Cybersecurity incidents are getting fiercer by the day, leaving no business truly immune to the damage they can cause. And the damage can be massive, as IBM reports, that the average cost of a data breach is almost $5 million.
On the other hand, you can drastically reduce the odds of experiencing a data breach just by being proactive. One way to do that is to analyze your company’s — and your vendors’ — defense mechanisms using a cybersecurity questionnaire.
In this post, we’ll show you 30 questions to include in your security questionnaire template.
Who needs a security questionnaire?
All organizations that handle sensitive data and generally rely on digital infrastructure should make security questionnaires.
Firstly, many companies use these forms as vendor risk assessment questionnaires to evaluate third-party providers. The point is to make sure that third-party vendors meet your organization’s cybersecurity standards.
Secondly, businesses of all sizes — from small startups to large corporations — need to assess their own cybersecurity posture to protect against data breaches, financial losses, and reputational damage. The same goes for healthcare providers, financial institutions, educational organizations, nonprofits, and so on.
In our experience supporting over 1,600 clients globally, we’ve seen many businesses using security questionnaires to comply with industry standards and safeguard sensitive client data.
30 questions to include in your digital security questionnaire
We prepared a list of 30 questions almost every organization could use to conduct a cybersecurity analysis.
| Note: All screenshots you’ll see below are from Content Snare’s built-in cybersecurity questionnaire. Content Snare is trusted by teams worldwide because it combines military-grade encryption, customizable questionnaires, and automatic reminders - so you can gather security information in the most secure and efficient way possible. |
General security awareness
The purpose of these questions is to help evaluate the foundational cybersecurity practices within the organization.
1. Does your organization have a cybersecurity policy in place?
If yes, how often do you update your security policy?
2. Is there a designated team or individual responsible for data protection and security?
If yes, please provide their contact information.
3. Are employees trained on cybersecurity best practices?
If yes, how often do you conduct security training?
Password management
Strong passwords prevent the vast majority of cybersecurity threats. These questions will help you understand how password management works across an entire team.
4. Are employees required to use strong passwords that meet specified criteria?
5. Do you enforce regular password changes?
If yes, do you prevent the reuse of previous passwords?
6. Are password management tools provided to securely store and manage employee passwords?
If yes, which one(s) are these?
Access controls
This section assesses how well the organization manages access to sensitive data and systems. The goal is to make sure that only authorized personnel can access critical resources.
7. Are role-based access controls (RBAC) implemented to limit access based on job responsibilities?
If yes, please explain your RBAC system.
8. Do you require multi-factor authentication (MFA) for accessing sensitive systems and data?
If yes, please specify your MFA methods.
9. Are access logs regularly reviewed to detect unauthorized access attempts?
10. Did you develop a procedure for promptly revoking access when employees leave or change roles?
Network security
These questions evaluate the security measures in place to protect the organization’s network infrastructure from unauthorized access, threats, and vulnerabilities.
11. Are firewalls configured to monitor and control incoming and outgoing network traffic?
If yes, please specify the details of your firewall configuration.
12. Do you regularly update and patch network devices, including routers and switches?
13. Is network segmentation used to limit access to sensitive areas of the network?
14. Do you use intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPS) to identify and respond to network threats?
Data protection
This section helps you examine how effectively the organization protects sensitive data to prevent unauthorized access or breaches.
15. Is sensitive data encrypted during transmission?
16. Is sensitive data encrypted when stored at rest?
17. Do you have regular data backup procedures in place to prevent data loss?
18. Is there a data retention policy that outlines how long data is kept and how it is securely deleted?
Incident response
This set of questions evaluates the organization's procedures for identifying, responding to, and mitigating security incidents. The goal is to be proactive enough to minimize damage and recover quickly.
19. Do you have an incident response plan that outlines the steps to take during a cybersecurity breach?
20. Are key personnel trained on their roles and responsibilities during a security incident?
21. Do you conduct regular drills or simulations to test the effectiveness of your incident response plan?
22. Is there a process for documenting and analyzing incidents to improve future response efforts?
If yes, please clarify how it works.
Data privacy and compliance policies
These questions analyze how well the company adheres to legal and regulatory requirements for data protection.
23. Does your organization have a data privacy policy that complies with relevant regulations?
For instance, these can be regulations such as GDPR or HIPAA.
24. Do you regularly organize employee training dedicated to data privacy and compliance requirements?
If yes, how often?
25. Do you conduct regular audits to ensure compliance with data protection laws?
If yes, how often?
26. Is there a process for responding to data subject access requests (DSARs) in accordance with privacy regulations?
Physical security
It’s also important to protect the equipment and restrict physical access to tech infrastructure. These questions will help you understand whether unauthorized individuals can access critical infrastructure.
27. Do you use secure access controls (keycards, biometric systems, or similar) to protect restricted areas like server rooms?
If yes, please specify the details.
28. Do you have security cameras and monitoring systems to oversee sensitive locations?
29. Is there a policy for the secure disposal of physical assets, such as old hardware or sensitive documents?
30. Are visitors and contractors required to sign in and be escorted when accessing restricted areas?
What makes security questionnaires so important?
Security questionnaires give you a structured approach to identifying vulnerabilities in the cybersecurity framework. It’s like a checklist that helps you systematically analyze all aspects of digital and on-site security.
| Pro tip: Customize your security questionnaireWe strongly encourage you to tailor the questions to your organization’s unique tech environment and industry regulations. That way, you’ll address the most critical risks relevant to your business operations. |
Another benefit of a well-structured form is that it leads to continuous security improvements. It will highlight gaps that need additional attention, so you can keep malicious actors at bay.
Tailor your cybersecurity form with Content Snare
Many companies can use the questions discussed above without changing anything. However, the best security questionnaires are customized to suit the needs of specific organizations. Our survey revealed that companies leveraging Content Snare’s customizable templates and secure forms spent 71% less time gathering information compared to traditional email-based processes.
If you want to build a comprehensive form with questions that match your tech processes, you can do it effortlessly with Content Snare.
Our online form builder offers a ready-made security questionnaire template, but that’s just the starting point. We actually encourage you to edit questions or sections as needed in order to create a perfectly customized form. Content Snare will help you do it with:
- Almost 30 field types for efficient data gathering
- Confidential fields to better manage sensitive information
- In-form conversations that let you guide respondents directly through the questionnaire
- Large file uploads (up to 16GB) for uploading entire security policies or documentation
- Effortless data export in a couple of clicks
Most importantly, Content Snare itself deploys multiple protection layers to prevent data breaches. It’s worth noting that Content Snare is ISO 27001 certified, which means it meets internationally recognized standards for information security management. the system pairs data protection with user-friendly features, so you can create perfect security questionnaires.
Are you ready to give it a try?