Protecting data is a primary concern for businesses.
In the age of cybercrimes, waves of government regulations are being imposed on businesses of all sizes and industries. Combined with responsibilities to protect customer and partner data, organizations are proactively developing comprehensive cybersecurity programs that will stand up to audits.
With different regulations imposed on different businesses, the maze can be confusing, including where to start and when to be confident that all serious requirements are being met. Most SMBs do not have the IT staff or expertise to take on the complexity of compliance, knowing which regulations apply, the language of cybersecurity regulations, or the process of building comprehensive programs to ensure full data protections.
Two leading cybersecurity standards, ISO 27001 and SOC 2, provide frameworks to build and test cybersecurity programs. These gold standards include many of the components of other compliance requirements, making them strong foundations for cybersecurity programs for organizations working with sensitive information.
ISO 27001 is a framework of standards for organizations to build a strong cybersecurity program around. ISO stands for the International Organization for Standardization which is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. There are multiple ISO cybersecurity standards but the three most common are ISO 27001, 22301, 27032.
SOC 2 measures the security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy of a system. SOC 2 Compliance is a standard established by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) to help protect the privacy of individuals and organizations that hire CPAs and other accountants. The compliance standard also applies to the data centers, SaaS providers, data analytics providers, and document producers that work with financial institutions.
Why would an organization need or want to have these cybersecurity standards in place? The reasons are many and vary by industry.
- Win bids. Clients often require their SaaS vendors to undergo a SOC 2 audit and provide them with a SOC 2 report. SOC 2 audits must be performed on annual basis, covering the prior 12-month period.
- Competitive advantages. Having certified cybersecurity compliance credentials demonstrates operational security. Even clients that do not require compliance standards will see a strong cyber defense posture as a reason to select one vendor over another.
- Pre-planned Incident Response. Organizations that have invested in meeting compliance standards are less like to experience major business disruptions., In the unlikely event that cybercriminals do infiltrate operations, having verified protocols in place lessens response time.
- More efficient data management. Given the clear policies and procedures created during the documentation of cybersecurity programs, data flows are clearly understood and managed, making operations more efficient by default.
Solutionz Security experts have in-depth knowledge of each component of cybersecurity standards. Here is a list of the various compliance standards by industry:
Trust Solutionz Security to provide a snapshot of your current cybersecurity program with our free Defense Posture Assessment. This 100+ page report will prioritize needed security components, starting with those most critical for data protections. Our comprehensive report will be the foundation needed to build out a program to meet any specific compliance standards. Contact us today to get a free assessment!
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