Cybersecurity threats have been around since the beginning of the digital era. However, they have unprecedentedly increased in complexity, volume, and severity over the last few years. These attacks have brought down established industries and stolen large amounts of sensitive data. Many governments have taken notice of this worrying trend and are putting measures in place to neutralize the growing threats.
For example, through the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US finalized new firm mandates in July 2023. These stringent rules became effective on September 5, 2023, demonstrating that compliance requirements are changing as the cybersecurity industry does. Companies that fail to meet the regulations will likely pay a heavy price, including hefty fines. In this article, you will discover proven ways to ensure your company complies with the safety requirements.
1. Centralize Your Risk Data
Since failure to meet cybersecurity compliance can result in severe ramifications, you should evaluate the safety of your data and keep it in a secure environment. This task involves figuring out the laws and regulations you must observe to stay safe. Remember that the requirements can differ from one state to another and from one industry to another. To be sure, read the rules and understand the kind of data you should be processing to avoid wasting time on non-essentials.
In the US, SEC cybersecurity compliance requires you to provide complete disclosure of incidents as you discover them and detailed reports on your strategy annually and quarterly. So, once you identify the cybersecurity risk data that applies to your company, collect and keep them in one place. This way, you’ll be able to meet the stringent deadlines.
2. Understand the True Financial Impact of Cybersecurity Incidents
Ensure you can mitigate or avoid the most costly risks your business could face. You can start this process by using traditional solutions like qualitative methods. For decades, many companies have relied on options such as red-yellow-and-green severity charts and ordinal lists, and you can do the same.
When conducting these kinds of assessments, consider the type of data you handle, the security protocols in place, and your network infrastructure. Besides, look for other areas that require immediate attention and handle them before allocating resources since performing a thorough risk assessment is the foundation of your compliance strategy.
Moreover, you need to implement cyber risk quantification. This advanced strategy can give you a better picture of the financial impact of any incident in the workplace. Therefore, you should have a quantified and qualified understanding to develop strategies that effectively mitigate the most costly risks.
3. Develop a Complete Cybersecurity Policy
Based on your comprehensive assessments, you can develop a policy that serves as your company’s roadmap. It should include employee access controls, acceptable use of corporate resources, incident response procedures, and guidelines on data protection.
The policy should establish an incident management process to identify, address, and report occurrences. In other words, it should help your company to develop highly streamlined and refined incident management processes. You can achieve this with ease by involving stakeholders in the process.
4. Invest in Your Employees
Did you know employees are often the weakest link in most companies’ cybersecurity defense? That is why successful organizations have budgets for educating their staff about these threats and the benefits of following the best practices.
Don’t forget that you need excellent cybersecurity and cyber risk governance to achieve this goal. The SEC’s new rules dictate that compliant organizations ensure their boards of directors know how their teams manage cybersecurity risks. Ensure your company’s directors receive this information and the potential impact of the risks on your strategy and finances.
5. Establish Strong Access Controls
The safety of third-party relationships is central to compliance. You will report how your company assesses third-party cyber risk and chooses qualified vendors. This requirement means you must create a reliable risk management program. It is a commendable way to put the number of supply chain attacks that target vendors and smaller contractors under control.
Implementing strong controls also involves promptly revoking access if an employee resigns or changes roles. The best ways to limit access to sensitive data include utilizing role-based access controls, regularly accessing controls, and adopting multi-factor authentication (MFA).
6. Foster a Culture of Cybersecurity
The digital age has introduced the era of working from home. The COVID-19 pandemic saw more people embrace this new practice. As the number of employees who connect to their companies from remote locations increases, so do cybersecurity attacks. This development means there has never been a better time for a healthy culture of cybersecurity risk awareness than now. Cybersecurity should be everyone’s responsibility. That is the culture your company should build.
To comply with this requirement, help everyone in your organization understand their role in protecting sensitive data. Also, ask your employees to report any suspicious activity on time. Moreover, acknowledge and award your employees and everyone who adheres to security best practices to promote this culture at a higher level.
Summing Up
Cybersecurity compliance is an ongoing journey that requires everyone’s effort. To ensure your company is meeting compliance, adopt a proactive approach. Centralize your data to simplify reporting and disclosure procedures and conduct comprehensive assessments.
You can craft a complete cybersecurity policy, invest in your employees and governance, establish reliable access controls, and foster a healthy security culture. By doing this, you’ll protect sensitive data and reduce the risk of data breaches with relative ease.