1. Purpose
The Role-Based Security Responsibilities Matrix defines information-security responsibilities for different organizational roles.
The matrix helps ensure that security responsibilities are:
- Clearly assigned
- Appropriate to the role
- Aligned with information and system access
- Understood by personnel
- Included in onboarding
- Reviewed when roles change
- Supported by evidence
- Integrated with the ISMS
Core Principle
Role → Information → Access → Risk → Responsibility → Evidence → Review
2. Scope
This matrix may apply to:
- Executive management
- Business owners
- Managers
- Employees
- Developers
- DevOps personnel
- Cloud administrators
- IT administrators
- Security personnel
- HR
- Finance
- Compliance
- Internal auditors
- Contractors
- Third-party personnel
- Temporary workers
- Interns
The exact responsibilities should be adapted to the organization’s structure and ISMS scope.
3. Responsibility Definitions
| Code | Responsibility Area |
|---|---|
| GOV | Security governance |
| RSK | Risk management |
| POL | Policies and procedures |
| INF | Information protection |
| ACC | Access management |
| IAM | Identity and authentication |
| PAM | Privileged access |
| CLD | Cloud security |
| APP | Application security |
| SRC | Source-code security |
| VUL | Vulnerability management |
| LOG | Logging and monitoring |
| INC | Incident management |
| BCP | Business continuity |
| SUP | Supplier security |
| PRI | Privacy/data protection |
| PHY | Physical security |
| AWR | Security awareness |
| CHG | Change management |
| AUD | Audit/compliance |
| AST | Asset management |
| AI | AI/Generative AI security |
4. Responsibility Levels
| Level | Meaning |
|---|---|
| A | Accountable — owns the outcome |
| R | Responsible — performs the activity |
| C | Consulted — provides input |
| I | Informed — kept informed |
| N/A | Not normally applicable |
A single activity may have more than one responsible person, but accountability should be clearly assigned.
5. Executive Management Responsibilities
Executive management is responsible for providing appropriate direction, resources, and oversight for information security.
Responsibilities
☐ Approve information-security objectives
☐ Support the ISMS
☐ Allocate appropriate resources
☐ Review significant security risks
☐ Review significant incidents
☐ Support risk treatment
☐ Approve significant risk acceptance where authorized
☐ Review security performance
☐ Support continual improvement
☐ Ensure security responsibilities are assigned
6. Information Security / CISO Responsibilities
Where the organization has a dedicated security function:
☐ Develop security requirements
☐ Maintain security governance
☐ Coordinate risk assessment
☐ Maintain security policies
☐ Monitor security compliance
☐ Coordinate security incidents
☐ Review security controls
☐ Coordinate security testing
☐ Monitor vulnerabilities
☐ Review privileged access
☐ Coordinate security awareness
☐ Support internal audits
☐ Report security risks to management
☐ Track corrective actions
☐ Support continual improvement
7. Business Owner Responsibilities
Business owners are responsible for understanding the security requirements associated with their business processes.
☐ Identify business information
☐ Identify critical processes
☐ Identify business dependencies
☐ Define business security requirements
☐ Approve appropriate access
☐ Review user access
☐ Assess business impact
☐ Participate in risk assessment
☐ Support business continuity
☐ Review security findings
☐ Approve business-related exceptions where authorized
8. Manager Responsibilities
Managers should ensure that employees understand and follow security requirements applicable to their roles.
☐ Define employee responsibilities
☐ Request appropriate access
☐ Approve business need
☐ Review access
☐ Notify HR/IT of role changes
☐ Notify HR/IT of employee departures
☐ Ensure required training is completed
☐ Ensure policy acknowledgement
☐ Escalate security concerns
☐ Support investigations
☐ Review security exceptions
9. All Employee Responsibilities
Every employee is responsible for protecting information and using organizational resources securely.
