As cybersecurity threats escalate, governments worldwide are enacting stringent compliance laws. Australia recently introduced a law mandating ransomware payment disclosures. Similarly, the SEC’s cybersecurity disclosure rules (effective September 2023) require publicly traded companies to report material incidents within a set timeframe. The Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act (CIRCIA) is also on the horizon, mandating disclosure for critical infrastructure sectors like healthcare and energy.
With such stringent disclosure rules being enacted, organizations must maintain the capabilities to address the incidents at hand and effectively assess and report them just in time. In addition, disclosure is only one aspect of the expanding net of data protection and cybersecurity legislation. Today, organizations must keep track of all data protection and cybersecurity laws—regional, industry-specific, and universal—that apply to them while simultaneously focusing on innovation, growth, and profitability in competitive markets and tough economies.
The Growing Complexity of Cyber Compliance
Cyber compliance is not a one-size-fits-all requirement. Factors such as industry, geography, and data type dictate the regulations businesses must follow. These include:
Industry-Specific Regulations:
Healthcare: HIPAA
Finance: GLBA, PCI DSS
Federal Agencies: FISMA
Defense Contractors (Handling Controlled Unclassified Information): CMMC
Critical Infrastructure: CIRCIA
Geography-Specific Laws:
GDPR for EU citizens
PIPEDA in Canada
LGPD in Brazil
U.S.-specific laws like CCPA and the SEC’s regulations
Laws governing AI and emerging technologies are also taking shape globally, adding layers of complexity. Regulations can overlap or conflict, making compliance a resource-intensive task. For example, SEC rules require reporting within four business days, while CIRCIA mandates reporting within 72 hours. Organizations need expertise, tools, and automation to monitor and maintain compliance with all the various regulations that apply to them.
The Compliance-First Approach: Risks and Challenges
Given the complexity of compliance requirements, a compliance-driven mindset can exhaust cybersecurity teams that are already stretched thin due to the intense and frequent threat exposures and resource shortages. The heavy penalties and bad press associated with compliance failures become the primary motivators for organizations, setting a misguided precedent. Compliance should be a byproduct of adequate security, not vice versa. Problems emerge when compliance becomes the sole driving force:
1. Security Gaps
Compliance standards are often static, setting a baseline for cybersecurity. However, security threats are dynamic and require a proactive, agile approach. Focusing solely on compliance can leave organizations with a false sense of security and vulnerable to advanced threats.
2. Innovation Roadblocks
Overly prescriptive regulations can stifle innovation, making organizations risk-averse. This is especially problematic in industries like technology and healthcare, where rapid adaptation is essential.
3. Operational Impracticalities
Sometimes, it's critical to keep things moving. For instance, regulations like fast reporting can be impractical in hospital settings, and non-payment rules can become hazardous. Organizations must carefully balance the practical aspects with compliance requirements.
Why Compliance Alone Isn't Enough
Despite its challenges, compliance is necessary for policing. It helps set a baseline, a standard that can assist those with no security standing or controls. Compliance is better than having no security at all, but that’s certainly not its purpose. Compliance is there to demonstrate the basic security standing of an organization. It should simply measure an organization's commitment to security and not replace proactive, continuous security efforts that can truly protect against threats.
Achieving Balance: Security, Compliance, and Business Goals
To succeed in today’s environment, organizations need to:
Go Beyond Compliance
Use frameworks like NIST or ISO 27001 as starting points, then build robust security measures tailored to your unique risks.
Embed Security into Business Operations
Ensure security measures integrate seamlessly into workflows, enabling productivity without creating friction.
Leverage Automation and Tools
Invest in automation to monitor, assess, and maintain compliance while focusing on proactive threat detection and prevention.
Prioritize Proactive Security
Adopt a forward-thinking approach to cybersecurity, addressing vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.
The Bottom Line: Compliance as a Byproduct of Security
Effective cybersecurity requires a dual focus on compliance and security. By treating compliance as a byproduct of a strong security posture, organizations can not only meet regulatory requirements but also protect their data, systems, and reputation against today’s complex cyber threats.
Confidencial is committed to enabling proactive, data-centric security built into the fabric of your organization from the ground up. Our end-to-end, proactive DSPM solutions help organizations effortlessly strengthen their overall data security posture while inching closer to meeting compliance through:
Complete data visibility across cloud and on-premise environments
Robust data access controls
Encryption at rest and during transit
Comprehensive activity logs for continuous monitoring, mitigation, auditing, and reporting.
What sets Confidencial apart is the level of granularity at which it operates, which goes a long way in aligning security objectives with business goals. It lets you:
Automate scans for sensitive data discovery.
Apply selective encryption, which locks down the critical parts of the data while the rest remains available for use.
Set policies for automating selective encryption.
Track documents containing sensitive data to prevent data leaks.
Automation allows businesses to focus on other aspects that truly matter to them while data security is taken care of in the background. Since lifelong encryption is embedded within all sensitive data for good, organizations can overcome their risk aversion, enabling secure data sharing and collaboration that drives innovation and business value.
Don’t just take our word for it. Request a demo today and see how Confidencial works!
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