Security compliance is the practice of following laws and standards designed to strengthen your security posture. The way this is put into practice within your organization will depend on the standards your organization has or must adhere to.
Some regulations are required by law based on the markets you serve. For example, the European Union’s GDPR is a law you must follow if your organization collects or may collect data from EU residents. The California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, is a similar law that protects residents of California. These laws apply to any organization that collects data from these protected residents, whether or not the business is based in that region.
Your security compliance might also include standards and frameworks expected by customers based on your industry or the type of business you do. For example, SOC 2 and ISO 27001 are security standards that your customers may expect you to comply with if you manage or process their data.
Regardless of what frameworks your organization adheres to, continuous compliance is critical in maintaining a comprehensive security compliance program. In some cases, your security compliance posture will determine whether a prospect decides to do business with you.
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What are security compliance management challenges?
Below are some of the most common challenges organizations face when managing their security compliance programs:
Navigating the complexities of compliance
Compliance frameworks change regularly to adapt to changes within the industry and innovations in security. As technology advances, regulations mature in tandem to maintain a controlled security standard. Keeping up with these changes can be difficult if you adhere to multiple changing frameworks. However, failing to do so could result in legal fines, loss of business, or other consequences.
Growing tech stack that can be hard to manage
The number of tools organizations use is growing everyday. The more tools that are added to your tech stack, the more third-party risk your business incurs. These risks could result in threats like data theft, service outages, or loss of revenue and customer trust. The risks that come with each new vendor also becomes harder to manage and mitigate.
Ensuring collaboration across the organization
Security compliance is complex work that can create a lot of noise. There are many tasks that need to be managed, alerts and due dates that pertain to audits, risks to address, and more. These tasks often require contributions from stakeholders across the organization. If these various teams are working out of different tools and workflows, it can be difficult to accomplish all the compliance tasks that need to be done in a timely manner.
Best practices for effective security compliance management
Use the following best practices to keep your organization secure and compliant:
1. Establish a strong security culture
Security is a continuous priority that should be ingrained into the culture of the company and its day-to-day operations. Construct systems, tools, and processes that make security an active, integrated, and ongoing effort. This should be considered a priority from your senior leadership.
2. Implement automation and streamlined workflows
Proper integration reduces the noise that comes from collaborating on continuous compliance tasks and aligns your programs, tools, and workflows already in use by your cross-functional partners. Automate your compliance processes and workflows wherever possible. This makes your compliance program a well-orchestrated system that is more sustainable, accurate, and reliable.
3. Centralize security efforts with a unified platform
If you’re managing your security in multiple places, it can be hard to get a clear picture of your organization's risks and security posture. Get a centralized platform for managing your security that allows you to get a full view of your program in one place — from managing vendor risks to tracking your compliance progress to detecting and mitigating risks.
4. Use a platform that can manage multiple frameworks
Many organizations adhere to several security frameworks and often add on more as the business expands to serve new markets and offer new services. Many of these regulations have overlapping controls and requirements. To avoid duplicating efforts, invest in a platform that can easily manage your compliance with all the regulations your organization has committed to or may commit to.
Choosing the right platform for your compliance program
It’s important to choose the right tools to help you manage your security compliance program. These tools should make managing your program easier and more sustainable as your business grows. Vanta’s trust management platform allows you to streamline your compliance program as you scale your business.
With Vanta, you can automate your compliance across multiple frameworks, centralize your risk management, and streamline your security reviews. Schedule a demo with our team to see if a trust management platform is right for your security compliance program.
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Compliance
Security compliance: 4 best practices
Compliance
Security compliance is the practice of following laws and standards designed to strengthen your security posture. The way this is put into practice within your organization will depend on the standards your organization has or must adhere to.
Some regulations are required by law based on the markets you serve. For example, the European Union’s GDPR is a law you must follow if your organization collects or may collect data from EU residents. The California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, is a similar law that protects residents of California. These laws apply to any organization that collects data from these protected residents, whether or not the business is based in that region.
Your security compliance might also include standards and frameworks expected by customers based on your industry or the type of business you do. For example, SOC 2 and ISO 27001 are security standards that your customers may expect you to comply with if you manage or process their data.
Regardless of what frameworks your organization adheres to, continuous compliance is critical in maintaining a comprehensive security compliance program. In some cases, your security compliance posture will determine whether a prospect decides to do business with you.
{{cta_withimage3="/cta-modules"}}
What are security compliance management challenges?
Below are some of the most common challenges organizations face when managing their security compliance programs:
Navigating the complexities of compliance
Compliance frameworks change regularly to adapt to changes within the industry and innovations in security. As technology advances, regulations mature in tandem to maintain a controlled security standard. Keeping up with these changes can be difficult if you adhere to multiple changing frameworks. However, failing to do so could result in legal fines, loss of business, or other consequences.
