25 January 2024, 02:41 PM
The Overview
Businesses today have embraced the cloud and the digital world, leaving behind the old ways of paper and filing cabinets. This has given them many benefits, but also exposed them to new risks of cyberattacks and data breaches. To protect themselves and their customers, businesses need to follow security and compliance rules that are set by various stakeholders, such as government agencies, industry experts, and cybersecurity professionals.
However, security and compliance rules are not easy to create or follow. They involve a lot of feedback, collaboration, and iteration. They also need to keep up with the fast-changing technology and threat landscape. Sometimes, there are conflicts over the best way to achieve security and compliance, and sometimes, the rules become obsolete soon after they are made.
The Statistics:
Small and medium businesses (SMBs), like enterprises, have to take security and compliance seriously, as they face a high risk of cyberattacks. In 2022 alone, 61% of SMBs suffered cyberthreats. A data breach can have severe consequences, such as financial losses, reputational damage, and legal liabilities. Some SMEs may not even survive a data breach. The only way for SMBs to lower their risk and show their customers that they care about their data is to follow the best practices of enterprises and adopt strong security and compliance measures.
Security and Compliance:
Security and compliance are challenging to maintain, and many SMBs find it hard to cope with the changing regulations and threats. But, by evaluating their own risks, capabilities, and resources, and by avoiding some common compliance pitfalls, they can find the best way to achieve global compliance.
Also, the awareness and familiarity with compliance regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) is not a one-time thing. It requires keeping up with new regulations (EU-US Framework or DPDPA) and knowing which ones apply to you based on your industry and location. If you do business across borders, you have to comply with every country’s laws. And, regulations are not easy to understand; for example, Europe’s GDPR has 99 articles. To stay informed about cybersecurity regulations, you need to follow publications that track regulatory changes by country and by industry. It’s a lot of work, even for those who specialize in compliance.
Third-Party Risks in Compliance: Compliance is more than just your own infrastructure. Most businesses depend on third-party solutions to help them with their operations and processes. But this also adds more risks, as third-party partners can make your company vulnerable to Malware, Viruses, Ransomwares, Phishing, Botnet, Poor Authentication, and other attacks. A recent research found that 98% of businesses work with third-party vendors that have been breached in the last two years. The same research found that third-party vendors are five times more likely to have weaker security measures than their clients.
Businesses today have embraced the cloud and the digital world, leaving behind the old ways of paper and filing cabinets. This has given them many benefits, but also exposed them to new risks of cyberattacks and data breaches. To protect themselves and their customers, businesses need to follow security and compliance rules that are set by various stakeholders, such as government agencies, industry experts, and cybersecurity professionals.
However, security and compliance rules are not easy to create or follow. They involve a lot of feedback, collaboration, and iteration. They also need to keep up with the fast-changing technology and threat landscape. Sometimes, there are conflicts over the best way to achieve security and compliance, and sometimes, the rules become obsolete soon after they are made.
The Statistics:
Small and medium businesses (SMBs), like enterprises, have to take security and compliance seriously, as they face a high risk of cyberattacks. In 2022 alone, 61% of SMBs suffered cyberthreats. A data breach can have severe consequences, such as financial losses, reputational damage, and legal liabilities. Some SMEs may not even survive a data breach. The only way for SMBs to lower their risk and show their customers that they care about their data is to follow the best practices of enterprises and adopt strong security and compliance measures.
Security and Compliance:
Security and compliance are challenging to maintain, and many SMBs find it hard to cope with the changing regulations and threats. But, by evaluating their own risks, capabilities, and resources, and by avoiding some common compliance pitfalls, they can find the best way to achieve global compliance.
Also, the awareness and familiarity with compliance regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) is not a one-time thing. It requires keeping up with new regulations (EU-US Framework or DPDPA) and knowing which ones apply to you based on your industry and location. If you do business across borders, you have to comply with every country’s laws. And, regulations are not easy to understand; for example, Europe’s GDPR has 99 articles. To stay informed about cybersecurity regulations, you need to follow publications that track regulatory changes by country and by industry. It’s a lot of work, even for those who specialize in compliance.
Third-Party Risks in Compliance: Compliance is more than just your own infrastructure. Most businesses depend on third-party solutions to help them with their operations and processes. But this also adds more risks, as third-party partners can make your company vulnerable to Malware, Viruses, Ransomwares, Phishing, Botnet, Poor Authentication, and other attacks. A recent research found that 98% of businesses work with third-party vendors that have been breached in the last two years. The same research found that third-party vendors are five times more likely to have weaker security measures than their clients.