How to Kickstart Any Compliance Process Properly
For organizations aiming to make the case to customers and stakeholders that cybersecurity is a top priority, achieving compliance against one of the many popular security frameworks is a great first step.
In addition to ensuring the organization meets or exceeds requirements established by industry and government regulators, achieving compliance can help cloud service providers differentiate themselves from competitors, boost their bottom lines, and protect their reputations through lasting cyber resilience.
It all begins with understanding the current regulatory landscape and creating a detailed plan for moving through the compliance process. With the right approach, completing a compliance audit will do more than just help organizational leaders identify areas of weakness; it will provide them with valuable insight into the latest developments in data security and the actions that must be taken in order to stay one step ahead of cybercriminals.
Following these six steps will ensure an organization is prepared to navigate the complex process of achieving cybersecurity compliance:
Step 1: Understanding the Compliance Landscape
According to a recent report from Gartner, 75% of the world’s population will have their data covered by at least one formal privacy regulation by the end of 2024. Depending on the scope of their services, cloud-based and hybrid businesses may be subject to one or a combination of several laws and regulations, including those established by the PCI Security Standards Council, which governs the payment card industry; HIPAA, which applies to U.S. healthcare organizations; as well as general consumer privacy protection laws like GDPR and CCPA. These laws are designed to protect both consumers and businesses, and they play an important role in preventing and mitigating the effects of data breaches.
For some cloud service providers, particularly those that operate across multiple industries, it may not be immediately clear which standards apply. Identifying which cybersecurity frameworks will satisfy those requirements also poses a challenge. Amid the confusion, business leaders and internal security teams can easily find themselves focusing on the wrong priorities—or worse, trying to prioritize everything instead of targeting their organization’s unique security risks.
Soliciting the advice of a third-party auditing firm early in the compliance process can help business leaders better understand the regulations their organizations must adhere to so they can pinpoint exactly how to start the compliance process.
Step 2: Assessing Your Compliance Needs
In addition to working with business leaders to identify and understand various regulatory requirements, auditing firms can help clients assess their current security postures and overall compliance needs.
In preparation for an upcoming engagement, organizations should work with their auditors to:
Outline specific compliance goals. Businesses pursue compliance for a variety of reasons. Nailing down those goals ahead of time is crucial to ensure the audit serves its intended purpose for both internal and external stakeholders.
Determine the scope of the audit. In a constantly changing field like cybersecurity, it is easy to fall into the trap of scope creep. With clearly outlined objectives, auditors can better tailor their services and target specific areas of concern for business leaders and their internal security teams.
Conduct a preliminary gap assessment. Following their analysis, auditors can provide some insight into current gaps in an organization’s security posture as well as the time and resources that will be required for the organization to achieve compliance. Auditors may also provide preliminary recommendations for remediating any potential risks.
Step 3: Developing a Compliance Plan
Once an organization has met with a third-party auditor to determine the scope and goals for the audit, it's time to start devising an actionable plan for achieving compliance. This includes:
Selecting an automation platform to use throughout the audit. Cloud-based automation platforms like Audora can help streamline evidence collection and create a smoother process for cloud service providers and their auditors.
Drafting policies and procedures, including a systems description, if applicable. This helps the auditor get a clear picture of an organization’s control environment and current strategies for managing risk.
Assessing controls against the chosen framework. Auditors can work with their clients to review control wording, identify any preliminary issues, and modify controls as needed to ensure they are both detailed and accurate.
Completing these tasks prior to beginning an audit will provide a clear roadmap for organizations to achieve their compliance goals.
Step 4: Building a Compliance Team
Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs), Chief Compliance Officers (CCOs), and their team members should be prepared to collaborate with members of other internal teams, such as legal and human resources, throughout the compliance process. For this reason, it is critical for compliance professionals to not only have the technical aptitude required to excel in their roles, but also maintain a collaborative, team-driven mindset.
For companies that have not yet reached the stage of growth where they’re able to build a dedicated team of cybersecurity and compliance professionals, it’s even more important for all stakeholders involved in the audit process to have a full understanding of what’s expected of them.
Questions to consider at this stage of the compliance process include:
Who will be the primary point of contact?
Who will respond to new requests for documentation?
Who has access to the systems that will be examined during the audit
Who will be responsible for communicating with internal teams about updates in the auditing process?
Who will be accountable for maintaining continuous compliance once the audit is completed?
Continual training is necessary for all teams—even those who aren’t involved in the audit—to ensure they fully grasp the importance of cybersecurity and their individual roles in keeping stakeholder data safe.
Step 5: Implementing the Compliance Plan
Once an organization has a plan and team in place, the next step is implementing the compliance plan and undergoing the third-party audit. An accredited auditor will conduct a thorough examination to assess whether the company’s controls adhere to standards outlined in the selected security framework, such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, or HITRUST.
Along the way, one of the biggest challenges faced by both sides is overcoming inefficiencies in the auditing process. Taking the time to make a comprehensive plan for the audit, including defining a clear scope and objectives, is crucial to ensure reports are delivered on time.
In addition, auditors and auditees can take advantage of new developments in technology to improve collaboration and overall security outcomes. For instance, automation tools like Audora can help organizations maintain continuous compliance and stay up-to-date on frequent shifts in the regulatory landscape by allowing their auditors to spend less time poring over evidence and more time providing one-on-one guidance.
Step 6: Updating and Monitoring for Continuous Compliance
Achieving compliance with industry regulations is only the beginning. Following the conclusion of a compliance audit, organizational leaders must take steps to remediate any issues that were identified and develop a plan to maintain continuous compliance through the start of the next auditing period. This includes:
Working with internal teams to prioritize the issues;
Assigning team members to develop actionable solutions, and checking in regularly to ensure they follow through; and,
Implementing automated monitoring systems to ensure the organization continues to meet or exceed regulatory requirements.
Internal security and compliance professionals should also begin working with their third-party auditing firm to plan for future audits. This should include a review of abnormalities identified in previous audits to determine if they have since been corrected. If not, it’s worth a conversation about whether pursuing compliance against a certain industry framework is truly serving the organization’s long-term goals.
Just as with organizations that have struggled to meet compliance requirements, organizations that easily achieve compliance year over year without identifying any areas for improvement may need to reevaluate their approach to ensure their systems’ unique needs and risks are being sufficiently addressed.
The Bottom Line
Before any organization hits the ground running in its pursuit of cybersecurity compliance, it’s important for leaders and security teams to understand the current regulatory landscape, identify their company’s current and long-term objectives, and work together with their auditing partner to map out a path to success.
Starting the compliance process off on the right foot with a clear plan of action is key to ensuring an organization not only meets its current goals, but also has the processes and procedures in place to maintain a strong security posture for years to come.
Ready to kickstart the compliance process? Book a demo now to learn how Audora facilitates a smooth, streamlined process for auditors and auditees.
