Achieving PCI DSS Compliance

The Payment Card Industry- Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) is a worldwide information security standard defined by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. The main objective behind the formulation of this standard is to prevent credit card fraud and to protect card holder information. This standard is applicable to all organizations which accept card payments, and store, process, or exchange card holder information.

However, from the perspective of organizations, achieving PCI-DSS compliance can be quite a challenging affair. Even a minor slip or compromise could result in huge financial losses as well as loss of reputation. While organizations have been employing various methods to ensure compliance with PCI-DSS, these methods suffer certain serious inadequacies:

·         In most organizations, encryption across computer networks is inconsistent. Therefore, credit card data are protected in some cases, but not in others

·         Some merchants store credit card data unnecessarily, and also fail to prevent them from being transmitted to less secure parts of the network

·         Some organizations fail to maintain a log of network activity, which can help reveal instances of attempted hacking. Hence, it becomes impossible to track unauthorized access to credit card data

·         Compliance management systems deployed by some companies are not proactive but reactive. So they do not scan for vulnerabilities or abnormal system activities. Hence they fail to completely protect the system from security attacks

·         Certain organizations employ disparate systems for compliance to HIPAA, SOX and other regulations, but fail to understand that these systems do not address PCI-DSS requirements


Therefore, achieving PCI-DSS compliance necessitates the adoption of a fool-proof method with 12 basic requirements:

1.      Installation and maintenance of a firewall configuration to protect card holder data

2.      Preventing usage of vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters

3.      Protection of stored card holder data

4.      Encrypted transmission of card holder data across open, public networks

5.      Usage and frequent update of anti-virus software

6.      Development and maintenance of secure systems and applications

7.      Restriction of access to card holder data

8.      Assignment of a unique ID to each person with system access

9.      Restriction of physical access to card holder information

10.    Tracking and monitoring of all access to network resources and card holder information

11.    Regular testing of security systems and processes

12.    Formulation and maintenance of a policy that addresses IT compliance and security

However, using disparate systems to meet these multiple requirements is not the answer. It is important for organizations to resort to an integrated compliance management software solution, which offers key features to support these requirements. By doing this, organizations can not only ensure secured storage, processing and exchange of card holder information but also safeguard their brand image and reputation.

Addressing Multiple IT Compliance Regulations

GLBA, SOX, HIPPA, and COBiT, ISO, FISMA, PCI-DSS and many more legal standards govern organizations today. Now more than ever, organizations whether small, mid-sized or large are struggling to comply with multiple regulations. And the complexities involved in complying with these standards can be quite overwhelming. Establishing, maintaining, and managing compliance with all these regulations is not only expensive but also time-consuming. 

While some organizations have effectively achieved compliance with these multiple regulations, most others are unsuccessful because they approach compliance initiatives as one-off projects. They deploy controls separately for each regulation, making the process more complicated and expensive. While such fragmented governance is not effective in dealing with growing compliance demands, it also poses serious threats to the security framework of an organization. Here are the shortcomings of using disparate systems for multiple regulations:

·         Inability to align multiple single point solutions

·      Increased cost of deployment and training resulting from the adoption of multiple systems

·    Diversion of key resources and cost into deployment and training for implementing and managing these multiple systems

·         Lack of a centralized management capability resulting in lack of visibility into overall compliance status

It is therefore critical for organizations to consider a centralized system coupled with an efficient IT compliance framework. Such a system should effectively integrate risk management capabilities and control objectives for multiple regulations. Moreover, the controls and processes established using such a framework should allow multiple parties to adopt a common monitoring, assessment and reporting method which can help in standardizing results.

The key is to adopt a cloud-based, automated, and integrated compliance management solution, which enables centralized control and offers a consolidated view across the organization, thereby reducing complexities, and saving time and cost. With ready-to-use compliance frameworks and advanced context-based interface engines, such a security solution can drastically simplify the compliance process.

These solutions have built-in support for all compliance regulations and are scalable to new regulations. This eliminates the need for multiple security systems and redundant processes. And since these solutions are automated, there is no manual intervention, due to which there is no possibility of errors in the system. 

