Cloud Security Policy Template (Word, PDF + Excel Tracker)

A cloud security policy is the written rule for which cloud services your company may use, who owns each one, how data and access are protected in them, and what happens when a rule can't be followed. This free template gives you that policy as an editable Word document with 18 sections, written for a company of 50 to 1,000 people that runs on SaaS and some IaaS.

Every decision you need to make sits in [brackets], with a default you can keep or change. The download also includes a PDF guide and an Excel tracker for your cloud service inventory, access reviews, exceptions and a control checklist mapped to CSA CCM, NIST SP 800-53, ISO/IEC 27001 and CIS Controls.

Download the cloud security policy template

What Is a Cloud Security Policy?

A cloud security policy, also called a cloud computing security policy, is a short document approved by management that sets the rules for using cloud services safely. It covers which services are allowed, how they get approved, what data may go where, how people sign in, what gets logged and backed up, and who owns each decision. The detailed console steps and scripts change more often, so keep them in runbooks and point to them.

You'll be asked for it, or for proof of what it covers, in an ISO 27001 audit, a SOC 2 audit, customer security questionnaires and cyber insurance renewals. Auditors look for three things: that the policy is approved, that your cloud service inventory matches what people really use, and that your records (approvals, access reviews, exceptions) show the policy is followed.

A cloud security policy is not a cloud architecture guide or a provider's hardening checklist. Those are standards you reference. If you want a separate cloud security standard, this template's sections 6 to 9 are where its settings would go.

Components of a Cloud Security Policy

The template has 18 sections. The first group sets the rules, the second covers data and people, the third covers running the services, and the last covers buying, recovering and responding.

1. Purpose: what the policy is for and how it relates to the shared responsibility model.
2. Scope: IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, free tiers, AI tools and shadow IT, whoever pays.
3. Shared responsibility: who secures what in each service model, with an owner for every line that is yours.
4. Roles and responsibilities: policy owner, cloud security lead, service owner, technical owner, procurement, users, providers.
5. Data classification and residency: four data classes, where each may live and its minimum controls.
6. Identity and access: SSO, MFA, least privilege, separate admin accounts, leavers, dormant accounts and access reviews.
7. Encryption and key management: TLS, encryption at rest, customer-managed keys for Restricted data, secrets handling.
8. Configuration baselines and CSPM: a written baseline per account, private storage by default and drift checks.
9. Logging and monitoring: which logs to turn on, how long to keep them and which alerts to set.
10. Vulnerability and patching: scanning and patch deadlines for what you run in IaaS and PaaS.
11. Endpoint and device access to cloud apps: the rules for the laptops and phones that open cloud data.
12. Third-party and vendor approval: a review that scales with the data class, plus renewal and exit.
13. Incident response: cloud-specific steps: revoke sessions and keys, keep logs, check what was reached.
14. Backup and recovery: backups outside the source service, recovery targets and restore tests.
15. Exceptions: who can accept risk, for how long and with which compensating controls.
16. Enforcement: what happens when someone breaks the policy.
17. Review cycle: a yearly review and the events that trigger an early one.
18. Definitions: IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, shadow IT, CSPM, customer-managed keys and other terms.

Appendices add a framework mapping table, a new cloud service request form and an exception request form.

Shared Responsibility: What You Still Own in IaaS, PaaS and SaaS

Every cloud service splits the security work between you and the provider. NIST SP 800-145 defines the three service models: infrastructure (IaaS), platform (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS). The further you move toward SaaS, the more of the stack the provider runs. Some things never move. Microsoft's shared responsibility model lists data, endpoints, accounts and access management as the customer's in every model, and this typical split follows it:

That is why a cloud security policy is mostly about your side: who may sign in, how settings are kept, where data goes and which devices connect. Section 3 of the template keeps this table, and the Excel tracker asks for a named owner on every line marked You or Shared. Provider documentation is a guide, though. Check each provider's own model and your contract, because some move these lines.