☐ Protect organizational information
☐ Protect customer information
☐ Follow security policies
☐ Protect passwords and credentials
☐ Use MFA where required
☐ Use authorized systems
☐ Follow access restrictions
☐ Report security incidents
☐ Report phishing
☐ Report suspected vulnerabilities
☐ Protect company devices
☐ Follow remote-working requirements
☐ Follow information-classification requirements
☐ Complete required security training
☐ Follow acceptable-use requirements
☐ Protect confidential information
☐ Return company assets during offboarding
10. HR Responsibilities
HR is responsible for personnel-security processes within its assigned scope.
☐ Coordinate employee onboarding
☐ Coordinate employee screening
☐ Maintain employment records
☐ Communicate employment security requirements
☐ Support confidentiality agreements
☐ Coordinate employee security acknowledgement
☐ Notify relevant functions of joiners, movers, and leavers
☐ Support security awareness administration
☐ Protect employee personal information
☐ Support disciplinary processes
☐ Support employee offboarding
11. IT Responsibilities
IT is responsible for implementing and maintaining assigned technical controls.
☐ Account provisioning
☐ Account modification
☐ Account removal
☐ MFA configuration
☐ Device management
☐ Endpoint security
☐ Patch management
☐ Vulnerability remediation
☐ Network security
☐ Backup operations
☐ IT monitoring
☐ IT incident support
☐ Secure configuration
☐ IT asset management
☐ Technical offboarding
12. Identity and Access Management Responsibilities
IAM personnel or assigned administrators should:
☐ Maintain identity lifecycle
☐ Provision approved access
☐ Modify access
☐ Revoke access
☐ Implement role-based access
☐ Apply least privilege
☐ Support MFA
☐ Manage access groups
☐ Monitor access anomalies
☐ Support access reviews
☐ Maintain access evidence
13. Privileged Administrator Responsibilities
Privileged administrators have additional responsibilities.
☐ Protect privileged credentials
☐ Use individual administrator accounts
☐ Use MFA
☐ Follow privileged-access procedures
☐ Avoid unnecessary privileged access
☐ Perform only authorized administrative actions
☐ Follow change management
☐ Protect production systems
☐ Avoid sharing administrator accounts
☐ Report suspected credential compromise
☐ Support privileged-access reviews
14. Cloud Administrator Responsibilities
Cloud administrators are responsible for secure operation of cloud environments.
☐ Secure cloud identities
☐ Apply least privilege
☐ Enable MFA
☐ Protect cloud credentials
☐ Secure cloud configurations
☐ Maintain network controls
☐ Protect storage
☐ Monitor cloud activity
☐ Review privileged access
☐ Support cloud logging
☐ Protect encryption keys
☐ Support cloud backup/recovery
☐ Follow cloud change management
15. AWS Administrator Responsibilities
Where AWS is used:
☐ Protect AWS accounts
☐ Protect AWS root accounts
☐ Use individual identities
☐ Apply IAM least privilege
☐ Enable MFA
☐ Control privileged roles
☐ Restrict production access
☐ Monitor administrative activity
☐ Protect secrets
☐ Review security configurations
☐ Support logging and monitoring
☐ Review cloud access
☐ Support incident response
☐ Follow approved changes
16. Developer Responsibilities
Developers are responsible for applying secure development practices.