In addition to this, these solutions also holistically cover all aspects of threat management- internal or external, accidental or deliberate, intentional or unintentional through an effective and well-evolved IT governance and risk mitigation system. Hence they offer the framework to ensure overall security and compliance.

Compliance is an on-going process. And with cybercrime reaching epidemic levels, the number of regulations is only bound to grow. Managing an ever-increasing number of regulations requires automated processes to continuously monitor and report compliance status in the organization.  It is therefore essential to adopt an integrated solution that simplifies compliance management by addressing all regulatory requirements, and allows organizations to focus on their core business objectives.

Dealing with Insider Threats

Every year several data leaks, identity thefts, and cyber attacks are reported in the IT industry and most often external hackers are considered responsible for these attacks. But, is it really so? Are external hackers alone responsible for the increasing cyber crime proportion? Well, statistics prove otherwise. As per the recent annual 2010 Cyber Security Watch Survey, insiders inflict the greatest amount of damage to any enterprise. This should serve as an eye-opener for all those organizations that consider external attacks as the biggest security threat.

Whether organizations may be willing to accept it or not, stealing of corporate data by employees is a well-known fact. However most of these data breach incidents go unnoticed since they are difficult to detect. And even if data breaches are detected, they are often not immediately reported by organizations.

The disturbing fact is that most organizations spend a fortune in deploying state-of-the-art technology to prevent outside attacks but fail to put in place effective mechanisms to prevent attacks by insiders. They often underrate the potential damage that can be caused by insiders, and consider them to be less perilous than outside attacks.

Organizations feel that the extent of damage that can be caused by external hackers is far more serious and critical than that caused by insiders. But by thinking so, organizations are closing their eyes to what can be the biggest security threat. While it is true that organizations need to be wary of external hackers, insider threats can be equally dangerous and can jeopardize the organization’s security and reputation.

Not all employees who steal confidential information have an intention to tarnish the image of their employers. They use it for petty personal gains. However, organizations need to be cautious of unfaithful and disgruntled employees. What makes them dangerous is the fact that they know what data and documents are valuable to their employer, where to find these sensitive documents, and how to evade security mechanisms put in place by the company. Since it is not possible for any organization to read the mind of every employee to identify who has the intention to steal sensitive data, the only logical way to curb unauthorized access and data leaks is by ensuring endpoint security. 

Today, enterprise network security is threatened not only by external hackers but also by insiders. In such a situation where insider attacks are on a rise, organizations need to gear themselves up to be defensive by putting in place effective threat management solutions. And they must deploy the most advanced intrusion prevention system that is now available, to prevent data leaks in all possible ways.

Is Integrated Threat Management a ‘Cure-All’ Remedy?

Threat management is a comprehensive system that deals with threats and foils threat attempts before they can even enter the system. There are several threats that have the potential to endanger an enterprise’s network security. For instance, viruses, worms, Trojans etc are latent hazards that can destroy data systems and compromise enterprise security. But there are internal threats as well, such as phishing, hacking etc. which can create havoc in data and information systems and jeopardize their security. So how can an enterprise protect its data and systems from these internal and external cyber threats? Can intrusions truly be prevented? The answer is yes. There are several threat management approaches which can efficiently prevent these security attacks.

Threats can be dealt with using strong firewalls that are capable of deterring and resisting intrusions and virus attacks. However firewalls by themselves are not sufficient to protect enterprise data. A complete threat management solution that offers end-to-end integration of advanced network monitoring capabilities and successfully addresses IT-GRC issues is the ideal combination for an enterprise’s threat strategy.

Enterprises also need to be armed with enhanced visibility into threats and risks from multiple sources. Therefore a unified and proactive solution offering both real-time network forensics as well as IT-Governance, Risk and Compliance solutions may be a worthy investment for every company. Another requirement that a threat solution should fulfill is the ability for 24X7 security monitoring. And therefore, a solution that offers a holistic approach to security and GRC issues through an integrated dashboard is the key. Integrated threat management also enables organizations to be well equipped with the right blend of processes, workforce and technologies that can respond to threats in real-time.

