Taking the time to develop a coherent, holistic, risk-based, and proportionate security strategy, supported by effective governance structures, is essential in ensuring success. Too often, when protective security is applied in an ad hoc, siloed, and unstructured manner, valuable resources are wasted with limited impact on security risk reduction.

Organizations develop and maintain strategic plans for most of the activities they carry out. Strategic plans define the need for an action, the impact of that particular action, and driving forces behind the action. Hence, a security strategy in any organization starts with an in-depth analysis of their business. A security strategy is thus an important document that details the series of steps necessary for an organization to identify, remediate, and manage risks while staying compliant with regulatory requirements.

An effective security strategy is comprehensive and dynamic, with the elasticity to respond to any type of security threat. It may also include a set of initiatives to counter identified threats and vulnerabilities: policies and procedures, security technologies, and the development of human resources. Hence, it is generally paired with a Security Posture Assessment (SPA) which ascertains the current state of security. The security strategy document defines and prioritizes information assurance and security initiatives that the organization must commence to enhance the protection of information and related technology.

A security strategy is fundamental in helping your company take a proactive approach to security instead of reacting to every new threat, which can be time-consuming and expensive.