Create A Cybersecurity Compliance Plan With These Seven Tips
Uploaded on 2021-03-29 in TECHNOLOGY--Resilience, FREE TO VIEW
Cybersecurity has become a huge concern for businesses over the last few years, as more news of data breaches come out. Even some of the biggest names have been affected, so you know that it's a problem you need to address. The idea of creating a cybersecurity compliance plan is overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. Here are seven tips that will help you secure your company and show your customers you value their privacy.
Always Be Vigilant: If you outsource any of your day to day running or data storage to the cloud, it's easy to assume that the services operating them will have proper data security in place. However, if a breach were to happen the buck will still stop with you. Because of this, you need to choose cloud providers that are using the best tech and know how to keep data safe.
Before signing up with any provider, ask them what they do to keep data protected. You want to see that they take security as seriously as you do. If the answer isn't what you're looking for, you'll need to go elsewhere.
Understand The People Implementing Your Plan: No matter how good a cybersecurity compliance plan is, it's only as good as the people who are implementing it. If even one of them slips up, it's so easy for someone to gain access to your data and cause havoc. You want to invest in your staff to ensure this doesn't happen.
Have proper training for staff members, and walk them through just what they need to know. They need to be fully informed of their role in the plan, and the risks that happen when they don't fulfil their roles. With the right training, you can trust them to keep data managed safely.
Use Language Everyone Can Understand: If you're in charge of creating the compliance plan, then there's going to be a certain amount of jargon that you'll be familiar with. In the plan, that's going to make sense to you, but to others in the company it may not make any sense at all.
You need to create plans that are accessible by every member in the company. If everyone can easily understand their role, then it makes it so much easier for you to implement the plan and see success with it.
Find The Right Resources: When using an outside vendor to help you create a compliance plan, you need to be sure that you're picking the right one. Again, this feels very overwhelming if this isn't your area of expertise. It's important you get it right though, so make sure you do your research.
You want to use companies that enforce cybersecurity compliance to the standards of the law. They need to be serious about keeping your business and your customers safe. If they aren't offering this, they aren't going to be the service for you.
Conduct Risk Assessments: When creating a plan, you need to run risk assessments. These will look for any weaknesses in your current cybersecurity, where you're not up to the standard of the law.
You can find guides to risk assessments online, which show you what you should be looking for, and how to patch up any holes in your security.
Implement Technical Controls: Technical controls will be what you use to customize your cybersecurity compliance plan, and make it as bulletproof as possible. For example, you can use encryption to protect customers' sensitive data, or or use standardized anti virus software to protect company machines.
If you're using a dedicated professional to implement the plan, they will be able to show you what you need.
Test Your Plan: Once the plan is in place, you'll need to test it. You want to see how it stands up to an actual threat, and where any potential holes are. That way, you can amend it before a real threat comes along.
Don't forget to change your plan if your business expands or changes. You may need different options to keep the business safe, so run tests again to see where you're at.
With these tips, you'll be able to create a robust cybersecurity compliance plan, and ensure that it's up to the task of protecting your business. Talk to the experts, ensure everyone understands the plan, and test it regularly.
Lauren Groff is a cybersecurity expert with Academized.com. She used to work in the HR department of a well respected IT Company, before becoming a cybersecurity writer for various online publications.
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