Also, vulnerability assessments and in depth threat analysis are essential for the success of a threat management or compliance management solution. Integrated threat management solutions can help remedy diverse data-centered information security challenges. The aim of such a system is to detect persistent threats and thwart data leakages with an automated solution that can address all needs of the enterprise, be it security, compliance audit, or risk management.

Enterprises that employ an effective and truly integrated threat management solution can be assured that they are utilizing an intrusion prevention system that can fortify their security and reduce future exposure to threats. However, for the integrated threat management solution to work optimally, enterprises must ensure that their threat protection software is constantly upgraded and updated to be more responsive.

Coordinated Phishing Attacks: How to Shield Your Business

Businesses worldwide have, on several occasions, witnessed the impact that can be caused by a virus attack. Hence anti-virus software is now widely used by enterprises of all sizes. However, Phishing Attacks which are more sophisticated in nature are not so widely understood, and very few businesses are equipped to deal with these attacks. And this lack of knowledge about phishing attacks can pose a significant threat to the very survival of a business.

Organizations therefore need to understand phishing attacks in more detail, and prepare to defend themselves against these attacks. And they should primarily be aware of the fact that phishing attacks are not virus attacks involving malicious software. So, neither an anti-virus solution nor an anti-spam filter is sufficient to completely protect businesses from these attacks.

Phishing Attacks are very advanced and targeted in nature, usually appear to be legitimate, and often bypass or go undetected by spam filters. These attacks are highly organized and coordinated by specialized groups, and launched with the aim to divulge financial, or identity information. The sophisticated and tricky nature of these attacks necessitates protection at various levels of the enterprise network. But first of all, certain basic measures have to be taken to successfully protect an enterprise from falling prey to Phishes.

Educating Employees

Training employees to effectively identify phishing attacks is the first step to ensure complete protection. Employees have to be taught to question the source of unexpected email messages demanding sensitive information. Phishing can be usually identified by the URL. Phishers use long and complex URLs or raw IP addresses. They also use URL redirection techniques which may be an important indicator. However, these techniques are also sometimes used by legitimate companies. Therefore, employees should be taught how to differentiate phishing email from genuine ones.

Policy Enforcement

Formulating an IT security policy framework and enforcing a set of safety procedures can be of immense help in mitigating risks not only associated with phishing, but also with other security attacks. Preventive measures such as verifying the legitimacy of suspicious email messages, implementing procedures to deal with email messages that demand sensitive information such as passwords, account numbers etc, can come a long way.

Technology Solutions

An organization’s anti-phishing initiatives are entirely fruitful only when they are backed by efficient software solutions that can capably tackle phishing attacks. A unified governance risk and compliance system or an integrated IT compliance solution is therefore a prerequisite, not only to curb phishing attacks but also to ensure complete IT compliance.  

Preventing phishing attacks can be a formidable challenge for organizations because these attacks cannot be controlled by merely implementing filters and firewalls. Therefore organizations need to take a comprehensive approach to implement appropriate policies and procedures and educate employees, while also adopting an integrated security solution that can help prevent phishing.  

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IT Compliance for Business Agility

In a rapidly changing market environment, smart businesses are those that can find solutions quickly. This helps them to adapt themselves easily to changing demands. And this adaptability in turn makes businesses more agile, and contributes to their success. While changes may be triggered by government decisions or legal bodies, customer demands or competitor performance, agile businesses quickly respond to these changes by amending their processes or implementing strategies to incorporate changes.

Since enterprises have to comply with changing local and international regulations, there is increased pressure to incorporate additional compliance processes and bear added costs. This in turn results in growing complexities, and ultimately affects business productivity. This is because, most enterprises address the issue of IT security and compliance independently, and exercise the usage of resources on each component separately. This leads to the growth of multiple and disparate systems, which are incapable of predicting or assessing risks, thereby making the business vulnerable to threats.

Therefore, in order to establish a thoroughly competent and result-oriented compliance management system, businesses should take a broader perspective and employ an integrated approach that addresses issues related to governance, risk and compliance in a wholesome manner.

