What a Product Manager Needs to Know About Information Security Roles and Responsibilities: Internal and for Their Product or Service

If you’re a product manager in charge of information security for your organization, you’re probably well aware of the importance of cybersecurity. When it comes to protecting your organization’s data and preventing cyberattacks, one of the most overlooked solutions is building a well-functioning and coordinated information security team. The first step in achieving this is to understand the roles and responsibilities of information security. Keep in mind that your organization is unique, so information security has to be structured to fully meet your organization’s cybersecurity needs. This article looks at what a product manager needs to know about information security roles and responsibilities – internal and for their product or service.

Why Is Organizational Structure and Responsibilities Important In Information Security?

Organizational structure and responsibilities in information security depend on various factors, such as the size of the organization and its business operations. However, product managers should still make every effort to implement an information security team structure that best matches the organization’s security objectives. Generally, the best way to do this is to clearly define the roles within the team. In addition, each role must be assigned a set of responsibilities, and these should be shared with all parties involved so that all stakeholders are on the same page.

When assigning responsibilities to each role within the information security team, these responsibilities should be aimed at helping the organization fulfill its security-related objectives. This is the only way to have a high-performing information security team that effectively protects the organization from cyberattacks. Focusing on organizational structure and responsibilities in information security is important because it ensures that the information security in your organization is robust. As more and more businesses rely on cloud computing, this has seen an increase in cybercrime, which has cost companies trillions and trillions of dollars.

Without a robust information security team in place, it only means that your company is vulnerable to data breaches and hacks. Cybercriminals have grown increasingly sophisticated in their methods, and the solution is to have a forward-thinking and proactive information security team that works together to implement effective cybersecurity measures. This will help maintain your company’s reputation while also preventing heavy financial losses that negatively affect your business’s bottom line.

What Does the Information Security Organizational Structure Matrix Look Like?

When you look at most organizations and the way their information security team is structured, you can easily come up with a general organizational structure matrix. For instance, the typical organizational structure matrix begins with executive management at the top. The Executive Management is in charge of information security and includes roles such as Chief Information Security Officer, Chief Risk Officer, Chief Security Officer, and Chief Technology Officer. Each of these executive-level roles plays a part in overseeing information security processes and implementing cybersecurity measures that protect the organization’s information assets.

Besides Executive Management, you also have Information System Security Professionals, such as IT security managers, IT security analysts, and compliance managers. These information security professionals are responsible for handling the organization’s information security policies from start to finish. They design information security procedures, set the standards, and write the guidelines. There are also data owners and custodians. Simply put, data owners are responsible for ensuring the proper implementation of information systems at the appropriate classification levels and with the proper allocation of access privileges.

On the other hand, data custodians perform administration duties and operate the system on behalf of the data owners. Another role within the information security team is the IS Auditors, who are responsible for determining whether there are adequate security controls in place and providing assurance that the objectives and the controls in place are appropriate and being achieved. Last but not least, the informational security organizational structure matrix also includes users. Users have access to the company’s information assets, and they have the responsibility to maintain the integrity and confidentiality of these assets as outlined in the organization’s guidelines.

Why Do Job Descriptions Matter?

As mentioned, the information security organizational structure matrix includes roles such as executive management, IT security professionals, data owners, data custodians, users, and IT auditors. We have provided a general outline of what each role entails. However, it’s also essential to have clearly defined and written job descriptions that are easily shareable. Job descriptions are useful communication tools that set expectations and help each member of the information security team understand exactly what is expected of them.

Each job description should outline the skills, abilities, and duties that a person has to carry out in their role as part of the organization’s cybersecurity measures. The job description must be documented to prevent any confusion about what each person is expected to do during daily operations. Once each team member has read and understood the job description, they must sign the document to acknowledge their understanding of the contents of the document. This should be done during the onboarding of new employees. Doing this keeps everyone accountable right from the start, and it increases the effectiveness of the organization’s internal controls.

Every now and then, these job descriptions should be revisited to ensure they still align with the organization’s cybersecurity objectives. If there’s a need, the job descriptions should be updated and necessary adjustments made. Key personnel should be made aware of these changes until everyone is on the same page. Continuous improvement ensures that your internal control environment does not become stagnant, but it’s always flexible and adaptive. This is important because cybercriminals are also evolving, so organizations always need to be on guard.

The Best Way to Structure Your Information Security Team

When structuring your information security team, it’s also important to develop an organizational chart. Simply put, this helps to answer the question of who reports to who? So when outlining the structure of your information security team, you need to start with outlining C-level roles and then move down to the following structures that report to the C-level staff. As with any fully-functioning team, this is important because there needs to be a well-defined chain of command and hierarchy. Employees should know who to report to and how to relate to everyone else within their team. As with job descriptions, organizational charts need to be put in writing so there’s no second-guessing when it comes to the reporting structure and the hierarchy of the information security team.

As an individual functioning team, the information security structure should have its own organizational chart, designed to specifically outline the hierarchy of this department. If there are any changes to the information security team, the chart should be updated accordingly to reflect what’s on the ground. For instance, when there are new roles that have been added and the team expands, the chart should be an accurate representation of what’s happening in real-time. Understanding job descriptions and organizational charts all ties in with what a product manager needs to know about information security roles and responsibilities.

It’s important for product managers to know about information security roles and responsibilities as it pertains to their product or service. This is crucial when it comes to implementing adequate IT security controls that help prevent data breaches and hacks. As mentioned, a well-structured information security team is essential to creating a robust internal framework for your organization. To do this, you should start by understanding the importance of organizational structure and responsibilities. Go through the information in this article again and keep the critical details in mind when outlining the information security roles and responsibilities that are best suited for your organization.