Achieving and maintaining compliance with data privacy and security frameworks is a complex undertaking that requires a multi-faceted approach. From automation tools to consultancy services, penetration testing to third-party audits, there are several crucial components that organizations must consider. 

This comprehensive list of must-haves will help you understand some key elements required to ensure your organization meets and sustains compliance standards effectively.

Our goal is to provide you with a clear roadmap of must-have capabilities so you can make informed decisions when evaluating solutions. With the right preparation and partners, you’ll be compliant and cyber-resilient in no time.

Automation Platform

To streamline compliance, you’ll want to invest in a compliance automation platform. These specialized software solutions help automate evidence collection, and give you a central place to manage policies, controls, audits, risk assessments, security awareness training, and more. They provide a solution to monitor compliance across your organization and ensure nothing slips through the cracks.

When evaluating automation platforms, look for ones tailored to your industry and specific compliance needs. For gold standard data security, look for SOC 2 and ISO 27001 support. If you’re in healthcare, look for HIPAA capabilities. For privacy regulations, look for platforms with GDPR and CCPA capabilities built-in. The platform should integrate with your existing security and IT systems and be customizable to your environment. Look for a solution that can manage and automate processes such as:

• Evidence collection for your audits and assessments 
• Risk and vulnerability assessments
• Policy management 
• User access reviews
• Continuous control monitoring

Automation platforms save huge amounts of time and money in the long run. Compliance doesn’t have to be complicated when you have the right tools to streamline and manage it all in one place. An automation platform helps ensure you’ve considered all necessary components to “become compliant.”

Expert Guidance

Becoming compliant is an overwhelming task to do on your own, especially with frameworks and regulations evolving all the time. Look for a solution that has teams of industry experts who live and breathe data security frameworks. They can guide you through the entire compliance journey, from assessing your current security posture to maintaining ongoing compliance. Expert guidance typically includes:

• Compliance gap analysis and risk assessments
• Customized compliance framework implementation
• Interpretation of controls and guidance
• Ongoing advisory and guidance to maintain compliance

Businesses ideally choose an end-to-end advisory solution that integrates with leading compliance technology; as by combining technology and human expertise, they get to harness the best of both worlds and maintain ongoing compliance.

Penetration Tests

Penetration testing, also known as “pen testing,” is critical for maintaining compliance. Pen testing involves having an ethical hacker attempt to breach your network and systems to uncover vulnerabilities before malicious hackers do.

Why is it important? Pen testing helps identify security risks that could be exploited and cause data breaches. It’s one of the best ways to evaluate how well your cyber defenses will hold up against real-world attacks.

Pen testing should be done at least once a year, if not more frequently. As technology and hacking techniques evolve, new vulnerabilities emerge. What was secure last year may have holes now. Regular pen testing, whether done internally or by an outside firm, will uncover these issues so you can patch them up before a data breach occurs.

Streamlined Audit Process

Independent third-party audits are mandatory for compliance with various data privacy and security frameworks. These audits involve a comprehensive review of your organization’s policies, procedures, and controls to ensure they align with the required standards. To make this whole process smoother and less stressful, it’s crucial to choose a solution that works hand-in-hand with your chosen auditor. This means being able to manage your audit process with your auditor inside your compliance automation solution.

Continuous Control Monitoring 

Getting compliant is one thing, while maintaining compliance is a whole different ball game. Once your controls have been defined, and you’ve passed the audit, your controls must be continuously monitored and tested which means regular checkups to ensure each control is functioning as intended and meeting its objectives. Look for any issues that could impact their effectiveness like outdated procedures, lack of resources, or problems in implementation.

Scytale, Your One Solution for Everything Compliance

So there you have it – everything you need to consider to become fully compliant. Partnering with Scytale ensures you cross off everything in this list – we’ll have you audit-ready, certified, and secured before you know it. 

Here’s what you can expect when you work with us:

• Compliance Automation: Scytale automates admin-intensive tasks like evidence collection for audits, risk assessments, policy management, user access reviews, continuous control monitoring, and more. Plus, we offer tons of integrations with your favorite tools, including GitHub, Google Workspace, AWS, ClickUp, and more.
• Team of Compliance Experts: Get hands-on guidance throughout your compliance journey with our compliance experts, who will provide a tailored approach to your data security needs from day one.
• Penetration Tests: Whether you’re preparing for an audit, responding to customer requests, or improving security protocols to boost sales, your pen test is covered with us.
  
• Built-In Audit: Meet your auditor, define your audit scope, remediate any gaps, automatically collect evidence and get your audit report in a few short weeks by dramatically decreasing the unnecessary ‘back-and-forth’ with our Built-In Audit solution.
• Continuous Control Monitoring: Have peace of mind knowing your controls are monitored 24/7, and be alerted immediately when there is non-compliance.

Get in touch with us here or see what our customers have to say about us first.

The post 5 Must-Haves to Get (and Stay) Compliant With Privacy and Security Frameworks appeared first on Scytale.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Blog | Scytale authored by Adar Givoni, Director of Compliance, Scytale. Read the original post at: https://scytale.ai/resources/5-must-haves-to-get-and-stay-compliant-with-privacy-and-security-frameworks/