The overall technology landscape is evolving at a breakneck pace. While these changes are meant to improve the quality of life, the unfortunate flip side is an increase in cyber threats. This is why global cybersecurity spending increased from nearly $40 billion in 2019 to $54 billion in 2021.1 Unfortunately, due to a lack of spending on personnel or technology, SMBs are most likely to be targeted by threat actors.
Many organizations fall victim to cybercrime because IT compliance and security are not a high priority for them. For your Kansas City organization to run smoothly, both compliance and security are critical. While compliance ensures that your organization stays within the bounds of industry or government laws/regulations, security ensures that your organization’s integrity and vital data are safeguarded.
Understand The Benefits
After examining these benefits, you will gain a better understanding of why adhering to industry compliance regulations is so important from a cybersecurity perspective:
Increases control: Improved security leads to increased control over the IT infrastructure. This can help prevent data loss/corruption and reduce the amount of time spent fighting cyberattacks.
Reduces loss: Data breaches are less likely to take place when security is improved. This lowers the cost of data loss, which can skyrocket when you factor in lost revenue, restoration costs, legal penalties and compensation.
Improves security posture: Regulatory compliance helps improve an organization’s overall security posture by establishing a consistent baseline of minimum security requirements
Encourages trust: Customers usually put their trust in an organization while sharing their personal information, but unfortunately, personally identifiable information (PII) gets exposed in around 80% of security breaches.2 Following regulatory standards demonstrates that the organization cares about its customers and wants to protect sensitive data.
Follow Industries and Regulations
While each industry has its own set of cybersecurity issues, some overlap. Phishing, for example, is a threat that almost all industries face. To combat these challenges, each sector has its own set of compliance and regulatory standards with specific provisions for security and privacy.
Many regulations also crossover from industry to industry. Note that compliance regulations often change from country to country. Regulations can even change within different regions of the same country. Learning about the key regulations that affect the industries in your area is crucial for your Kansas City businesses’ attaining and maintaining security and compliance. Let’s take a look at some of the industries and their associated regulations:
Finance: Finance is often the most regulated sector because a big chunk of data revolves around payments and financial transfers. Some of the most popular regulations in this industry are listed below.
- The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) is an information security standard aimed at reducing payment card fraud for organizations that deal with branded payment cards. The scope of this regulation goes beyond the financial industry.
- The EU‘s Payment Services Directive (PSD2) governs data transfer during end-to-end payments
- In Japan, the Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI) regulates the commercial usage of personal data.
Defense: There are strict regulations in the defense sector since a breach could result in the disclosure of national secrets.
- The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) governs the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) in the United States.
- In Australia, the Defense Industry Security Program (DISP) assists organizations in understanding and meeting their security duties when working on defense projects, contracts and tenders.
Healthcare: The healthcare industry is mainly about sharing highly sensitive data. Cybercriminals who steal protected health information (PHI) can usually make a sizable profit on this information by selling it on the dark web. Therefore, there are regulations in place, like the ones mentioned below, to ensure the secure handling of data:
- In the European Union (EU), generic data protection laws, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), regulate the handling of health-related data.
- In the United States, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) prohibits the disclosure of PHI without the patient’s consent.
Ready to Receive Cybersecurity and Compliance Services?
Upgrading the compliance and cybersecurity is not simply a consideration. Rather. it’s a necessary undertaking. However, it takes significant time and effort.
OnSite Logic is here to help. Our expertise and knowledge can take a considerable load off your shoulders as you factor compliance into your organization’s cybersecurity posture.
Start your journey to cybersecurity and compliance success with a free virtual assessment, or contact us to learn more about the other OnSite Logic services.
Sources:
- Statista
- IBM CDBR 2020
