Policy Issue & Plan of Action

The corporate board was recently briefed by the Chief Information Officer concerning the company’s IT Security Program and how this program contributes to the company’s risk management strategy. During the briefing, the CIO presented assessment reports and audit findings from IT security audits. These audits focused upon the technical infrastructure and the effectiveness and efficiency of the company’s implementation of security controls. During the discussion period, members of the corporate board asked about audits of policy compliance and assessments as to the degree that employees were (a) aware of IT security policies and (b) complying with these policies. The Chief Information Officer was tasked with providing the following items to the board before its next quarterly meeting:

(a)Issue Specific Policy requiring an annual compliance audit for IT security policies as documented in the company’s Policy System

(b)Audit Plan for assessing employee awareness of and compliance with IT security policies

a.Are employees aware of the IT security policies in the Employee Handbook?

b.Do employees know their responsibilities under those policies?

(c)Audit Plan for assessing the IT security policy system

a.Do required policies exist?

b.Have they been updated within the past year?

c.Are the policies being reviewed and approved by the appropriate oversight authorities (managers, IT governance board, etc.)?