Cyber Security
Information Security Management: Essential Strategies for Protecting Data
Andrea Abbondanza ,
06 Mar, 2025
There are so many information risks and threats to various organisations, from businesses to government and public sector, because of a lack of knowledge about the information security management. For instance, many impacts occur if an organisation fails to protect its critical data. It could be financial, security, and operational risks, which will undoubtedly cause a significant loss for the organisation.
The losses that can be obtained are not only minor but could also lead to reputational damage and loss of customer data, causing customer dissatisfaction. Therefore, providing protection as a form of risk management and significantly maximizing information confidentiality with ISMS is a good solution for protecting your information assets.
What is information security management?
An information security management system is one of the security strategies that help an organisation identify potential threats and protect it from security breaches, threats, and vulnerabilities that could cause a failure in business continuity.
Organisations use an Information Security Management System (ISMS) to systematically manage and control information security risks. It involves implementing comprehensive policies to maintain secure operations. Not only that, ISMS typically uses a risk-based, holistic, and flexible approach that provides many benefits to almost all organisations.
Therefore, information security management is confidential and still maintains organisational privacy. It also prevents organisations from losing data, especially from the company and the customers.
Who needs ISMS?
Every organisation certainly needs ISMS to increase its security system and credibility to gain customers’ trust and increase its visibility. The organisation in question can be a business organisation, such as technology companies that usually handle a vast amount of data, healthcare providers with strict laws like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), financial institutions, and retailers.
Besides a business person, many other organisations, such as research institutions, handle protected information, such as discoveries or respondent data. In addition, legal firms can also use ISMS because they handle financial records, legal documents, and personal data from each client. Because ISMS is an efficient security tool for organisations, it can be used in every type of organisation.
How does ISMS work?
Here is a simple breakdown of how Information Security Management works :
- Identifies and assesses risk: You need to know what the most valuable information on your information systems is. Also, it is essential to understand the possible threats or risks that could happen.
- Secure information assets: These are the safeguards or security systems that are designed to mitigate risk to an organisation’s valuable data. It is crucial to guarantee the integrity, data confidentiality, and availability of information assets. It is really necessary for organisations to keep the data private.
- Implement Controls and Train: organisations need to plan for action in case some threats emerge in information systems. For instance, it could be technical controls that implement some tools or credible security software to protect your data systems.
- Monitor and Evaluate: The system needs to be checked regularly, and any new risks or threats that arise should always be addressed. Furthermore, assess the information security management based on what you learn from monitoring.
Benefits of Information Security Management
Improved Security Culture
An improved security culture can be defined as a positive change in the attitude and approach of an organisation towards information security assets. This is also closely related to creating an environment where security is not just a technical issue but also a shared responsibility that must be maintained and a core value in an organisation.
Improving security culture will also enhance security awareness and continuous improvement, which is very necessary to maintain the continuity of a business or organisation. In the future, it will lead to a more secure organisation and a stronger brand image, which can also increase resilience to the cyber threats landscape.
Streamlined Data Security
By providing protection to data systems from potential risks or threats that can occur in your organisation, the information security system has the ability to streamline information confidentiality. For instance, the system focuses on mitigating and identifying the significant risks to data privacy, allowing the organisation to prioritize resources and efforts where they matter most, which prevents not only wasting time but also money on unnecessary security measures.
Also, this system facilitates the integration of technologies and security tools, automating the tasks and streamlining the security processes, which is more efficient. As a result, the system could streamline data safety.
Brand Image
Having a trusted security system in an organisation is one of the things that stands out and can be trusted by many customers. Suppose there are a bunch of customers who trust the company. In that case, an organisation’s credibility level can increase, and its visibility will also increase.
As a result, there is a high possibility that they will become loyal customers, which will be one of the reasons for improving the brand image of an organisation. In addition, to prevent a data breach or a security incident, the Information security system greatly protects a brand’s reputation from negative publicity or damage.
Organisations must have a strong security system to minimise the risk of reputation damage and keep the brand image positive, leading to a competitive advantage.
Information security management standards and compliance
ISO 27001 is one of the most recognised standards and an international framework that guides organisations in developing an Information Security Management. Other relevant frameworks are the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) for transaction security, and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which offer tailored approaches for different industries and regulatory environments.
The NIST US framework identifies, detects, responds to, and recovers from several cybersecurity incidents. PCI DSS secures cardholder data during payment processing in businesses handling credit card transactions. Meanwhile, GDPR is for protecting personal data, requiring organisations to ensure the personal data of European residents and demonstrate compliance.
With standardized information security management and compliance, organisations can protect their sensitive data and, at the same time, build trust with customers and partners. Therefore, following recognised standards and maintaining compliance will create a strong foundation for an organisation’s reputation and long-term success.
ISMS best practices
Obtain senior management support
ISO 27001 is the international standard for information security and explicitly requires leadership commitment to information security. In a system, someone must supervise, and a leader must provide the proper direction by the organisational goals; senior management support is essential to provide information security management best practices.
