the existing system to attain maximum effectiveness (Smith, 2019). Additionally, it is essential to minimize the number of successful hackers’ attacks damaging a company’s networks. The proposed methods of controlled access to critical areas and data are expected to improve the situation and protect vulnerable and fundamental organizations’ information from theft or being used by third parties.
One of the CISO’s leading tasks is to outline the fundamental areas vital for preserving the effectiveness of the system and point out corresponding roles that should be carried out to support the framework and minimize the number of successful attacks. Additionally, this approach will ensure a decreased risk of interference and data theft (Smith, 2019). Following the current organization’s needs, there are four domains used to categorize the roles, such as evaluation, management, implementation, and design (Smith, 2019). Using such classification, it is possible to improve security measures in the existing environments and distribute tasks effectively. Additionally, the following areas are proposed to build a stable and functioning security system:
- Data security
- Management of operations and incidents
- Specialists training
- IT systems support and maintenance
- Personal security
- Networks and communication protection and security
- Environment security
- Procurement management
- Compliance
- Risk evaluation and management
- Strategic security management
- Applications safety (Smith, 2019)
Following the proposed organizational chart, there are different roles and reporting patterns used by specialists.
The Chief Information Officer (CIO) is at the top of the system, acting as the leader of the department and holding the responsibility of overseeing and supervising colleagues. Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) reports to CIO and remains responsible for physical, personal, and data security, guaranteeing the stability of systems. Security Engineers and Security managers are subordinate to CISO. The first one works with the physical security tasks, while the second one monitors system data and applications. The privacy security specialist, IT procurement specialist, and IT Security Compliance Officer is under Security Engineer. They are responsible for privacy issues, communication with vendors to align the work of the framework, and observation of existing policies correspondingly.
The effective functioning and performance of these roles might demand additional resources. DOE M 205.1 National Security System Manual is necessary to outline and classify all possible interactions and influences, loss of information, and data theft (U.S. Department of Energy, 2007). Additionally, for procurement specialists plans, financial information, requests, and proposals might be necessary to attain desired outcomes. Finally, information about licensing, registration, and data security is vital to establishing a stable framework.
Fortune 500 is a big global company offering a wide range of services to different companies and clients across the world. Regarding the given proposal, the company focuses on improving its existing security system to protect its information, preserve its competitive advantage, and reduce the number of cyberattacks, which increases every year. For this reason, there is a need for specific actions aimed at establishing a robust framework and creating the basis for the future organization’s growth and dominance in the market.
The Request for Proposal (RFP) is prepared to choose a SI for collaboration, supply, and maintaining newly established networks and security systems during the contract. The central goal of the proposed document is to form the ground for creating a new environment and using effective and innovative equipment and services to achieve the desired outcomes (Singh & Gupta, 2019). Under these conditions, it is essential to cooperate with qualified and experienced vendors ready to collaborate with the security department to implement and support the work of the network security system (Laybats & Tredinnick, 2016). The current framework should be viewed as an ineffective one, and it should be replaced with a more potent and up-to-date system ensuring a high level of data security and protection.
This RFP also presupposes that the vendor can guarantee an appropriate work of a newly established security system. It should provide access to the authorized categories of users, while other parties should be excluded from the data exchange. It should also function regarding the current demands to security levels and the necessity to protect valuable data. Another vital goal of the document is to ask for assistance to integrate an innovative solution meeting the demands of the security and criteria established by CISO (Andress, 2019).
The offered proposals will be evaluated regarding their ability to provide the best possible option for the company and guarantee its stable development within next the several years. It demands flexible networks and protection tools. Under these conditions, the two central perspectives include the ability to integrate and maintain desired security solutions and ensure evolution without severe damage caused by other parties.
RFP must offer clear standards that should be followed and quality assurance, which is the fundamental aspect of successful cooperation. For this reason, vendors should provide a clear and detailed plan for creating a robust system, outlining its central factors and key points (Singh & Gupta, 2019). Vendors should also apply certificates and descriptions of previous experiences with recommendations. The final decision will be made by evaluating the overall experience in the field, current offering, certifications, and the ability to meet outlined criteria.
Physical security of the most important areas is another critical element of the framework guaranteeing the improved capability of preventing new attacks. Recent research shows that a significant number of interferences and attempts to steal data are performed using devices placed in restricted areas to intercept some keys, passwords, or affect employees (Kim & Solomon, 2016). Under these conditions, it becomes fundamental to ensure that networks, software, hardware, and personnel are protected against such factors as fire, burglary, theft, terrorism, vandalism, and other actions (Kim & Solomon, 2016). This part of the existing security system plays a significant role in creating the basis for the future rise of the firm and its dominance in the market.
Following this idea, the physical security plan protects employee areas, manufacturing facilities, videoconference rooms, servers, and the IT department. These zones are frequently attacked by malefactors, meaning that it is vital to offer practical methods to minimize risks and chances for data theft. The possible strategies include:
- Data protection and encryption strategy.
