The confidentiality, availability, integrity and the transparency of our information assets are of crucial importance in enabling us to provide our services successfully, and in particular also sustainably.
With this objective in mind, we have created an information security management system (ISMS). It complies with the directive of the Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO) entitled “Directives on Information Security and Data Protection Requirements for the Information Systems of Pillar 1/Family Allowance Executive Agencies (W-ISDS)”. The ISMS has been subject to external review since 2025 and as a result is being constantly improved.
This paper describes the most important principles for ensuring appropriate protection for all information assets against threats of all types, whether internal or external, and whether intentional or inadvertent. The objective of these principles is to protect information to the extent required by business operations.
The ISMS aims to protect our information assets (data, documents, IS infrastructure) with reference to the 4 protection objectives against potential hazards (e.g. hacker attacks or the inadvertent publication of confidential documents).
The ISMS applies to the entire Compensation Office.
The protection objectives set out in this document constitute specifications for the management of the Compensation Office in terms of data confidentiality, availability and integrity. The levels of “protection groups” set out herein are used amongst other things for the purpose of typifying the list of assets.
In contrast, the analysis of protection requirements (AKIS) is intended to establish whether or not there is an enhanced protection requirement.
Protection objective (according to Article 2 of the Swiss Data Protection Act [DSV]): access only for a duly authorised class of people.
How this is understood by the Compensation Office: all personal data must be protected, including in particular sensitive personal data within the meaning of Article 5a DSG. These include data relating to our customers as well as the data of our employees and partners. The term protection group also includes other sensitive data such as e.g. business secrets or protect data.
| Level | Description | Examples |
| Public | – All non-internal or confidential information | – Website – Social media posts – News and press information |
| Internal | – All personal data that are not sensitive (within the meaning of Article 5c DSG) – All internal, non-confidential business and project data | – Data relating to employees – All other personal data such as e.g. data concerning the employees of customers and business partners |
| Confidential | – All personal data that are sensitive (within the meaning of Article 5c DSG) – All internal information the publication of which could impair the competitiveness or reputation of the Compensation Office. | – Data/documents relating to daily benefits under disability insurance or disability pensions – Files of individual employees – Financial accounting – Documents relating to the management – IT network plans |
Protection objective (according to Article 2 DSV): information is quickly available for authorised purposes.
How this is understood by the Compensation Office: our objective is to be reasonably available for our customers. This applies to our availability to provide information in person/over the telephone and naturally also to the customer platform connect. By taking appropriate action (e.g. backups, redundancy of critical systems) we minimise the possibility of system failure. At the same time we prepare for catastrophic scenarios.
| Level | Maximum downtime | Description | Examples |
| Normal | < 1 day | All other data | |
High | > 1 day | All data in connect that are required for members and in future for insured persons | List of all employees, current accounts |
Protection objective (according to Article 2 DSV): data must not be altered without authorisation or inadvertently (integrity). Any changes made to data must be traceable (transparency).
How this is understood by the Compensation Office: we classify under this protection objective primarily the requirements of transparency (e.g. logging). Our core system AKIS incorporates extensive logging measures. Special measures relating to this protection objective are therefore only required outside of AKIS. See also Article 4 DSV.
NB: the protection objective of transparency is classified as a sub-set of the integrity objective within our ISMS.
| Level | Description | Examples |
| Normal | All other data | |
| High | All data concerning entitlement to our benefits | – Data concerning entitlement to pensions, daily benefits under disability insurance, family allowances etc. – Individual account – Current account |
The following table shows the most important officials responsible for maintaining the ISMS. It also specifies what proportion (%) of a full-time position should be allocated to the ongoing operation of the ISMS.
| Official | Principal tasks (sections within Annex A of the 2022 standard) |
| ISO (Information Security Officer) | – Overall responsibility for ISMS |
| – Advises the Compensation Office regarding matters relating to data protection | |
| DPO (Data Protection Advisor) | – Communication within catastrophic scenarios |
| – Responsible for and point of contact concerning incident management | |
| Head of Communication | – Physical security |
The ISMS is operated according to the PDCA principle, which constitutes the basic principle for ongoing improvement.
Tests and measurements as well as awareness training for employees ensure that defects can be identified at an early stage. An internal audit also ensures that defects are not identified only during the course of the ordinary main review.
| Content | Employees | Customers | Customers | Press |
| General information on ISDS | ISO | Head of Compensation Office [1] | Head of Compensation Office [1] | — |
| Guidance concerning security incidents | ISO | Head of Compensation Office [1] | Head of Compensation Office [1] | Head of Compensation Office in consultation with the FSIO |
Raising employee awareness is a key foundation for high information security. With this objective in mind we offer our employees e-learning modules.
| People affected | Time | Measure | Responsibility |
| Employees (all) | Start of employment with the firm | The IT Terms and Conditions of Use are explained to new employees during the first three days of work. | Head of HR |
| Employees (all) | Start of employment with the firm | The current infosec e-learning modules are enabled upon appointment and must be completed within three months. | Head of IT |
| Employees (all) | New e-learning modules are enabled by IGAKIS | The newly-enabled e-learning modules are assessed by IT and the time required is estimated. | ISO |
| Employees (all) | Recurring | Internal information events | ISO |
| Employees (all) | Recurring | Awareness training (including tests) | ISO |
Security incidents also occur where we have taken appropriate action. Employees are required to report events, incidents or anything out of place they may notice.
Key points:
| Type of supplier | Rule |
| Suppliers of IGAKIS such as e.g. M&S | A security review of these suppliers is carried out by IGAKIS. |
| Other suppliers | The suppliers indicated in the “supplier list” must be reviewed annually in order to ascertain the following: – Contractual terms available – Business relationship still in existence – Contact person with details – Has a non-disclosure agreement been concluded The supplier list is contained in the Emergency Handbook. |