A Modern View on Achieving Risk-Based Compliance Strategy

Achieving compliance with industry standards and regulations is an ongoing journey for organizations of all sizes. But the path always begins with understanding what it means to implement a comprehensive, risk-based compliance strategy. 

In a series of new reports, Absolute dives down into some of the demands facing different industries as they try to protect their sensitive data and systems. From police departments to school systems to healthcare providers, business and IT leaders must work together effectively to implement a compliance strategy that ensures privacy and security and minimizes risks. Failing to do so can come at a steep price in the form of fines, reputational damage, and customer churn. 

When done correctly, however, discussions about compliance can be pivotal in guiding decisions about what cybersecurity controls need to be implemented. Compliance and risk-based security are tied together of course, however, recent cyberattacks have shown that being compliant doesn’t necessarily mean 100% secure. This is why a risk-based compliance strategy is essential and will also yield compliance benefits.

This reality means compliance initiatives must be supported from the top of the organization down. Different regulations and standards may apply depending on your industry and the nature of your business. For this reason, it is critical to understand what data your organization needs to protect. Does your business store credit card data? Health information? Knowing what data you have, where it resides, and what standards or regulations apply to your industry is a foundational part of developing a risk-based approach to security and compliance.

Attackers love sensitive data. It is easy to monetize through sales or schemes such as ransomware. They also love low-hanging fruit. Things like ineffective vulnerability management, poor access controls, and a lack of encryption are siren songs for cyber criminals. It is critical to assess your IT environment for weaknesses that can be used as entry points that make it easier for threat actors to compromise your systems and customer data. Closing the door on these issues requires knowing where your sensitive data resides and implementing the necessary protections around it. It also requires you to think like a hacker and focus on those tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) that your cyber adversaries are exploiting most instead of spending time and money on securing aspects that might be corner cases. 

This challenge becomes even more complex when it involves an ecosystem of partners that have access to data. Relationships with third-party service providers must be managed and monitored. In the event of a data breach, failing to have a written agreement that specifies what a service provider must do to safeguard information can potentially lead to a finding of liability against your company. 

At Absolute, we provide solutions that give security teams the visibility and insights they need to take effective actions to support their compliance and security strategies. Our technology empowers organizations to apply visibility, control, and self-healing capabilities intelligently and dynamically to endpoints, applications, and network connections to strengthen cyber resilience against escalating cyber threats. 

Read these reports, and a clear message will emerge: cybersecurity and compliance are inextricably linked and getting a handle on both requires a comprehensive strategy rooted in an understanding of risk and the attack surface organizations need to secure. 

Download the main report here.