☐ Follow secure coding requirements
☐ Protect source code
☐ Use approved repositories
☐ Participate in code review
☐ Protect secrets
☐ Avoid credentials in source code
☐ Address security defects
☐ Use approved dependencies
☐ Follow vulnerability-management requirements
☐ Follow secure deployment requirements
☐ Protect development and test data
☐ Follow production-access restrictions
17. DevOps / Platform Engineering Responsibilities
☐ Secure CI/CD systems
☐ Protect deployment credentials
☐ Secure infrastructure-as-code
☐ Restrict deployment permissions
☐ Protect production environments
☐ Implement secure configurations
☐ Maintain monitoring
☐ Support vulnerability remediation
☐ Maintain backup/recovery mechanisms
☐ Follow change management
☐ Support incident response
☐ Review privileged access
18. Database Administrator Responsibilities
☐ Protect database credentials
☐ Apply least privilege
☐ Restrict administrative access
☐ Protect production databases
☐ Enable appropriate logging
☐ Protect backups
☐ Encrypt data where required
☐ Monitor privileged activity
☐ Support database recovery
☐ Follow change management
☐ Support access reviews
19. Security Operations Responsibilities
Security operations personnel may be responsible for:
☐ Security monitoring
☐ Security alert investigation
☐ Event classification
☐ Incident escalation
☐ Threat detection
☐ Security incident response
☐ Evidence preservation
☐ Vulnerability monitoring
☐ Security reporting
☐ Security metrics
☐ Security-control monitoring
20. Vulnerability Management Responsibilities
The assigned vulnerability-management owner should:
☐ Identify vulnerabilities
☐ Coordinate vulnerability scanning
☐ Review security findings
☐ Prioritize remediation
☐ Assign owners
☐ Track remediation
☐ Monitor overdue vulnerabilities
☐ Validate remediation
☐ Escalate significant vulnerabilities
☐ Report vulnerability trends
21. Application Owner Responsibilities
☐ Identify application risks
☐ Define application security requirements
☐ Approve application access
☐ Review application permissions
☐ Support vulnerability remediation
☐ Support security testing
☐ Review application changes
☐ Protect application data
☐ Support incident response
☐ Participate in periodic security reviews
22. Data / Information Owner Responsibilities
Information owners should:
☐ Identify information
☐ Classify information
☐ Define access requirements
☐ Approve access
☐ Review access periodically
☐ Define retention requirements
☐ Define sharing requirements
☐ Support data protection
☐ Support incident investigations
☐ Approve disposal where appropriate
23. Privacy Responsibilities
Where a privacy function exists:
☐ Identify privacy requirements
☐ Support personal-data assessments
☐ Review data-processing activities
☐ Support privacy risk assessments
☐ Review data-sharing requirements
☐ Support data-subject requirements
☐ Review data-processing agreements
☐ Support privacy incidents
☐ Monitor privacy compliance
24. Finance Responsibilities
Finance personnel should protect financial information and follow appropriate segregation-of-duties requirements.
☐ Protect financial information
☐ Protect payment information
☐ Follow access restrictions
☐ Follow approval requirements
☐ Protect financial credentials
☐ Report suspicious transactions
☐ Follow segregation of duties
☐ Support fraud prevention
25. Procurement / Supplier Management Responsibilities
☐ Identify supplier security requirements
☐ Support supplier due diligence
☐ Ensure appropriate security requirements are included in contracts
☐ Maintain supplier information
☐ Identify critical suppliers
☐ Support supplier security reviews
☐ Track supplier findings
☐ Support supplier offboarding
26. Legal Responsibilities
Where applicable:
☐ Identify legal requirements
☐ Review contractual security requirements
☐ Support confidentiality agreements
☐ Review privacy obligations
☐ Support regulatory requirements
☐ Review security clauses
☐ Support security-related contractual disputes
☐ Advise on applicable legal requirements
27. Compliance Responsibilities
☐ Maintain compliance requirements
☐ Monitor applicable obligations
☐ Support compliance assessments
☐ Maintain evidence
☐ Track compliance findings
☐ Coordinate corrective actions
☐ Support internal audits
☐ Report compliance issues
28. Internal Audit Responsibilities
Internal auditors should:
☐ Maintain independence appropriate to the audit
☐ Define audit scope
☐ Define audit criteria
☐ Gather evidence
☐ Test controls
☐ Document findings
☐ Assess audit evidence objectively
☐ Report results
☐ Track corrective actions
☐ Perform follow-up
Internal auditors should not audit activities for which they have operational responsibility where this would impair required independence or objectivity.
