6.1. Security Governance

💡 First Principle: Without governance, security becomes ad hoc — every team makes different decisions, and gaps emerge between them. Governance is the framework that tells an organization what to protect, how to protect it, and who is responsible. Without governance, security decisions are ad hoc — each team makes its own rules, priorities conflict, and nobody can prove the organization is meeting its obligations. Think of governance as the constitution of your security program: it establishes the authority, structure, and rules that everything else operates under.

What breaks without governance? Everything becomes reactive instead of proactive. There's no security policy, so each department interprets "security" differently. There's no clear ownership, so vulnerabilities fall through the cracks. There's no compliance framework, so regulatory fines accumulate. The organization can't answer the basic question every auditor, board member, and regulator asks: "What is your security program, and how do you know it's working?"

Consider a mid-sized company with no formal governance. The marketing team stores customer data in an unapproved cloud tool. Engineering deploys code without security review. HR stores Social Security numbers in shared spreadsheets. Each team thinks they're being productive — but without governance establishing policies, standards, and accountability, the organization is one breach away from catastrophe.