Backing up, retaining and safeguarding electronic data, including email, financial records, medical information and other electronic documents are essential steps and often mandated practices for organizations. However, many organizations still need to implement an electronic data retention policy or refine an existing one. This Electronic Data Retention Policy, written by Erik Eckel for TechRepublic Premium, ...

Configuration management is the smart way to administer IT assets since it permits the implementation of a standard, consistent and predictable environment so existing systems can be maintained with ease and new systems can be installed with speed. This policy, created by Scott Matteson for TechRepublic Premium, provides guidelines for applying effective, secure and reliable ...

Regardless of its industry or business, an enterprise can only reach the level of success that is achievable by the people that exist within that enterprise. Strategic plans, marketing campaigns, new product designs, technological innovations, etc., are all dependent on skilled people. If your enterprise views labor as a cost to be controlled rather than ...

A lax or non-existent corporate computer naming convention could make things more difficult when it comes to defining logical groups of computers and consistently targeting individual systems. This policy from TechRepublic Premium is designed to ensure every employee, contractor, temporary worker and volunteer understands and agrees to abide by specific guidelines for naming computers operating ...

The Data Encryption Policy’s purpose is to define for employees, computer users and IT department staff the encryption requirements to be used on all computer, device, desktop, laptop, server, network storage and storage area network disks, and drives that access or store organization information to prevent unauthorized access to organization communications, email, records, files, databases, ...

As the digital landscape becomes more interconnected, it brings with it the growing threat of cyberattacks. The purpose of this policy, written by Maria Carrisa Sanchez for TechRepublic Premium, is to outline the terms and conditions under which the company provides coverage to its employees for losses incurred as a result of cyber-related incidents. Featured ...

It’s an unfortunate fact of life in today’s world that both natural and man-made disasters can place businesses at risks, both moderate and severe. Whether caused by earthquakes, hurricanes, blizzards, terrorist attacks, sabotage or some other element, business can be impeded from normal operations or shut down entirely if catastrophic events are powerful enough. Having ...

This ACH Payment Process Policy, written by Erik Eckel for TechRepublic Premium, describes the procedures an organization and its representatives must use when paying any approved invoice from authorized vendors, suppliers, consultants, contractors, government agencies, or other authorized products, services or tax authorities via a manual electronic payment. This policy can be customized to fit ...

Failing to encourage whistleblowers can cause damage to the business in the form of lost revenue, lost customers, a negatively impacted reputation and legal lawsuits or criminal charges. The purpose of this policy, written by Scott Matteson for TechRepublic Premium, is to provide guidelines for the practice of whistleblowing to ensure unethical and/or illegal acts ...

The list of advantages to cloud computing include lowered operational costs, greater technological flexibility and the ability to rapidly implement new systems or services. However, cloud computing has also opened up new opportunities for impact by security threats or lost data. The purpose of this policy, written by Scott Matteson for TechRepublic Premium, is to ...

The risk potential of running user-initiated tasks using the same access levels as components of the operating system is staggeringly high, particularly in an age where ransomware can traverse networks, encrypting files in demand of payment. Privilege levels can mitigate potential damage posed by external threats, internal malicious actors and simple operator error. This policy ...

Most organizations rely on a virtual private network environment to enable connectivity from remote and mobile employees, providing secure access to internal networks, systems, applications and data. This policy, written by Scott Matteson for TechRepublic Premium, outlines a set of best practices for IT to deploy and secure VPNs in your organization. It also defines ...

Good cyber and physical security can make or break companies. While it would be preferable that security breaches or incidents not take place at all, they don’t necessarily signal the death of an organization unless responded to in a poor fashion (or not at all). The purpose of this Security Response Policy, written by Scott ...

Storage area networks provide manageable, centralized storage capacity for systems offering vast amounts of disk space via a dedicated network link. SANs can offer servers much more disk space than they might be able to utilize locally, often spanning dozens if not hundreds of terabytes of data. Because of their complexity, however, SANs are not ...

Risk management involves the practice of addressing and handling threats to the organization in the form of cybersecurity attacks and compromised or lost data. The process of establishing appropriate risk management guidelines is critical to ensure company operations and reputation do not suffer adverse impacts. The purpose of this policy, written by Scott Matteson for ...