This is Part 3 of our five-part cybersecurity series for Canadian businesses. If Part 1 helped you assess your risk, and Part 2 guided you through finding the right security partner, this chapter is all about building the structure itself — your cybersecurity program.
In Part 2: What Every IT Leader Should Know Before Outsourcing SOC, we talked about alignment, accountability, and what to look for in a Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP). But whether you’re managing security in-house or outsourcing key functions, you still need a clear, documented program to guide your actions and responsibilities.
This is how you build it, layer by layer.
Start With the Business You’re Protecting
As we said in Part 1, your security program should serve the business, not the other way around. That’s where you start: defining what your business is, what drives it forward, and what needs protecting.
Gather your business objectives, scope of activities, mission, vision, values, and any specific purpose or public commitments. This becomes the first layer of your cybersecurity cake, the foundation everything else is built on.
By walking through this exercise, you’ll identify the parts of your organization that need protection before moving on to policy, ownership, and execution.
Define Your Policy Pillars
Next, identify policies that support and reflect your business activities. These aren’t just documents for compliance. They’re active components of your protection strategy. A few examples:
-
Using IT infrastructure? You need an Information Security policy to define how those assets are protected.
-
Developing proprietary tools or software? An intellectual property policy helps guard what you’ve created.
-
Employing staff? A policy should exist to protect both their personal data and their physical well-being (and your provincial regulator will likely require one).
The Information Security policy will usually be the most comprehensive, and rightly so in today’s environment.
Strong policies provide clarity across your organization. They reduce internal confusion, support compliance requirements, and serve as a first line of defense when an incident or audit occurs. They also help new employees onboard more effectively by defining expectations upfront.
Assign Responsibility + Share It
Once policies are defined, it’s time to assign ownership and oversight. Someone must be accountable for the full security program. In larger organizations, that might be a CISO or CSO. In others, a CIO, COO, or IT Director may take the lead.
But here’s the key: that person shouldn’t do it alone.
Think of this step as choosing the right bakers for each layer. No one should be stuck in the kitchen alone.
Security needs to be a shared responsibility across the business. If the program includes employee data protection, HR should be involved. If you're building digital products, the dev team should help define code security standards. Finance may be part of vendor assessments. The goal is to create a program that’s realistic, embedded, and cross-functional.
Layer In Processes + Controls
You’ve laid the business foundation, defined policies, and assigned ownership. Now comes the icing: the processes and controls that bring the program to life.
Here are a few key components to include:
Security Incident Response
Incidents will happen. Your response plan should define how to classify severity, who’s involved, and what steps are taken to investigate, contain, remediate, and learn from the event.
Risk Management
Business environments evolve, so should your risk model. Use a checklist to evaluate new market expansions, vendor relationships, and tech introductions from a security perspective.
Standards + Controls
Tools are only as good as the standards applied to them. Enforce configurations, validate performance, and constantly measure effectiveness. The Center for Internet Security (CIS) Controls is a great reference point.
Audit + Compliance
A strong program is tested regularly. External audits, penetration tests, posture assessments — all provide valuable insights and improvement plans. Even better if they come from someone who understands your environment.
Cyber Resilience
Preparing for disaster and planning for continuity is a full topic on its own — and one we’ll cover next in this series. Not every organization will need the same set of processes. That’s where a trusted partner can help right-size the effort to your needs.
The Cherry On Top: Awareness
This is where even good programs can fall flat. You’ve built the plan. You’ve documented the processes. The team celebrates. And then it all gets uploaded to a SharePoint site and forgotten.
You wouldn’t bake a perfect cake and leave it in the fridge. You’d serve it.
The same goes for your cybersecurity program. You need a strategy to raise awareness, drive adoption, and make it clear how every employee plays a role. That includes knowing:
-
who’s accountable for the program;
-
how to report a suspected incident; and
-
where to access guidance or materials.
A good awareness framework turns a static program into a living one.
Final Thoughts
Cybersecurity isn’t just about firewalls and frameworks. It’s about building something that supports the way you do business. Something structured, shared, and sustainable.
Whether you’re just getting started or want to strengthen what’s already in place, Compugen can help you build a cybersecurity program that works — for your people, your processes, and your purpose.
A cybersecurity program isn’t just a policy document. It’s a living framework that needs to grow and evolve with your business. That’s why Compugen works alongside you. Using clear roles, real-world processes, and a flexible approach shaped around your needs.
Learn more about Compugen’s cybersecurity services. Let’s build something that stands the test of time — and tastes as good as it looks.
.png)