Using automated and integrated compliance management software can ensure a holistic approach that comprises compliance monitoring and identification, assessment, management, and mitigation of risks throughout the enterprise. Such a system allows centralized management of operations, which provides transparency and visibility into the existing compliance status, and helps regularize all manual processes. This enables enterprises to carry out functions by eliminating complexities and deficiencies.

Businesses which have already implemented such an integrated approach fully realize the true potential of IT compliance software, and how it can help foster agility, and enhance sustainability. These solutions can in the long run boost business productivity by standardizing processes and procedures. This in turn can help lower costs and contribute to bottom-line profits. It also helps optimize risk management by offering greater visibility. All these capabilities can help businesses undertake GRC initiatives with renewed confidence.

A business is considered agile only when it displays the ability to quickly accommodate changes and adjust itself to constantly evolving dimensions of the environment. And for this it is essential to implement strategic processes without disturbing business operations. Automated compliance management software offers the platform to achieve this goal. It is a complete solution that helps organizations in executing simple and streamlined processes thus eliminating errors and creating a long-term robust and compliant IT environment.

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Top Tips to be GRC-Ready in 2011

According to industry experts, 2011 is the year when IT firms will realize that expensive risk management and compliance solutions may not provide the desired levels of security. Integration and alignment of disparate compliance initiatives for enhanced security controls will therefore assume immense importance. Chris Mclean, Forrester research analyst, in his report Governance, Risk and Compliance(GRC) Predictions: 2011 and beyond claimed that “vast new regulations and monumental expectations for risk management will help propel GRC programs substantially — as well as the software market that supports them. These next 12 months will see strong growth in the GRC market, a focus on horizontal adoption, greater attention to business intelligence, and practical GRC value from emerging social and mobile technologies.” He also adds that risk and compliance experts need to emphasize on supporting internal objectives rather than abiding by market definitions. 2011 is definitely the year to leverage the best GRC solutions for enhanced security.

So is your enterprise truly GRC-ready? Here are some tips to help your enterprise effectively achieve GRC goals this year:

Develop a valuable risk management strategy: A perfect Governance, risk and compliance plan can be followed only when you develop an effectual risk management strategy. This strategy must incorporate essential processes and policies to enable optimum risk management and mitigation throughout the enterprise. A proactive approach is the best mechanism to tackle risks across your enterprise.

Entrench core enterprise processes with GRC initiatives: Automated GRC solutions offer immense benefits for your enterprise by ensuring cost savings, mitigating risks and also efficiently tackling compliance-related concerns. Therefore, pushing in GRC procedures into key processes can help you enhance business performance.

Opt for a 24X7 GRC solution: A solution that can offer best monitoring capabilities, and can scrutinize threats on a 24X7 basis is the most desirable.

Plug threats in advance: Swift and significant analysis can ensure that looming threats are dealt with effectively. Hence by capturing all data and analyzing them for threat patterns, incidents, or security events you can take proactive measures to tackle threats before they harm your enterprise.

Integration is the key: When you opt for Governance risk and compliance management software, an integrated solution is perhaps the best bet for optimized GRC. Therefore a solution which can offer an integrated governance risk and compliance support system works best. The idea is to simplify and reduce the time spent on regulatory compliance and its corollary certification requirements. Therefore the same solution needs to cater to and offer total end-to-end automated processes for security, risk management and compliance requirements.

Being GRC-ready is easier once your enterprise understands the importance of risk management and the need to abide by regulatory standards. And the above-mentioned tips can be quite valuable for your enterprise in its GRC endeavors.

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Strategies to Avoid IT Compliance Defiance

Businesses include a network of processes and people, and therefore conflict of ideas, priorities, and procedures which are quite natural. Successful business is built on the foundation of achieving harmony amongst its people and processes. However, most organizations fail in this attempt, putting their business at risk. Violation of compliance regulations is often an outcome of such failure.  While several organizations view IT security compliance as a never-ending rigmarole that creates complications, inhibits productivity, and causes redundant expenditure, non-compliance is more harmful in fact.