Growing tech stack that can be hard to manage
The number of tools organizations use is growing everyday. The more tools that are added to your tech stack, the more third-party risk your business incurs. These risks could result in threats like data theft, service outages, or loss of revenue and customer trust. The risks that come with each new vendor also becomes harder to manage and mitigate.
Ensuring collaboration across the organization
Security compliance is complex work that can create a lot of noise. There are many tasks that need to be managed, alerts and due dates that pertain to audits, risks to address, and more. These tasks often require contributions from stakeholders across the organization. If these various teams are working out of different tools and workflows, it can be difficult to accomplish all the compliance tasks that need to be done in a timely manner.
Best practices for effective security compliance management
Use the following best practices to keep your organization secure and compliant:
1. Establish a strong security culture
Security is a continuous priority that should be ingrained into the culture of the company and its day-to-day operations. Construct systems, tools, and processes that make security an active, integrated, and ongoing effort. This should be considered a priority from your senior leadership.
2. Implement automation and streamlined workflows
Proper integration reduces the noise that comes from collaborating on continuous compliance tasks and aligns your programs, tools, and workflows already in use by your cross-functional partners. Automate your compliance processes and workflows wherever possible. This makes your compliance program a well-orchestrated system that is more sustainable, accurate, and reliable.
3. Centralize security efforts with a unified platform
If you’re managing your security in multiple places, it can be hard to get a clear picture of your organization's risks and security posture. Get a centralized platform for managing your security that allows you to get a full view of your program in one place — from managing vendor risks to tracking your compliance progress to detecting and mitigating risks.
4. Use a platform that can manage multiple frameworks
Many organizations adhere to several security frameworks and often add on more as the business expands to serve new markets and offer new services. Many of these regulations have overlapping controls and requirements. To avoid duplicating efforts, invest in a platform that can easily manage your compliance with all the regulations your organization has committed to or may commit to.
Choosing the right platform for your compliance program
It’s important to choose the right tools to help you manage your security compliance program. These tools should make managing your program easier and more sustainable as your business grows. Vanta’s trust management platform allows you to streamline your compliance program as you scale your business.
With Vanta, you can automate your compliance across multiple frameworks, centralize your risk management, and streamline your security reviews. Schedule a demo with our team to see if a trust management platform is right for your security compliance program.
{{cta_testimonial7="/cta-modules"}}
Scaling your compliance doesn't have to SOC 2 much.
Learn how to add new frameworks to your compliance program without adding to your workload.
Scaling your compliance doesn't have to SOC 2 much.
Learn how to add new frameworks to your compliance program without adding to your workload.
Scaling your compliance doesn't have to SOC 2 much.
Learn how to add new frameworks to your compliance program without adding to your workload.
Without Vanta, we’d be looking at hiring another person to handle all the work that an audit and its preparation creates.”
Willem Riehl, Director of Information Security and Acting CISO | CoachHub
| Role: | GRC responsibilities: |
|---|---|
| Board of directors | Central to the overarching GRC strategy, this group sets the direction for the compliance strategy. They determine which standards and regulations are necessary for compliance and align the GRC strategy with business objectives. |
| Chief financial officer | Primary responsibility for the success of the GRC program and for reporting results to the board. |
| Operations managers from relevant departments | This group owns processes. They are responsible for the success and direction of risk management and compliance within their departments. |
| Representatives from relevant departments | These are the activity owners. These team members are responsible for carrying out specific compliance and risk management tasks within their departments and for integrating these tasks into their workflows. |
| Contract managers from relevant department | These team members are responsible for managing interactions with vendors and other third parties in their department to ensure all risk management and compliance measures are being taken. |
| Chief information security officer (CISO) | Defines the organization’s information security policy, designs risk and vulnerability assessments, and develops information security policies. |
| Data protection officer (DPO) or legal counsel | Develops goals for data privacy based on legal regulations and other compliance needs, designs and implements privacy policies and practices, and assesses these practices for effectiveness. |
| GRC lead | Responsible for overseeing the execution of the GRC program in collaboration with the executive team as well as maintaining the organization’s library of security controls. |
| Cybersecurity analyst(s) | Implements and monitors cybersecurity measures that are in line with the GRC program and business objectives. |
| Compliance analyst(s) | Monitors the organization’s compliance with all regulations and standards necessary, identifies any compliance gaps, and works to mitigate them. |
| Risk analyst(s) | Carries out the risk management program for the organization and serves as a resource for risk management across various departments, including identifying, mitigating, and monitoring risks. |
| IT security specialist(s) | Implements security controls within the IT system in coordination with the cybersecurity analyst(s). |
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