CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide

Company Policies
Organizations adopt goals and rules for employees that enhance the company
profits and compliance with government regulations. These company policies
include regulatory compliance policies, acceptable use polices, and password
policies, among other things.
Regulatory Compliance
Part of a government’s job is to ensure safe work environments and minimize
exploitation of workers. To this end, governments develop rules and
regulations that specify how organizations are supposed to manage their
workplaces, workers, and materials. Properly run organizations enforce
regulatory compliance—following the laws and regulations—to maintain a
healthy workforce.
Acceptable Use
An acceptable use policy (AUP) describes what employees can and cannot do
with company property. Such policies include things like using a company
laptop only for company business, for example. Or, an AUP could bar
company employees from accessing illegal Web sites from the organization’s
computers. AUPs are often very detailed and specific documents that
employees must agree to and sign as a step in the employment process.
Passwords
We’ve touched on password policies in Chapter 13, “Users, Groups, and
Permissions,” so here I’ll just add that organizations will have detailed
password policies in place that can touch on almost any aspect of how
members of the organization create, use, and manage accounts and
credentials. Here’s a teeny tiny sample of what you might find in a thorough
password policy: how long and complex passwords should be, how to
compose them, when to use multifactor authentication, whether passwords
should expire (and if so, how often), whether to set a BIOS password, and
even what you should do if your manager demands to know one of your
passwords!