Introduction
Key Takeaways
Automating regulatory compliance brings numerous benefits — if you choose the right tool. In this article, we break down how to build a strong compliance program, why adopting compliance software is key, and how to pick the right tool to easily manage risks, simplify audits, and keep your cybersecurity strong.
Key Takeaways:
- Compliance involves adhering to laws and standards to safeguard data and maintain a secure digital environment.
- Cybersecurity breaches are getting more expensive and industry-specific, and the healthcare, financial services, education, and military defense industries are prime targets, increasing regulatory scrutiny.
- Compliance isn’t just about following external laws or regulations. It’s about building a security-focused culture within the organization (e.g., employee training, risk assessments, etc.).
- Automating regulatory compliance brings numerous benefits to security providers and in-house teams. It reduces the workload of tedious and repetitive compliance tasks, increases efficiency, and helps you stay compliant with one or multiple cybersecurity standards.
- Apptega automates compliance, provides comprehensive reporting, and supports multiple frameworks, helping organizations manage risks and regulations efficiently.
What Is Regulatory Compliance?
Regulatory compliance is often a complex process with organizations facing evolving cyber threats, new laws, strict regulations, and complex standards. But it doesn't have to be difficult to understand. In simple terms, cybersecurity compliance is all about following regulatory requirements to keep data safe and maintain a secure digital environment.
Why is this important?
Because a strong compliance program can significantly reduce your business's vulnerability to breaches and other threats that could result in severe legal and financial consequences. In fact, PwC's 2024 Global Digital Trust Insights survey shows that costly attacks are on the rise, with breaches of over $1 million increasing to 36% in 2024 compared to 27% in 2023.
Would you trust a bank that could potentially expose your password to other users, putting your personal savings at risk? Of course not. When you trust an organization with valuable assets or personally identifiable information, you expect them to protect it.
To that end, various governmental and industry-specific regulatory bodies set industry standards to establish a baseline for data protection. Some of these are not just guidelines but legally enforceable rules, with non-compliance leading to hefty fines, legal ramifications, and reputational damage.
So, let’s keep you out of trouble by explaining how to ensure regulatory compliance and secure your organization.
Quick Overview of Regulatory Compliance Frameworks by Industry
As you start your compliance journey, one of your first steps will be to understand relevant cybersecurity regulations in your industry and what compliance means for each of them.
Certain industries — such as financial services, healthcare, IT, and military defense — deal with complex regulations due to their significant impact on the economy, business, and health infrastructure. They're also prime targets for cyber breaches because of their expanding attack surfaces.
Here are some of the most important industry regulations you should be aware of:
Healthcare Regulatory Compliance
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects medical information and ensures that personal health records are kept private and secure. Doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers must follow strict rules to keep health information confidential and safe from unauthorized access.
Military and National Defense Regulatory Compliance
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is rolling out new cybersecurity rules called CMMC 2.0 to better protect sensitive information used in defense contracts — aiming to protect Federal Contract Information (FCI) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) within non-federal systems and networks. The new rules were published in the Federal Register and are expected to become final in late 2024.
CMMC 2.0 creates a structured approach to enhancing data security in defense contracting, as even a single data breach can cause serious security problems for U.S. citizens and the military. The DoD expects companies with current contracts to get certified within two years. If they don't, they might not be able to renew or get new DoD contracts.
Financial Regulatory Compliance
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of rules that businesses must follow to keep credit card information safe. When you make a purchase using a credit card, these rules help ensure your card details are protected from theft or fraud. The standard applies to any business that handles credit card transactions, making sure they use secure systems and practices to protect your data.
Education Regulatory Compliance
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects the privacy of your school records. It gives students and parents the right to see these records and request corrections if something is wrong. FERPA also ensures schools can't share your personal information, such as grades or disciplinary records, without your permission, except in certain situations.
Data Protection and Privacy Compliance
Without going into too much detail, some data privacy frameworks, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), are established to protect personal data and give people control over how it's used. Under these frameworks, you have the right to know what data companies collect about you and how it’s being used.
Here are some additional regulations to consider:
- Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)
- Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework
- International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001
- Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT)
- Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)
- Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
- Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
- Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
- Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP)
If you want to learn more, our compliance guides can help you discover the history and context of the frameworks as well as our tips for achieving compliance quickly and cost-effectively.
How to Implement a Successful Compliance Program
Since we’ve already shared a lot of information, let’s do a quick recap: A cybersecurity compliance program is a set of policies, procedures, and practices you must follow to meet legal, regulatory, and industry security standards.
Developing and implementing a cybersecurity compliance program usually begins with an in-depth assessment of your organization's current security posture. This involves examining your existing cybersecurity measures and identifying areas of strength and weakness.
Compliance isn’t just about following external laws or regulations. It’s about building a security-focused culture within the organization. This includes regular employee training, conducting risk assessments, and adopting cybersecurity best practices. Compliance is the starting point, but true cybersecurity resilience comes from a commitment to ongoing monitoring and adaptation so your business can:
- Mitigate the impact of breaches.
- Reduce the premium you pay on cyber insurance.
- Showcase your certifications, increasing customer trust.
- Ensure a business continuity plan.
- Prevent legal ramifications.
One clear way to experience all the benefits mentioned above is by choosing regulatory compliance management software that allows your business to speed up and automate compliance.
The Benefits of Implementing Regulatory Compliance Management Software
Investing in the right compliance tools and strategies today will ensure your business remains secure and competitive in the long run. Both security providers and in-house security teams can gain a significant advantage by using compliance software:
Security Providers (MSPs and MSSPs)
- Many organizations turn to managed service providers (MSPs) or managed security service providers (MSSPs) to help maintain continuous compliance with the most important industry standards. With the right compliance software, providers can automate and simplify how they manage compliance for their clients, realizing several benefits: Fewer manual and resource-intensive tasks
- Better efficiency
- Faster assessments
- Greater differentiation
- Improved ability to scale
- More recurring revenue
- Higher customer retention
In-house Security Teams
On the other hand, if you work with an in-house IT or security team, compliance software can help you automate processes to improve your cybersecurity posture and stay up to date with the latest regulations. Regulatory compliance platforms allow your team to quickly meet various industry-standard cybersecurity and privacy frameworks. They also help manage risks and prepare for audits efficiently, reducing the need for extensive resources or external expertise.
How Apptega Helps You Comply
Apptega can help both security providers and in-house teams manage increasingly complex risks and regulations with ease — at scale. Here’s how:
- Automated compliance: Apptega automates manual tasks to help you build and manage cybersecurity and compliance programs for your clients or in-house teams with minimal business disruption.
- Unmatched reporting: Our platform creates a single source of truth and delivers real-time snapshots of your assessment status through intuitive compliance reports and useful dashboards.
- Compliance framework crosswalking: Apptega helps you automate assessments against 30+ frameworks. You can simply use questionnaire-based templates to quickly identify risks and unmet controls — and get an updated compliance score as you go. And with framework crosswalking, you can manage multiple frameworks as a cohesive program without duplicating work.
With Apptega, organizations of all sizes, including Fortune 500 enterprises and small MSPs/MSSPs, are simplifying cybersecurity and compliance management. Our platform ranks among the best regulatory compliance solutions, being at the intersection of simple user experiences and ground-breaking technology, providing an innovative platform paired with industry frameworks to build, manage, and report on your cybersecurity compliance programs.
Learn more aobut the Apptega platform and how it can help you automate and ensure regulatory compliance.
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