IT Infrastructure and Compliance Mandates
Janco Associates has just updated its federally mandated record retention requirements for employers. The list of requirements is available on its web sites e-janco.com and www.ejobdescription.com as a PDF document which can be printed. The CEO of Janco, Mr. Victor Janulaitis said, "We have decided to provide this document to everyone who needs it as a service to all employers. This set of requirements is part of Janco's standard Record Classification, Management, Retention, and Destruction policy Template."
A record is essentially any material that contains information about your company's plans, results, policies or performance. In other words, anything about a company that can be represented with words or numbers can be considered a business record - and companies are now expected to retain and manage every one of those records, for several years or even permanently depending on the nature of the information. The need to manage potentially millions of records each year creates many new challenges for businesses, and especially for IT managers who must come up with rock-solid solutions to securely store and manage all this data.
The Record Classification, Management, Retention, and Destruction policy, which is over 50 pages in length, is a detail template which can be utilized on day one to create a records management process. Included with the policy are forms for establishing the record management retention and destruction schedule and a full job description with responsibilities for the Manager Records Administration. It comes in MS WORD format and is easily modifiable. Included with the template is detail definition of record types and retention periods as well as citations for these requirements.
Read On Order IT Infrastructure Policies Download Selected Pages
Security Manual Template Update Released
Today, more than ever, companies are confronted with a broad array of electronic document issues, including data retention policies and e-discovery during litigation. Failing to comply with rules regarding such electronic data can cost millions of dollars.
CobiT and Massachusetts Data Protection Checklists Added to Template
New with version are Cobit and Massachusetts Data Protection compliance materials. This electronic document is over 230 pages and can be used in the creation of security policies and procedures for any size entity. Janco's CEO said, "The process of creating effective policies and procedures that comply with mandated requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Massachusetts Data Protection with the current security threats and tight budgets is daunting. Every corporation and organization needs a universal and comprehensive set of security processes to safeguard the use of their computers and all related equipment and information assets which support enterprise wide operations. The Security Manual Template meets those needs."
The Security template complies with Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, Cobit and mandated state requirements. The template includes a sensitive information policy and has been updates to include checklists for employee terminations and other security related forms. In the age of information, organizations live and die on one thing, information. "Security breaches can have dramatic impact the information assets of every organization", stated Janco's CEO. Therefore, implementing an understandable and usable set of security policies and procedures is a necessity.
Janco's Security Manual Template provides guidelines and actual policies and procedures for any organizations. It is a model any sized organization can use. It is comprehensive without being wordy or pedantic. The processes created are concise and easily understood by all employees. "The template has checklists and examples of what is needed to get secure information assets, systems and networks. Janco's work with clients who have suffered security breaches has been used in creation of this inexpensive template", asserted the CEO. "The template is the blueprint that can be used by any organization".
For instance in one case, the SEC alleged that defendant failed to produce tens of thousands of emails sought by the SEC in two investigations. The court entered an 8-page consent judgment against defendant. Three of the major points in the judgment were:
Defendant was ordered to pay $15,000,000
Defendant was permanently enjoined from violating Section 17(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (requiring a prompt document production, including electronic documents); and
For one year, Defendant, at its own cost, was ordered to hire an independent consultant (acceptable to the SEC) to review and evaluate defendant's policies, procedures, and training in order to comply with the judgment. The independent consultant could make recommendations which must be adopted by Defendant.
Whether it is government agencies, research facilities, banking institutions, credit card processing companies, hospitals or your company's computers - the risk of compromising private information is very high -- especially when when conducting a disaster recovery tests. Since business relies so heavily on technology today, business risk becomes technology dependent. The possibility of litigation is part of business. It has always been a risk of doing business, but because technology and today's business are so intertwined, business risk has a higher threat level. This has prompted many to encrypt workstations and mobile computers in order to protect critical business data
If you have rolled out encryption, how do you maintain your IT service quality when the hard disk drive fails? How do you plan and prepare for a data loss when the user's computer is encrypted? These are all issues that should be considered when putting together a data disaster plan. In addition, data recovery, one of the more common missing elements of a disaster recovery plan, should also be factored in because it can serve as the last ditch solution when all other options have been exhausted.
Read on Order Security Manual Template Download sample