Non-compliance or negligence in IT Security compliance can attract heavy penalties, not only causing financial loss, but also loss of reputation.  For instance, the US Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve issued individual sanctions against HSBC North America Holdings Inc. for violating the Bank Secrecy Act. And the penalty estimated is almost $500 million.  Also, way back in 2007 the Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) penalized the Providence Health & Services (PHS) in Seattle for violating HIPAA Compliance rules, as tapes and disks containing sensitive data of around 386,000 patients were found missing. PHS had to bear a hefty sum of $100,000 as penalty.

These apart, in several cases the casual attitude of employees has resulted in loss of laptops, and portable storage devices and hard drives containing critical information. And similarly, disgruntled employees have been the cause of security breaches in many cases. All this proves that the absence of an efficient compliance management system can be a major drawback for organizations. Since all businesses are vulnerable to security attacks, a compliance solution that can help track, control and rectify security lapses and fix vulnerabilities is a prerequisite.

Imposing a system to efficiently tackle all security and risk issues in a comprehensive and cohesive manner is the need of the hour. Enforcement of stringent measures encompassing all governance, risk and compliance functions can deliver profound results. And an integrated and automated security system can ensure elimination of all manual processes thereby minimizing the possibility of errors.

Not only do such tools normally have significant operational benefits—including early detection of breaches, a major factor in limiting risk—but they can prove that the organization had continuous compliance rather than point-in-time compliance, as assessments do. The organization’s bargaining position when dealing with a regulatory association is therefore greatly improved and avoiding a half million-dollar fine is enough to easily justify the cost of several such tools, though breaches often lead to more than a single fine. But most of these tools also bring side benefits such as tracking unauthorized changes, detecting reliability and performance issues, or simply indicating suboptimal configurations in operational systems.

Therefore, a unified compliance software solution with a centralized management system can provide the capability for comprehensive threat management. By generating real-time reports of the compliance status across the organization, such a solution can help take timely action to curb threats. It can also execute processes to assess risks and offer remedial measures. Such an intuitive system can also help devise preventive measures to combat anticipatory threats. With such a highly capable system businesses can be saved from bearing the brunt of defying IT Security compliance norms.

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Are You Equipped to Deal with Sophisticated Hacking?

The hacker community has grown over the years despite all protective and preventive measures taken by organizations. The current generation of hackers can execute security attacks ranging from the simplest to the most complex. They can steal passwords and account numbers from laptops and personal PCs, infiltrate company networks and dig out trade secrets, support terrorist networks and induce attacks, destroy satellite systems of the neighboring countries, or cause financial turbulence and create economic pandemonium for political gains.

While this is a matter of great concern giving organizations sleepless nights and unending worries, a number of hacking activities go unreported as companies fear negative publicity. Institutions like Heartland Payment Systems and Microsoft have been victims of such hacking activities. Also, security lapses in the websites of British Royal Navy, the US Army and NASA were exploited by hackers. Monster.com, an online recruitment agency was also hacked twice to extract details from member databases. Similarly, in 2008 Facebook users suffered in the hands of a virus named Koobface. These hackers use highly advanced methods, which makes it very easy for them to get into company systems and create havoc. They employ sophisticated programs to support their skill and knowledge. This results in permanent and irrecoverable damage to companies.

With so much of ongoing hacking, every company has to assess whether they are competent enough to battle the onslaught of hackers? Are IT managers in every company ensuring that compliance metrics are updated and in sync with the business goals? To ensure efficient IT compliance, companies need a system that can help identify risks that make the existing environment vulnerable. It is also very important to develop a clear understanding of security issues to develop a suitable security strategy. And the system also has to provide solutions that restrict possibilities of hacking and guarantee safety of critical assets.

A competent system that can predict and analyze threat management with continuous real-time monitoring is therefore the need of the hour. And only capable compliance management software can help achieve this. Such software can perform a synchronized, streamlined and automated procedure and employ best practices with timely measures and prompt responses. It can provide updated reports which help evaluate the existing compliance status, and prepare organizations for unforeseen incidents.

