CSM top tip of the month: Ensure your information security objectives consider key risks

In our top tip series, Hicomply’s digital ISMS experts and customer satisfaction specialists, Zoe and Laura, share their advice for businesses working towards information security certifications. From essential policies to best practices, here’s some handy tips to get your compliance tasks moving in the right direction.

This month, we want to talk about making sure that you’re considering the primary security risks to your organisation when establishing information security objectives.

Information security objectives provide a clear framework for maintaining and implementing an effective ISMS that protects your organisation’s information assets from prying eyes.

The main objectives surrounding InfoSec typically relate to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of your company data, as well as traceability. They should be clearly defined in your business’ Information Security Policy.

Infosec objectives: what do you need to consider?

Infosec objectives should be clear, but not necessarily rigid, able to be scaled and adjusted to meet your organisation’s current needs. In order to ensure that these objectives tick all the necessary boxes for data protection across your business and supply chains, there are certain factors you should consider.

These include:

Aligning objectives with business goals

Infosec objectives must support the overall business strategy and objectives of your organisation, working in tandem with your wider goals to bolster your business defences.

Conducting full risk assessment

Objectives should address any key risks identified in your organisation, with steps in place to mitigate them effectively.

Keeping objectives SMART

In order to be viable, infosec objectives should follow the SMART model, and be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Measure objective performance, report, and review every six months to ensure their continued relevance.

Meeting regulatory and legal requirements

Objectives must fall in line with relevant laws, regulations, and contractual obligations, to help your organisation on the road to compliance.

Considering stakeholder needs and expectations

No business is an island, so it’s important to ensure objectives address the expectations and requirements of key stakeholders.

Assessing resource availability

If your objectives are ambitious, you need to know you have the necessary steps and tools in place to meet them. Ensure that your organisation has access to the resources required to achieve your goals.

Considering current security posture

The main goal of any Infosec objectives should be to improve cybersecurity across your business, so be sure to define objectives that will enhance the existing security posture and address any weaknesses.

Fine-tuning and continuous improvement

Defining objectives isn’t a tick box exercise. Make sure that any objectives also include mechanisms for regular review, feedback, and refinement.

Incident response and recovery

Objectives must support the development and maintenance of incident response plans and business continuity measures.

Managing objectives with Hicomply

Information security objectives should be defined in your Information Security Policy and can be managed through the Hicomply Tasks feature: Workspace Tasks.

If this all sounds like a lot of work, don’t worry. Your Hicomply workspace comes prepopulated with some generic objectives which you can then refine to suit your organisation’s specific needs, and updated regularly.

Enjoy clarity, security and compliance with Hicomply

Our ISMS gives you all the tools you need in one place. Taking the heavy lifting out of compliance, we make it easy to assess completed, in-progress, and outstanding tasks.

Fast and simple ISMS scoping means our platform does much of the work for you. Enjoy real-time updates, automated risk management, and all your policies on one platform. Build, house, and manage your ISMS within under one, industry-leading roof.

And, of course, if you experience any challenges or have any queries, our CSM team are on hand to help you every step of the way.

Not currently using Hicomply? Ready to find out more about what the platform can do for you? Book a demo.