Develop a comprehensive security strategy

Featured resources

Managing mobile devices in the workplace – A practical guide to staying secure
White paper

Does upstream security make sense for your organization?
Assessment tool

Getting to compliance: how better compliance can reduce your risk
Learn more about effective ways to meet compliance requirements in this white paper

How well would your organization cope if IT systems crashed or if sensitive data was stolen?

The risk is real, but mitigation is just a matter of good planning. The following steps can help you limit risk.

Identify security needs and objectives

The first step of security planning involves benchmarking key metrics against which you can track your progress.

Look at the impact that disaster or intrusion would have on your ability to comply with regulations, preserve data and continue doing business. Rate threats in order of likelihood and impact to the business.

Key areas to explore:

System redundancy
Information archiving and back up
Security breaches and penetration testing
Identity and access management
Governance, risk and compliance solutions that can help you comply with government and industry regulations

To see how information and communications technologies can be used to reduce your exposure to strategic, market, financial and operational risks, read our white paper, Getting to compliance and lowering risk with ICT. You can also read our article about ensuring PCI DSS compliance.

Create strategies and plans that are tailored to your organization

Once you know your strengths and vulnerabilities, prioritize what needs fixing. Work this list into a strategy of how, when and to what extent fixes need to be made. You may find value in seeking expert counsel during this phase to help you meet best practices.

Understand vulnerabilities

A key area of vulnerability lies outside of your corporate network. In coming years, legacy perimeter-based security designs that start at the enterprise and face inwards will no longer be sufficient. To learn about the latest developments in network security, read our white paper on upstream security and complete our assessment tool, Does upstream security make sense for your organization?

Test and refine

Document and test thoroughly as each objective is reached. Testing will point to areas requiring adjustment to limit the potential for unauthorized access, breach, disaster and other scenarios.

Establish best practices and policies

Formalize, document and disseminate tailored best practices once testing is complete. Finally, make sure that roles are assigned to key stakeholders in your organization. If a breach occurs, people will know what their role is and have a procedure manual to follow.

Talk to Bell

Bell is a Canadian leader in IT security and corporate compliance strategy and implementation. Bell takes an integrated, end-to-end approach to help you address a range of security vulnerabilities.

Whether you want to achieve compliance, improve network security or get a better picture of the particular risks that your organization faces, you can contact your Bell representative or request a call back to learn more.