29. Security Testing / VAPT Responsibilities
Security testers should:
☐ Obtain authorization
☐ Define testing scope
☐ Follow testing rules of engagement
☐ Protect test credentials
☐ Protect security findings
☐ Avoid unauthorized testing
☐ Protect customer information
☐ Report critical findings promptly
☐ Securely handle testing evidence
☐ Return/delete testing information as required
30. Contractor Responsibilities
Contractors should:
☐ Follow contractual security requirements
☐ Protect organizational information
☐ Protect credentials
☐ Use authorized systems
☐ Follow least privilege
☐ Use MFA
☐ Report incidents
☐ Follow customer requirements
☐ Protect source code where applicable
☐ Follow cloud-security requirements
☐ Return/delete information at engagement end
☐ Surrender access at termination
31. Third-Party Personnel Responsibilities
Third-party personnel should follow applicable:
☐ Contractual security requirements
☐ Confidentiality requirements
☐ Access restrictions
☐ Information-protection requirements
☐ Incident-reporting requirements
☐ Privacy requirements
☐ Security-testing requirements
☐ Offboarding requirements
32. Intern Responsibilities
Interns should:
☐ Follow security policies
☐ Complete security awareness training
☐ Use only approved systems
☐ Protect credentials
☐ Follow access restrictions
☐ Protect confidential information
☐ Report incidents
☐ Avoid unauthorized testing
☐ Follow supervision requirements
☐ Return assets at the end of the internship
33. Physical Security Responsibilities
Personnel responsible for facilities should:
☐ Manage physical access
☐ Manage visitor access
☐ Protect secure areas
☐ Maintain physical security controls
☐ Support CCTV/security monitoring where applicable
☐ Protect equipment
☐ Support environmental controls
☐ Support physical security incidents
34. Security Awareness Responsibilities
Security awareness owners should:
☐ Define training requirements
☐ Identify target personnel
☐ Provide training
☐ Track completion
☐ Perform phishing awareness where appropriate
☐ Provide role-specific training
☐ Monitor completion
☐ Address overdue training
☐ Evaluate training effectiveness
35. Incident Reporting Responsibilities
Every personnel member should report suspected security incidents.
| Role | Primary Incident Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Employee | Report immediately |
| Manager | Escalate and support |
| IT | Technical containment/support |
| Security | Investigation/coordination |
| HR | Personnel-related support |
| Legal | Legal assessment |
| Privacy | Personal-data assessment |
| Management | Major incident decisions |
| Supplier Owner | Coordinate supplier response |
36. Business Continuity Responsibilities
Personnel should understand their responsibilities during disruption.
☐ Follow continuity procedures
☐ Protect information
☐ Follow emergency instructions
☐ Support recovery activities
☐ Maintain critical services
☐ Report service-impacting issues
☐ Follow emergency access requirements
37. Change Management Responsibilities
Personnel making changes must:
☐ Follow change procedures
☐ Document changes
☐ Assess impact
☐ Assess security impact
☐ Obtain approval
☐ Test changes where appropriate
☐ Implement changes as approved
☐ Validate results
☐ Record evidence
38. AI and Generative AI Responsibilities
Personnel using AI tools should:
☐ Use approved tools
☐ Protect confidential information
☐ Protect personal data
☐ Protect customer information
☐ Protect source code
☐ Follow organizational AI requirements
☐ Review AI-generated outputs where required
☐ Report AI-related security concerns
39. Role-Based Responsibility Matrix
| Security Responsibility | Executive | Security | Manager | Employee | HR | IT | Developer | DevOps | Finance | Compliance | Auditor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Security Governance | A | R | C | I | C | C | I | I | I | C | I |
| Risk Management | A | R | C | I | I | C | C | C | C | C | C |
| Security Policies | A | R | C | I | C | C | C | C | C | C | C |
| Information Protection | A | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | C | C |
| Access Management | A | C | R | I | C | R | C | R | C | I | C |
| Privileged Access | A | R | C | I | I | R | C | R | I | I | C |
| Cloud Security | A | R | C | I | I | R | C | R | I | C | C |
| Source-Code Security | A | C | C | I | I | C | R | R | I | C | C |
| Vulnerability Management | A | R | C | C | I | R | R | R | I | C | C |
| Logging/Monitoring | A | R | I | I | I | R | C | R | I | C | C |
| Incident Management | A | R | R | R | C | R | C | C | C | C | C |
| Business Continuity | A | C | R | C | C | R | C | R | C | C | C |
| Supplier Security | A | R | C | I | I | C | I | C | I | C | C |
| Privacy | A | C | C | R | R | C | C | C | C | R | C |
| Security Awareness | A | R | R | R | R | C | C | C | C | C | I |
| Change Management | A | C | R | C | I | R | R | R | I | C | C |
| Audit/Compliance | A | C | C | I | C | C | C | C | C | R | R |
This matrix should be customized to the organization’s actual organizational structure.
