Information Security Policy is a collection of policies implemented by an organization to make sure that all the information technology users within the grasp of the organization or its branches stay within the rules and guidelines regarding the security of data and information stored digitally at any instance within the departments or the boundaries of the authority of any organization.
The invention of computer networks has done the sharing of information very convenient. The information could be transferred nowadays at the speed of trillions of bytes per second. A portion of these data is not allowed to share outside the limited group and much data is protected by intellectual property or law. Thus an information security policy strengthens those protections and limit the provision of data.
Every organization needs to protect its information and data and know how to limit its distribution both inside and outside the boundaries of that organization. This means that the data needs to be encrypted and authorized via a third party or institution and might have limitations on its distribution concerning the classification system mentioned in the information security policy. An organization may issue an information security policy to protect its digital assets and intellectual rights to prevent theft or loss of industrial secrets and information that could benefit its competitors.
In general, the information security policy might be hierarchical and be different from organization to organization depending upon whom they may be implied. In such a case that the secretarial staff who type all the communications of an organization are generally assigned not to share any information unless explicitly authorized whereas a more senior manager may have power enough to decide what information provided by the secretaries can be shared, and to whom they may be divided. The same information security policy terms do not bind them. Therefore information security policies from time to time contain different specifications depending upon the official status of the persons they apply to cover the whole organization.