Politics is the process through which governments and other groups establish policy, allocate power, and manage relations within and between states. For information security, it shapes laws on privacy, surveillance, cybercrime, critical infrastructure, and the lawful use or transfer of security technology. It also influences how states define acceptable behavior in cyberspace and how organizations may store, access, or disclose information across borders.
Political objectives can motivate state-linked or politically aligned activity such as espionage, influence operations, disruption, and targeting of elections or public services. Security teams should therefore track relevant geopolitical developments as part of threat intelligence, assess whether sanctions or export controls affect tools and suppliers, and map privacy and data-handling obligations across jurisdictions. Political decisions can also change incident-reporting duties, investigative authority, and cooperation with external responders, making legal review part of vulnerability management and incident response planning.