How to Create a Cloud Security Policy

You can get from nothing to an approved policy in a few weeks if you work in this order:

1. List every cloud service. Start with your identity provider's app list, then add what shows up in expense reports, card statements and the installed-apps list in your device inventory. Each service gets a row in the tracker's Cloud services tab.
2. Give each service an owner and a data class. The service owner answers for users, renewal and risk. The data class (Restricted, Confidential, Internal or Public) sets the controls and the review cycle.
3. Write down the shared responsibility split for your main IaaS account and your Restricted and Confidential SaaS services.
4. Fill in the brackets. Approved regions, review cycles, log retention, recovery targets, the identity provider and the tools you use.
5. Close the biggest gaps before approval. Usually that means SSO for the services that support it, MFA on every account, admin rights moved into separate accounts and sign-in logs turned on. The tracker's Dashboard counts each gap.
6. Get it approved and tell people. Staff need to know two rules above all: use only approved services for company data, and ask before signing up for a new one.
7. Run the calendar. Access reviews, inventory reviews, restore tests and the yearly policy review all have a row in the Review calendar tab with a next due date.

If you are building this for an ISO 27001 project, the policy is one piece of the larger management system. Our ISO 27001 checklist covers the rest.

Cloud Security Policy Examples: Clauses You Can Adapt

A clause that says "appropriate controls" gives an auditor nothing to test. Each clause should name a control, an owner and a number. Here are six from the template:

• New services: "No cloud service may hold company data until it is approved. Requests use the form in Appendix B. Restricted-data services are approved by the policy owner."
• MFA: "Multi-factor authentication is required for every account, and phishing-resistant MFA [security keys or passkeys] for administrators."
• Leavers: "Leavers lose all cloud access within [24 hours] of their last day."
• Access reviews: "Admin access is reviewed every [3] months, Restricted-data services every [3] months, all others every [6] months. Results are recorded in the tracker."
• Logs: "Sign-in, admin and data-access logs are kept for at least [12] months and protected from deletion by the people whose actions they record."
• Backups: "The provider's availability is not a backup. Data we cannot afford to lose is backed up outside the service that holds it."

The numbers in brackets are our defaults, not framework requirements. Use the stricter value when a contract, regulator or insurer asks for more.

SaaS Security Policy: Controls for the Apps You Don't Run

For a company that runs on SaaS, most company data sits in apps you don't operate, and the risks come from settings, not servers. If you need a SaaS security policy template, use sections 5, 6, 8 and 12 of this one, and check every SaaS app that holds Confidential or Restricted data against this list:

1. Sign-in through your identity provider (SSO), with MFA for everyone.
2. Admin roles held in separate accounts and reviewed every quarter.
3. External sharing off by default, or limited to named partner domains.
4. Approval needed before users connect third-party apps through OAuth consent.
5. Sign-in and admin logs turned on and sent to your log platform.
6. Data export and API tokens limited to admins.
7. Your own backup for data you can't afford to lose.
8. Leavers removed through the identity provider within a day.

The template asks for a review of these admin settings every six months, because vendors add features and sharing options over time.

Device Access to Cloud Apps

Cloud data doesn't stay in the cloud. People open it, download it and sync it on laptops and phones, and a lost, unencrypted laptop with a synced drive exposes that data whatever your cloud settings say. Microsoft's model lists endpoints among the things the customer always owns, and CSA's Cloud Controls Matrix has a whole domain for it, Universal Endpoint Management (UEM).

Section 11 of the template sets the device rules. Company devices that reach cloud services are enrolled in device management, have disk encryption on, lock the screen after a few minutes, run a supported operating system with updates installed on time and are reported within a day if lost. Where your identity provider supports it, Confidential and Restricted services only accept managed devices. For personal devices, the template gives you two options to pick from: not allowed, or browser and managed apps only. Our guide to patch management policy templates covers the update deadlines in detail.