- Effective defense strategies.
- Physical defense methods.
- Creation of backups for all essential data (Whitman & Mattord, 2017).
The introduction and implementation of these approaches can be performed in several ways. First, the company should establish clear and obligatory policies for using devices with access to networks, such as telecommunication and cloud services, to avoid inappropriate use and data loss. Second, all employees should be taught about the correct use of existing security measures to know how to act in situations presupposing physical risks. Finally, all security personnel should perform annual checks of the existing physical environment to ensure there are no new breaches or loopholes that malefactors can use in the future.
Following the given model of physical security, it is possible to attain several advantages. First, being combined with the offered model, will guarantee improved protection and ensure that malefactors will not be able to use drawbacks in physical safety to damage the company. At the same time, enhanced instructions will ensure employees will act as active players and help the company to improve existing security standards and respond to new threats (Sawyer & Hancock, 2018). Finally, backups and protection of critical zones will help to store data effectively and avoid its loss or corruption. Under these conditions, the proposed physical security plan is central for aligning the better protection system and guaranteeing the company can move forward and acquire new clients and partners using cloud services as it was planned and demanded.
Enterprise Information Security Compliance Program is the next critical aspect of the proposed framework focusing on vital areas and improving the existing strategy. In general, information security compliance management presupposes establishing a minimum set of requirements essential for protecting data in a unit where critical information is stored (van der Wens, 2019). For this reason, it becomes vital to align a continuous process of monitoring the systems to guarantee they comply with the standards mentioned above (Humaidi & Balakrishnan, 2018). It includes promoting security awareness, policies, and guidelines and using the best possible practices among workers (Humaidi & Balakrishnan, 2018).
Compliance with the relevant recommendations also offers several advantages, such as enhanced risk protection, better reputation among shareholders, stable collaboration with clients and partners, the ability to evolve (Humaidi & Balakrishnan, 2018). That is why the following policies and recommendations are offered to attain success in the given area:
- Evaluate, monitor, and discuss security compliance practices within the organization
- Support effective and practical communication with stakeholders to keep them informed about existing strategies and threats, and also import reporting practices
- Ensure there are regular internal audits to determine if the established protocols, practices, and strategies are understood by the staff and followed.
- To offer additional training for stakeholders to ensure they are ready to contribute to the better work of security systems.
The following policies should be supported by the regular steps made to attain better results. These include:
- Assessment of compliance program protocols against standards and guidelines
- Evaluation of information security strategy to outline improvement area
- Data collection for improvement and updating the security framework to ensure it is ready to meet new challenges.
In such a way, this security compliance program is designed to meet the existing company’s needs and protect it by informing all stakeholders about the importance of the offered protocols and guidelines. At the same time, by assessing the current state of protocols and their compliance with the relevant recommendations, it is possible to ensure the stability of the company’s work and its ability to evolve (Landoll, 2020).
Furthermore, all recommended actions are necessary for establishing and supporting the work of the security system, meaning that they should be accepted by all stakeholders and possible partners (Humaidi & Balakrishnan, 2018). Only under these conditions, it is possible to attain success in the desired areas and protect them against new malefactors or hackers. This set of recommendations should also be distributed among all workers and top managers to familiarize them with the major demands and ensure they are ready to follow them.
Finally, Risk Management Plan is another component essential for any robust security system and guarantees the appropriate, effective, and timely response to any new threat. The following risk management efforts can be recommended. First, it is vital to introduce an effective data collection and analysis system to gather information about all previous attacks, both failed and successful ones, and the current methods of their prevention (Jia & Bradbury, 2021). It will contribute to the increased effectiveness of risk management as relevant knowledge is the basics of any working framework. It will provide security specialists with all needed data to design and implement methods for resisting attacks and recovering after server damage.
Second, it is vital to align security risk management with the existing business goals, plans, and objectives. This will guarantee that the company will be more effective in overcoming the new challenges emerging on its way, including cybersecurity and data protection (Huang et al., 2019). This measure is critical regarding the long-term perspectives of a unit if there is no cooperation between various departments and managers, the risks of failure increase (Hopkin, 2018). Additionally, the establishment of a working system is impossible without a clear vision of existing goals as it explains what to expect and how to respond to all possible challenges. For this reason, it is a vital aspect of data protection and risk management.
Another possible effort is developing a risk assessment model and process for evaluating operational, logical, and system risks to personnel and facilities. This will lead to a better ability to respond to the growing number of attacks and attempts considered by the existing security system. Correctly analyzing all factors that are applicable for various cases of a data security breach, specialists will be able to select among the wide range of opportunities and protect the company.
Altogether, the proposed practices and protocols can help to align the better protection system and establish the basis for the discussed company evolution. The growing number of attacks means there is a need for robust systems to protect the company. Following the given recommendations, it is possible to align the flexible and effective framework focusing on the most important areas and teach personnel how to respond to different situations and act in ways guaranteeing better outcomes.
References
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