40. Detailed Technical Responsibility Matrix
| Activity | IT | Security | Developer | DevOps | Cloud Admin | Data Owner | Manager |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| User Account Creation | R | C | I | I | C | I | A |
| MFA | R | C | C | R | R | I | A |
| Access Approval | C | C | I | I | C | C | A |
| Privileged Access | R | A | C | R | R | I | C |
| Production Access | C | A | C | R | R | C | C |
| Source-Code Access | C | C | A/R | R | I | I | C |
| Cloud Access | C | A | I | R | R | I | C |
| Vulnerability Remediation | R | A | R | R | R | I | C |
| Security Monitoring | R | A/R | C | R | R | I | I |
| Incident Response | R | A/R | C | C | C | C | I |
| Backup | R | C | C | R | R | C | I |
| Change Management | R | C | R | R | R | C | A |
| Security Testing | C | A/R | C | C | C | C | I |
| Access Review | R | C | I | C | C | A | R |
| Offboarding | R | C | I | C | C | I | A |
41. Role-Specific Security Responsibility Record
For each employee or contractor, record:
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Person | |
| Role | |
| Department | |
| Manager | |
| Information Access | |
| System Access | |
| Privileged Access | |
| Production Access | |
| Security Responsibilities | |
| Required Training | |
| Required Acknowledgement | |
| Review Date | |
| Owner |
42. Responsibility During Role Changes
When personnel change roles:
☐ Responsibilities reviewed
☐ Information access reviewed
☐ System access reviewed
☐ Privileged access reviewed
☐ Production access reviewed
☐ Previous responsibilities removed where appropriate
☐ New responsibilities assigned
☐ Required training updated
☐ Security acknowledgement updated where required
☐ Evidence retained
43. Responsibility During Offboarding
Before the employee or contractor leaves:
☐ Security responsibilities reviewed
☐ Access identified
☐ Accounts disabled
☐ Privileged access revoked
☐ Cloud access revoked
☐ Production access revoked
☐ Source-code access revoked
☐ Assets returned
☐ Organizational information returned/deleted where required
☐ Continuing confidentiality obligations communicated
☐ Offboarding evidence retained
44. Responsibility Acknowledgement
Personnel should acknowledge the security responsibilities applicable to their role.
Name: __________________________
Role: __________________________
Department: __________________________
Responsibilities Reviewed: ☐ Yes ☐ No
Security Training Completed: ☐ Yes ☐ No
Acknowledgement Completed: ☐ Yes ☐ No
Date: __________________________
45. Responsibility Review
Review role-based responsibilities when:
☐ Employee joins
☐ Employee changes role
☐ Employee receives new system access
☐ Employee receives privileged access
☐ Employee receives production access
☐ Major technology change occurs
☐ Security responsibilities change
☐ Organizational structure changes
☐ Major security incident occurs
☐ Audit identifies a responsibility gap
46. Responsibility Exceptions
Where a role cannot perform an assigned security responsibility:
☐ Gap documented
☐ Reason documented
☐ Risk assessed
☐ Alternative responsibility assigned
☐ Compensating control identified
☐ Owner assigned
☐ Management approval obtained where required
☐ Review date defined
47. Metrics
Management may monitor:
- Percentage of roles with defined security responsibilities
- Responsibility acknowledgement completion
- Role changes reviewed
- Privileged roles reviewed
- Production roles reviewed
- Training completion
- Responsibility-related findings
- Overdue reviews
- Exceptions
- Security incidents caused by unclear responsibilities
48. AWS SaaS Startup Example
An AWS SaaS startup has:
- CEO
- CTO
- Security Lead
- Developers
- DevOps Engineer
- Customer Support
- HR
- Finance
Example Responsibilities
CEO
- Security governance
- Risk oversight
- Major risk acceptance
CTO
- Technology security
- Cloud security
- Application security
Security Lead
- Security governance
- Risk management
- Incident response
- Security monitoring
- Compliance
Developer
- Secure coding
- Source-code protection
- Secrets protection
- Security defect remediation
DevOps
- AWS security
- CI/CD security
- Infrastructure security
- Production access
HR
- Screening
- Onboarding
- Security acknowledgement
- Offboarding
Finance
- Financial information protection
- Segregation of duties
- Payment security
Audit Trail
Role → Information → Access → Responsibility → Training → Acknowledgement → Evidence → Review
49. Startup-Friendly Model
A startup does not need hundreds of individual responsibility documents.
