The need for security is basic for every individual, an enterprise, society, and the State as a whole. Despite the fact that the problems of economic security have recently become particularly relevant and important, a significant part of the scientific work explores security at the State level. At the same time, in a highly competitive environment, issues of economic security at the level of economic entity are becoming more significant, but remain not fully researched. Economic security and the mechanisms for its provision from a practical view are of individual nature for each separate enterprise. This brings in a diversity of opinions and views in the consideration of this issue. The article is aimed at defining the essence of the economic security of economic entity and analyzing the principles of organization of a security system in the enterprise. The author has systematically organized the existing variety of definitions of the category of «economic security», allocating the main features of the proposed definitions, the definitions of the concept in a narrow and broad sense are provided. The principles of organization of an economic security system in the enterprise are studied, the thoughts of both national and foreign scholars are classified, and six group signs of these principles are allocated. Prospect for further research in this direction is to clarify the content of each individual principle of the economic security organization in the enterprise.