Does My Business Need a Cybersecurity Policy?

As the business landscape becomes more and more digitised, companies become targets for hackers and data thieves. Therefore, cybersecurity is becoming an increasingly important issue that businesses must ensure they are up to speed with to protect their business assets and customers’ personal information. Importantly, having a good cybersecurity policy in place is vital to ensure businesses can run their operations smoothly. This article will explain what a cybersecurity policy is and why your business needs to have one. 

What is Cybersecurity?

In simple terms, cybersecurity is the practice of ensuring that you protect all of your digital operations, assets and data from hackers and data breaches. 

There is no overarching piece of legislation that covers the laws and regulations around cybersecurity. However, legislation like the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), impose obligations on businesses to ensure they securely store and regulate the use of their customer’s personal information. This means employing good cybersecurity policies is a must if you regularly deal with customer information. 

What is a Cybersecurity Policy?

The rise of digital crime and data theft has increased massively over the past ten years, as more and more people turn to the internet for their day-to-day business operations. Therefore, it is vitally important for businesses to put safeguards in place to protect themselves online. One key way for businesses to do this is by having a comprehensive cybersecurity policy. 

A cybersecurity policy outlines the strategy your business uses to prevent security breaches. You will generally write your business’ own policy. It is advisable to do this with the guidance of a lawyer to ensure the policy is compliant with data protection legislation. Typically, a cybersecurity policy will document what online assets or information your business must protect, what the company’s main threats to those assets are and the security measures it has in place to protect its digital assets. Those security measures can include rules like: 

• email encryption;
• how to access work remotely; 
• storing information securely; and  
• sending and receiving emails to people from outside your organisation. 

Why Do I Need a Cybersecurity Policy?

Cybersecurity policies are vitally important for your business. This is because they describe the security expectations your company employs to safeguard its digital assets. Here are four reasons why you need to have effective cybersecurity policies in place. 

1. Prevent Fines and Legal Fees

Failure to prevent a cyber attack or a data breach can cost you a lot of money. For instance, fines will apply for failing to take reasonable steps to protect your customers’ personal information under the GDPR. You may also be exposed to a lawsuit from a party if you leak their information online. Furthermore, customers can sue for damages if you do not protect their private information adequately. Therefore, a cybersecurity policy can help you eliminate the risk of becoming liable for security breaches.

2. Uphold Your Business’ Reputation

Reputation is huge in business. Therefore, many companies are strategising to ensure they are cyber-secure to stay ahead of their competitors. Ultimately, no one will want to do business with you if you are not appropriately guarding your digital assets. Likewise, if you are at risk of a data breach or leaking commercially sensitive information, you will not be an attractive business partner. Therefore, in addition to the legal consequences you may face by neglecting your business’ cybersecurity practices, you could lose a lot of business.

3. Keep Your Staff Trained

Your employees can pose a significant cyber security risk to your company. They are how your business operates on a daily basis, and that makes them the main targets for hackers and digital minesweepers looking to gain access to your company’s information. 

For example, employees will often access company information through personal devices or plug personal devices into a work computer, posing a security risk. Human error can also occur, and employees can unintentionally leak sensitive information without knowing. 

It is therefore vital to have a cybersecurity policy framework that keeps your staff trained. By doing so, you can prevent cyber attacks from materialising at the base level. 

4. Protect Sensitive Data

The GDPR became part of English and Welsh law in 2018. The GDPR places a greater onus on businesses to securely control their customers’ personal information. Additionally, regulators can impose hefty fines for data breaches. Therefore, it is important to have the correct security controls in place to ensure any information you are holding is securely housed on an encrypted storage device. Moreover, you should display how you intend to store personal information on your cybersecurity policy. Doing so boosts transparency, which is mutually beneficial.

Key Takeaways 

If your business operates online, stores personal information from your business associates or clients, or employs several employees, it is important to have a cybersecurity policy in place to protect your businesses assets. 

Cyber attacks are an emerging threat in modern business and can cripple your reputation as a business owner if you are not prepared to prevent and deal with security breaches. Likewise, the financial consequences for businesses for failing to protect sensitive data can be significant. For that reason, having a cybersecurity policy in place can save you a lot of money. In addition, it is important to review your policies and keep them regularly updated. Indeed, cyber threats are constantly evolving and the better prepared you are to deal with them, the more secure your business will be. 

It is also advisable to get a lawyer’s advice when drafting or updating an existing cybersecurity policy. If you need help drafting a cyber security policy, our experienced contract lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

Frequently Asked Questions