Introduction
There are literally hundreds of standards, laws, frameworks and regulations that relate to cyber security. In most cases, there is considerable overlap with these. Then there is the need to identify products and services that help meet these requirements.
Standards, Laws, Frameworks & Regulations
The security compliance landscape can be a bit of a minefield and it is hard to know which standards and frameworks apply to your organization. It is important to map out a compliance journey that is relevant to you, and ensures you don’t double up on effort or have to undo anything later on. As with any significant commercial undertaking, thinking long-term is key to ensure you future-proof your compliance strategy and make the most of your investment.
ISO 27001 is often a good framework for many organizations to start with, in order to lay the foundations for a long-term compliance journey. Other standards and frameworks can then apply to specific industries from there.
Achieving compliance opens new business opportunities for your company such as launching into new regions and expanding into new verticals. Organizations that plan to operate in Europe almost certainly need to be GDPR compliant to enable this business growth. Similarly, organizations planning to launch a new product in the fast-growing fintech and health-tech spaces will most likely need to be PCI or HIPAA compliant.
Importantly, even those companies who may not currently have mandated certification requirements should be starting their compliance journey by applying proper security practices to not only Reduce their risk, but also ensure they are prepared for their future compliance needs. It is a very costly and resource-hungry problem to have to rush a compliance process if the foundations aren’t already in place.
Not implementing a suitable security framework can have devastating effects for any business, even where mandatory regulations don’t apply.
Given the significant impact to the bottom line, shareholders are holding Directors accountable if proper security controls aren’t being put in place to avoid a data breach or security incident. This has led to a trend where shareholder class actions to handle such cases are one of the fastest-growing sectors within the legal profession.
Although industries such as critical infrastructure, fintech, manufacturing, technology and managed services are high on the radar for compliance obligations, it is becoming increasingly important for all businesses to follow a robust information security framework.
Managing Overlap and Compliance Mapping
It is important to understand how various security services map against the requirements of various standards.
Hailey, our AI engine, identifies similarities across standards, laws, frameworks and regulations in seconds with a confidence level based on learned intelligence.
The diagram below illustrates the concept.
Compliance Mapping to Products and Services
Compliance isn’t about creating policies and/or related control sets with responsibilities that need to be performed by people.
A major part of the process is implementing hard and fast security controls and implementing relevant security procedures to prevent incidents from occurring.
The compliance process drives a process of continuous improvement and measurement to ensure your organization is getting more secure over time.
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Written by Anthony Stevens
Ant Stevens is a luminary in the enterprise software industry, renowned as the CEO and Founder of 6clicks, where he spearheads the integration of artificial intelligence into their cybersecurity, risk and compliance platform. Ant has been instrumental developing software to support advisor and MSPs. Away from the complexities of cybersecurity and AI, Ant revels in the simplicity of nature. An avid camper, he cherishes time spent in the great outdoors with his family and beloved dog, Jack, exploring serene landscapes and disconnecting from the digital tether.
