Security Compliance

Overview of security compliance

The concept of security and compliance used in the same sentence has become a common theme in recent years. The word ‘security’ specifically in the information technology arena brings up several topics, especially the relevant risks that are associated with these topics, for example:

• Access security
• Change management security
• Data security
• Application security
• Network security
• Cyber security
• People and processing security
• Physical security to buildings and data centers

The list goes on and on, but when we combine security and compliance, then the risk of the above mentioned topics can quickly be remediated. Organizations must implement and maintain some sort of security compliance management system or framework, aligning people, processes,  and technology, to survive in today’s competitive market and comply with external, and in some cases, regulatory requirements.

Security compliance benefits

The benefits of taking security compliance seriously go far beyond some regulatory requirement or a customer need. It will improve your organization’s control environment, strengthen business processes and increase the organization’s reputation in the market. 

Some of the key benefits are as follows:

• Implementing security compliance policies and procedures will help build the foundation of the control environment.
• Assigning roles and responsibilities to management will ensure day-to-day operations are managed effectively, efficiently and that security compliance is maintained.
• Mitigation of any security risk by implementing risk assessments and risk treatment plans.
• Access management can be a headache for organizations, but with security compliance driven processes, management will be more at ease with the right people having the right access.
• Security compliance in a change management process or in a Software Development Lifecycle process is critical. There are several security compliance frameworks that give great guidance on these two processes.
• Improved threat detection and response reduced exposure to vulnerabilities, 
• Enhanced data protection, will give any customer more assurance in the organization’s product or services. 

Having these benefits in your organization is obviously appealing and it is what organizations strive for. Organizations should then consider implementing a security compliance framework that is right for their organization and can address their specific needs and objectives. With the right framework in place, an organization can build a strong foundation for protecting its data and safeguarding its business.

Security compliance frameworks

There are a multitude of security compliance frameworks in today’s day and age. Complying with one or more of these security compliance frameworks is dependent on the nature of the business and in what industry they operate, what service or product they provide to their customers, and in what country they operate.

Below are some of the most common security compliance frameworks:

• SOC 2
• ISO 27001 and ISO 27002
• NIST
• HIPAA
• PCI-DSS
• GDPR
• FISMA
• HITRUST

Implementing one of these frameworks can be mandatory for some organizations or can be a requirement from a customer before any business can be done. It is clear that security compliance is the next step for any organization. In order for the organization to improve its control environment, it will need to take a comprehensive approach that encompasses people, processes, and technology.

Security compliance will become the center focal point for achieving any control objective and assist in identifying security risks and implementing controls to mitigate them. This is essential for any organization looking to stay “alive” in today’s day and age.

Here are some key information security compliance tips!