Ransomware, data breaches, and other cyberattacks are expensive for enterprises. Direct costs for these events reached nearly $5 million in 2024, to say nothing of the financial impact of lost clients, reputational damage, stock losses, and lawsuits. As this statistic shows, prioritizing compliance in cybersecurity isn’t just about avoiding fines from regulators. It protects your organization’s financial health in many other ways.
What Is Compliance in Cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity compliance means implementing policies, processes, and controls that adhere to leading standards for information security. Many cybersecurity frameworks are developed by respected worldwide organizations, such as the International Organization for Standardization, the Center for Internet Security, and HITRUST. Compliance with data security regulations is mandatory in certain industries, including healthcare and finance.
Regulatory Compliance and Cybersecurity
For many organizations, compliance in cybersecurity involves meeting governmental regulations for data protection, information processing, user privacy, risk management, and confidentiality.
Healthcare companies must follow federal regulations in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This means implementing administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect sensitive patient information.
Any contractors in the Department of Defense supply chain must comply with the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement. They also have to maintain Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification and follow the guidelines from NIST SP 800-171.
Banks and investment firms have additional regulatory burdens. The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council mandates strict cybersecurity practices, with 10 IT handbooks that cover payment systems, business continuity protections, supply chain security, and IT audits.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires organizations to safeguard the integrity of sensitive data, prevent access violations and breaches, and report on internal controls. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act has similar regulations for bank customer data.
Compliance With Cybersecurity Industry Standards
What if your business operates in an industry that isn’t regulated by the government? There are still cybersecurity compliance frameworks you likely need to follow.
For example, all retailers must follow the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard to accept credit cards, debit cards, and mobile payments. PCI DSS requirements also apply to payment gateways, cloud service providers, app developers, and e-commerce sellers like airlines and hotel chains.
Some industry cybersecurity standards are technically voluntary, but are also frequently expected by business clients. Compliance certification for ISO 27001 or SOC 2 is essential for any organization that processes, analyzes, or stores sensitive data for clients.
Cybersecurity Best Practices
Compliance in cybersecurity can also refer to employee adoption levels of internal infosec standards. Put simply, it’s not enough to adopt a framework. Your organization is only safe if stakeholders follow through on email security, access control measures, endpoint device management, and similar protections.
Every organization wants to keep its proprietary secrets secure from internal and external threats. IT best practices help manufacturers reduce the risk of ransomware attacks and production shutdowns.
Risk Management and Cybersecurity Standards
Last but certainly not least are organization-specific cybersecurity policies. Enterprises have to customize data security frameworks to the unique risks and attack surfaces present. Risk assessments reveal where an organization’s main vulnerabilities are.
For example, mobile devices are a critical endpoint for hospitals and insurers. Organizations that use centralized collaboration platforms must ensure that only secure, authorized devices gain access. In this case, checking compliance with a mobile device usage policy would be vital for cybersecurity efforts.
How Does Regulatory Compliance Affect Your Cybersecurity Objectives?
As far as cybersecurity readiness goes, complying with government and industry regulations only provides advantages, never weaknesses. This is because standards organizations keep up to date with cybersecurity best practices.
Case in point — NIST’s recent changes to password requirements. Forcing your employees to change passwords every week or use alternative characters isn’t recommended anymore. Instead, workers should select longer but easier-to-remember passwords (at least 15 characters).
True, there are costs associated with cybersecurity compliance. For example, PCI DSS requires internal and external network vulnerability scans every three months. SOC 2 Type 2 audits need to be performed every year.
Fortunately, data security frameworks align closely with government and industry regulations. Working toward ISO 27001 certification can help your organization meet many aspects of PCI DSS, CCPA, HIPAA, SOX, and CMMC simultaneously.
How Can Your Organization Achieve Compliance With Cybersecurity Standards?
Each compliance framework approaches cybersecurity from a slightly different perspective. Some emphasize specific privacy protections, and others require unique roles. To meet these standards effectively and efficiently, your team needs to map the necessary controls to your organization’s governance, risk, and compliance program.
Vulnerability Assessments
In addition to being one of the most important aspects of enterprise cybersecurity, vulnerability scanning is a requirement of many frameworks, including PCI DSS. Periodic scanning can help you identify weaknesses in software, system configurations, and network assets, reducing the risk of data breaches.
Organizations that are at high risk for data breaches and ransomware attacks should also schedule penetration testing at least once a year. Expert-led attack simulations provide a more accurate assessment of real-world risks and the effectiveness of your current policies and practices.
Access Controls
Many regulatory and cybersecurity compliance frameworks place strong emphasis on access control measures:
- Zero trust: Every request, transaction, and login requires validation, no exceptions.
- Multifactor authentication: Employees need a secondary method of ID for logins, such as a code generator app.
- Physical security: Authorized personnel can only access secure areas with a unique ID and keycard
- Role-based access control: System permissions are based on carefully defined roles, reducing the potential reach of bad actors.
- Principle of least privilege: Workers only have the minimum access necessary to network resources, tools, and files.
These cybersecurity practices prevent unauthorized employees from viewing sensitive data and also help prevent bad actors from infiltrating your system.
Comprehensive Privacy Policies and Employee Training
Complying with GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy regulations can be complex. All stakeholders must be on the same page, from executives to IT workers.
This requires detailed privacy policies with clear guidelines for cybersecurity practices, such as access management, data encryption, and disciplinary actions. Your staff also needs periodic training to avoid regulatory violations and recognize threats like phishing.
Strengthen Your Compliance and Cybersecurity Programs
Compliance automation and assessment platforms like Compyl can improve organizational uptake of cybersecurity and regulatory frameworks like ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI DSS. Track compliance at every level of your organization and employ automated workflows. Learn more about Compyl’s risk management, compliance, and cybersecurity features today.