In addition, many impacts will occur if the system runs without senior management support, such as security initiatives that may lack funding, vulnerability, and resources. To prevent adverse effects that harm the organisation, the presence of a leader is needed to ensure security is aligned with business goals.
Form an ISMS project team
Creating a team that optimises information security management is one of the practices that can make it easier for an organisation to run the system. The project team has a clear focus and works together to make this system more effective and have a significant impact.
The security operations centre (SOC), cybersecurity department, and information security officer of an organisation are highly recommended to be part of the project team because they are highly responsible for handling the system. In addition, technology officers can help with technical matters on the team. Good teamwork will undoubtedly produce a system that meets the organisation’s expectations.
Establish an information security policy
An information security policy should be conducted before running the system because it positively impacts and is helpful for the organisation. With their presence, the policy forms the foundation for your system.
In addition, they provide a clear framework and direction needed for all information security activities and can also give a general overview of the current security controls in the organisation. Therefore, it also demonstrates a commitment to customers that information security is taken seriously. Moreover, they provide significant benefits that are very necessary and need to be considered to fulfil information security standards.
Conduct security awareness training
Providing security awareness is also one of the essential steps to maximise the practices of information security systems because every user or employee must recognise the types of threats, risks, or standard data vulnerabilities to know how to prevent these threats properly. With training, they will be more aware, and the company will possibly maintain the security system and the data integrity.
It will provide many benefits, such as ensuring the staff understands company policies, procedures, and legal requirements. Moreover, understanding a company well is one of the responsibilities of the users.
Secure devices
Every device, such as mobile phones, tablets, and PCs, is sometimes vulnerable to cyberattacks with many types and ways to get into your technical system. Therefore, extra protection is needed for devices used when running the business or organisation to maintain the confidentiality of your company’s data. It could also reduce the risk of malware, unauthorised access, and data breaches, problems often encountered.
Because sensitive data in an organisation is very risky, secure devices are one of the risk assessments that are needed. Office 365 and Google Workspace are widely trusted and credible and can provide more protection to your organisation.
Encrypt data
Encrypt data is one way to avoid unauthorised access and security threats by scrambling it into secret code so that only organisation’s internal can access it. With encryption, hackers or other parties will find it difficult to access an organisation’s information because the secret code is only known by users with responsibilities within the company.
Besides that, encryption is also essential, mainly to provide security within the organisation. For instance, encryption is commonly used in transactions or to keep files more private. As a result, we will avoid leaking data to unauthorised parties and maximise our information security management.
Conduct an internal security audit
Before running information security management, internal security audits also need to take a role because they are also very beneficial and provide effectiveness to information security management. With internal security audits, they will help monitor and improve your security posture and also always be aware of possible risks or vulnerabilities that might occur.
Regular audits also help identify gaps and provide the best solution after monitoring and analysis, looking for weaknesses of the organisation and trying to overcome them so that it might reduce or eliminate the weakness, and areas for improvement, which aims to improve continuous improvement, which is a core requirement of any effective ISMS.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does an information security manager do?
Although the duties of an information security manager are pretty varied as they have many responsibilities, the main task of the information security manager is to provide protection systems, data, and networks from any security threats while ensuring the organisation complies with relevant laws and best practices.
They must create guidelines to safeguard sensitive information and enforce security measures. Besides that, the other responsibility is overseeing or monitoring the organisation’s information security program, whether it is already run effectively or not. Risk assessment and management are crucial for managers because they need to identify possible vulnerabilities and implement controls to reduce threats.
What is the purpose of a security information management system?
The main purpose of information security management is to provide more security to your organisation so that information, data, and assets are not exposed to external parties in the company. It provides a systematic approach to managing company information. Also, it prevents any risks or threats that may appear on your system.
Using a security system also provides an additional point from the customer’s point of view because everyone certainly only trusts companies that offer secure information systems. With this system, customer data will not be leaked, which can give the brand a good image in front of the public.
What are the differences between data protection and data security in the context of information security management?
Although the two terms look similar, there is a significant difference between data security and data protection in information security management. Data protection focuses more on protecting personal data for privacy rights and lawful processing. For example, healthcare or government organisations have some personal data of every client they have, and that data must be protected.
Ensuring personal information is handled legally. They usually use data anonymisation methods or obtain consent. On the other hand, data security means preventing unlawful information access from your organisation. Therefore, the methods used are encryption and physical security to ensure the confidentiality of your data system.
Conclusion
With the rise of cases about the dangers of various types of cyberattacks that jeopardise a company’s information security, implementing an information security management is essential for business continuity. With a sound security system, you can proactively manage risks, improve information safeguarding, and demonstrate your commitment to information protection.
Protecting your organisation’s data is not just a compliance requirement; it’s essential for building trust, ensuring business continuity, and maintaining a brand’s reputation. Take the first step towards a more assertive security posture today and assess your current practices, identify vulnerabilities, and adopt ISMS strategies tailored to your business needs.
