Custom registers: Enhancing security and operational resilience

Organizations face an ongoing challenge in adapting to the complexities of regulatory compliance. Frameworks and legislation such as the Australian Defence Industry Security Program (DISP) and the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) govern the regulatory obligations of organizations in critical sectors like government and finance, imposing distinct requirements for security and operational resilience.

In this blog post, we will examine how organizations can easily align with these frameworks and fulfill diverse requirements using 6clicks’ recently enhanced custom registers feature, designed to improve data management and streamline compliance. Read on to learn more!

The challenge: Meeting regulatory requirements for security and operational resilience

Government and defense sectors are required to achieve different levels of security implementation and undergo rigorous assessments to protect sensitive data and other information generated through government contracts. For defense contractors and service providers in Australia, DISP provides a framework for implementing robust security, establishing strict requirements encompassing the following domains:

• Governance – Established security policies, procedures, roles and responsibilities of security personnel, and frameworks that guide an organization’s security practices and form the foundation for an effective security management system

• Physical security – Safeguards such as alarm systems and secure storage areas for protecting the physical environment of assets and facilities supporting defense information

• Personnel security – Measures for ensuring the competencies and reliability of employees in charge of handling defense information

• IT and cyber security – Technical and administrative measures for safeguarding information and communication technology (ICT) systems against cyber threats, such as firewalls, network segmentation, and intrusion detection systems

Australian organizations must implement a combination of security controls across these domains to acquire a DISP membership.

Meanwhile, for the financial sector, several regulations such as DORA (EU), CPS 230 (Australia), and the SEC Cybersecurity Rules (US) shape organizations' compliance obligations. Under these regulations, financial institutions are required to implement specific measures for operational resilience to ensure that critical financial services and infrastructure can withstand and recover from disruptions. These requirements are categorized under the five pillars of DORA:

• ICT risk management – The organization’s ICT risk management framework comprising internal governance and controls, risk assessment, risk tolerance, asset classification and management, and other risk management measures

• ICT third-party risk management – Oversight, assessment, and monitoring of third-party service providers and their associated risks

• Digital operational resilience testing – Basic and advanced testing procedures such as threat-led penetration testing for ICT systems

• Incident reporting – Documentation, classification, remediation, and reporting of major security incidents to national authorities within a specific timeframe

• Information sharing – Collaboration and exchange of information and threat intelligence with financial entities to strengthen sector-wide resilience

With varying rules and requirements for cybersecurity, risk management, and data protection, organizations need a flexible, efficient, and scalable approach to compliance.

How 6clicks solves it

To help organizations meet these complex requirements, 6clicks introduced its newly uplifted custom registers feature to provide a tailored solution to managing different types of risk and compliance information, helping organizations simplify compliance and implement varying requirements.

Custom registers are structured record-keeping systems that organizations can create and customize to capture, organize, and manage diverse data sets such as breaches, information assets, and other key metrics, supporting effective risk management and regulatory compliance.

With applications across various sectors and GRC domains, here's how organizations can use this capability to fulfill their regulatory obligations:

Security

Organizations working with the Australian Department of Defence can streamline security management and meet DISP requirements by using 6clicks’ custom registers. Key use cases include:

• Physical security registers – Easily create and configure registers tailored to the different security domains of DISP. Build a physical security register to document security measures such as surveillance and visitor management protocols. Use custom data fields to track details such as the implementation status, the assigned personnel, and the associated responsibilities to streamline reporting.

• Personnel security registers – Create and customize a personnel security register for overseeing staff profiles and security clearances to maintain a centralized repository of personnel information.

• IT and cyber security registers – Catalog technical controls such as firewalls, encryption, and security patches in your custom IT or cyber security register. Utilize custom fields to record control test results and custom workflows to create and assign tasks for remediating control issues.

• Contract registers – Securely log and manage information on defense contracts by creating a contract register. Upload attachments, assign owners, and configure detailed access permissions to ensure that only authorized users can access specific items, effectively safeguarding confidential and sensitive information.

Operational resilience

For financial entities, custom registers can be used to address requirements for operational resilience and facilitate compliance with regulations such as DORA, CPS 230, and the SEC Cybersecurity Rules. Applications include:

• ICT and operational risk registers – Use 6clicks’ built-in risk registers or create custom ICT and operational risk registers specifically for DORA and CPS 230 compliance. Record risk assessment results, assign risk owners and priority, and indicate treatment decisions and their corresponding treatment actions.

• Resilience registers – Create registers specifically for managing business continuity plans and operational resilience measures. Configure data fields to document essential details of operational resilience measures, including the resilience measure ID, description, date of implementation, and testing results.

• Custom incident registers – Build a separate register tailored to the strict incident reporting requirements of DORA and the SEC’s Cyber Disclosure Rule. Maintain detailed incident records by using custom fields to capture significant information such as the incident description, scope and severity, date and time of discovery, impact assessment, and the mitigation actions taken by the organization.

• Custom third-party registers – Aside from the 6clicks Third Parties module built for onboarding vendors and monitoring third-party risk, you can create a separate register for storing and managing service provider contracts, which is a direct requirement under DORA and CPS 230.

With custom registers, organizations can easily and securely manage data to enhance governance, risk management, and compliance.

Get started with 6clicks

Leverage the powerful capabilities of 6clicks to meet diverse compliance requirements and foster secure and resilient practices. 6clicks’ custom registers equip users with intuitive capabilities to support regulatory compliance, including:

• Enhanced customization and configuration: Define item labels, data fields, and workflow stages within each register to streamline data classification and management. Utilize advanced filtering, bulk editing, and task assignment features to enhance efficiency in risk and compliance processes. 

• In-depth insights: Generate turnkey reports and gain a deeper understanding of your risk and compliance posture. Additionally, seamlessly link custom registers data with data across other 6clicks modules such as risks, third parties, and assessments for a holistic approach.

• Advanced security: Improve data security with granular access control and implement register-level and item-level user permissions.