Maintain:
1. Role Matrix
Defines responsibilities by role.
2. Employee Acknowledgement
Confirms the employee has reviewed applicable responsibilities.
3. Access Management
Connects responsibilities to actual system access.
4. Training
Provides role-specific security knowledge.
5. Periodic Review
Confirms responsibilities remain appropriate.
For a small startup, one controlled matrix plus role-specific additions can be sufficient.
50. Common Mistakes
Avoid:
- Giving everyone the same security responsibilities.
- Assigning responsibilities without considering actual access.
- Giving privileged access without additional responsibilities.
- Failing to define who owns security decisions.
- Assuming IT owns all security responsibilities.
- Ignoring business owners and managers.
- Ignoring developers and DevOps.
- Failing to assign incident-reporting responsibilities.
- Failing to update responsibilities after role changes.
- Using a RACI matrix without actual accountability.
- Treating acknowledgement as proof that responsibilities are being performed.
- Creating responsibilities that no person actually owns.
51. Relationship With Other ISMS Documents
| Document | Relationship |
|---|---|
| Information Security Policy | Defines overall security direction |
| Human Resources Security Policy | Defines personnel-security requirements |
| Employee Security Responsibilities | Defines general personnel responsibilities |
| Employee Security Acknowledgement | Records acknowledgement |
| Role-Based Screening Matrix | Defines screening based on role risk |
| Access Management Procedure | Controls access |
| Joiner-Mover-Leaver Procedure | Manages personnel lifecycle |
| Security Awareness Procedure | Provides security training |
| Privileged Access Procedure | Controls elevated access |
| Incident Response Procedure | Defines incident responsibilities |
| Supplier Security Requirements | Defines external-party responsibilities |
| Internal Audit Procedure | Defines independent audit activities |
52. ISO/IEC 27001 Connection
A role-based security responsibility matrix supports clear assignment of information-security responsibilities and authorities within the ISMS.
However, a Role-Based Security Responsibilities Matrix is not itself a universally prescribed ISO/IEC 27001 document or form.
The organization should determine appropriate responsibilities based on:
- ISMS scope
- Organizational structure
- Information-security risks
- Business processes
- Information access
- System access
- Privileged access
- Legal/regulatory requirements
- Customer requirements
- Applicable controls
Responsibilities should be communicated and should be reviewed when organizational, technological, or risk conditions change.
53. Audit Evidence Checklist
☐ Organizational structure
☐ Security roles
☐ Role descriptions
☐ Responsibility matrix
☐ RACI matrix where applicable
☐ Employee security responsibilities
☐ Role-specific responsibilities
☐ Policy acknowledgement
☐ Security training
☐ Access approvals
☐ Privileged-access approvals
☐ Production-access approvals
☐ Role-change records
☐ Responsibility reviews
☐ Exceptions
☐ Security findings
☐ Corrective actions
☐ Management review evidence
54. Final Role-Based Security Audit Trail
For significant roles, the organization should be able to demonstrate:
What is the person’s role?
What information do they handle?
What systems do they access?
What security risks does the role introduce?
What security responsibilities apply?
Who is accountable?
Who performs the activity?
What training is required?
Did the person acknowledge the responsibilities?
Are responsibilities aligned with actual access?
Were responsibilities updated after role changes?
Are privileged roles subject to additional responsibilities?
Are security responsibilities reviewed periodically?
Final Principle
Security responsibility should follow the role, information, access, and risk—not simply the job title.
A strong role-based model connects organizational accountability, security responsibilities, access rights, training, acknowledgement, monitoring, and periodic review into one defensible ISMS record.