Framework Mapping: CSA CCM, NIST SP 800-53, ISO 27001 and CIS Controls

Each section of the template maps to four frameworks by ID, so you can show an auditor where a control lives in your policy:

• CSA Cloud Controls Matrix: the Cloud Security Alliance's control set for cloud providers and customers. Version 4.1 is the current release, with 17 domains. The template maps by domain ID.
• NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5: NIST's control catalog of 20 families, from AC (Access Control) to SR (Supply Chain Risk Management).
• ISO/IEC 27001:2022: Annex A control 5.23, Information security for use of cloud services, was new in the 2022 edition. It covers buying, using, managing and leaving cloud services. Controls 5.19 to 5.22 cover suppliers and 8.1 covers user endpoint devices.
• CIS Controls v8.1: 18 Controls and 153 Safeguards. Control 15 covers service providers, 6.3 and 6.5 require MFA, and 3.6 covers encryption on end-user devices.

The IDs point to the source documents; check the current official text before you rely on a mapping. For control-by-control work on one framework, see our NIST compliance checklist and CIS Controls checklist.

Cloud Security Checklist and Audit Evidence

For a cloud security audit, expect to show:

• The approved policy, with its version, owner and last review date
• The cloud service inventory, with owners and data classes
• Approval records for services added in the audit period
• SSO and MFA coverage for each service
• Access review records, including the accounts removed
• Log sources and retention settings
• The device inventory, with encryption and update status
• The exception register, with expiry dates
• Restore test and incident exercise records

The Excel tracker keeps most of this in one file. Its Control checklist tab has 38 controls, each with how often to check it, the evidence to keep and its framework IDs. The Dashboard counts what's missing: services not approved, Restricted or Confidential services without MFA, access reviews overdue and expired exceptions.

Get the policy template (Word, PDF + Excel)

Where trio.so Fits

Most of a cloud security policy is governance and cloud-platform work: vendor approval, IaaS and SaaS configuration, logging, key management and backup. trio.so does none of that. It manages devices, not your AWS, Azure or SaaS settings, and it doesn't write or approve your policy or replace your audit.

Where trio.so helps is section 11, the devices that reach your cloud apps, and the evidence around it. It is device management for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, from one console:

• A device inventory for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android that lists hardware and installed apps (section 2, 11).
• Disk encryption enforcement: BitLocker on Windows, FileVault on Mac, and encryption on phones, with status per device (section 7, 11).
• Passcode and screen lock policies (section 11).
• OS update status for each device, and vulnerability findings scored with CVSS, EPSS and CISA's KEV catalog (section 10, 11).
• USB storage blocking on Windows and Linux, and Wi-Fi policies that require WPA2 or WPA3 (section 11).
• Remote wipe for lost company-owned devices, and remote lock for a lost Mac, iPhone, iPad or Android device (section 11, 13).
• Integrations with Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, OneLogin, Ping Identity and JumpCloud (section 6).
• A Microsoft Defender for Endpoint integration that shows Defender's devices and open alerts next to each device (section 11, 13).
• A Forcepoint DLP integration that brings Forcepoint incidents in and links them to managed devices (section 5, 13).
• Console roles, so each admin gets only the access they need (section 6).
• A compliance engine with templates for SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, NIST SP 800-53 and 800-171, CIS, NCA ECC and SAMA CSF. It is off by default; you turn on the frameworks you need and export the evidence for your auditor (section 17).

Conditional access is available too. Book a demo to see how it would work with your identity provider. trio.so is itself a cloud service, so it belongs in your inventory. Its data is hosted in the US, EU or India region you pick. Learn more about compliance automation. Plans start at $5 per device.

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Sources. Last reviewed October 2026. Framework names and control IDs identify their publishers' documents; descriptions are our own summaries. trio.so is not affiliated with or endorsed by CSA, NIST, ISO, IEC, CIS or Microsoft. This article is guidance, not legal advice. The bracketed defaults are our recommendation, not a requirement of any framework.

• CSA, Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM v4.1 and CAIQ)
• CSA, The CSA Cloud Controls Matrix v4.1 (2 December 2025)
• NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, Security and Privacy Controls (release 5.2.0)
• NIST SP 800-145, The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing
• NIST SP 800-144, Guidelines on Security and Privacy in Public Cloud Computing
• NIST SP 800-210, General Access Control Guidance for Cloud Systems
• ISO/IEC 27001:2022, Information security management systems: Requirements
• CIS Critical Security Controls v8.1
• Microsoft, Shared responsibility in the cloud