An outdated compliance management system therefore may not serve the purpose anymore. In an era of industrialized hacking, where hackers employ more sophisticated tools, an equally, if not more sophisticated security system is a must. By using advanced compliance management software, organizations can be saved from becoming victims to unforeseen, innovative hacking attacks.

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Compliance Management Challenges for 2011

Forrester research defines compliance management as “a process of establishing an appropriate set of controls within the IT environment and managing the implementation of those controls”. Going by this definition, it would be appropriate to note that more than half of the enterprises today have un-patched vulnerabilities in their applications (controls) with regulatory compliance still ranking high on their security teams’ agendas. The lookout for an effective and efficient vulnerability and compliance management solution still remains on top of all enterprises’ ‘must do’ lists. Security experts across enterprises are looking for a solution that can provide optimal compliance management without any security lapses.

2011 is the year when enterprises will be facing off on issues related to compliance and regulatory demands. Here is a sneak peek into some issues that could be the focus in 2011 as far as compliance management is concerned:

Enhanced focus on regulatory compliance: The weight of all regulatory compliance issues will remain on IT teams and they will need to be resourceful and competent to fulfill all the industry compliance standards including ISO, PCI Compliance and HIPAA Compliance. With varied susceptibilities existing across hundreds of application silos, there is often zero interaction and communication between these silos, which then leads to incomplete assessment of business risks. Therefore, threats and vulnerabilities could further increase, making IT teams focus even more on matters concerning regulatory compliance.

Emphasis on effective compliance management software: Compliance management software can easily integrate and automate GRC tools by effectively combining compliance workflow with control assessment automation. Ideally a “pay as you grow” solution/model would work best for enterprises because such a model could be easily deployed on the cloud.

Advanced risk mitigation systems–a must for every enterprise: Enterprises need to use a solution which ensures greater flexibility and also seamlessly addresses all compliance requirements effectively. The onus will remain on systems that ensure real-time capturing of transferred data and analyze them for possible threats. Additionally these systems or solutions also need to provide real-time information in the event of any violation.

By efficiently addressing Governance, Risk and Compliance issues across the enterprise, most challenges concerning security can be effectively overcome. And this can also improve bottom line profits. Therefore, it is time for every enterprise to look inward and see if they have sorted out their GRC issues, because only an enterprise which is fully compliant with all regulatory standards can be successful in the long-run.

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Dealing With IT Compliance Challenges in Mergers & Acquisitions

In general, mergers and acquisitions are the result of expansion of a new range of services, or entering into new markets. However, during the recent economic recession, enterprises were forced to merge because there was a desperate need to boost revenue and cut costs. While companies usually benefit from these mergers, IT departments within these companies face formidable challenges while trying to integrate individual companies and making them a cohesive and consolidated entity.

Mergers and acquisitions may incapacitate the security of organizations in cases where disgruntled employees and inconsistent policies add to the prevailing disorder. And one of the biggest risks in mergers and acquisitions is the messaging system. For example, email messages are an integral part of every business process, and negligence in using these electronic messaging systems can cost the company a heavy price exposing it to high security risks. Therefore it is extremely important to have a well-defined management process for identifying and providing access to the right users.

While this in itself is an enormous challenge, IT departments also have to ensure that security and compliance standards are maintained throughout the process of authorization and control, auditing as well as reporting. Moreover, it is quite possible that the two individual organizations may have varying business processes, goals, technology platforms, and organizational culture. Hence, a transparent perspective with regard to control of the IT environment can help avoid regulatory violations.

However, in order to address all security and compliance related issues, organizations need to ensure the following:

·         Employ solutions that foster communication between different systems and applications and allow the integration of different frameworks

·         Deploy an automated process to handle resources on a centralized platform in a unified and comprehensive manner. This helps reduce the time and effort wasted in repetitive tasks

·         Use the best IT solution for handling processes and technology efficiently thereby reducing all wasteful expenditure

·         Execute solutions that take care of all governance, risk and compliance needs and employ best practices for risk assessment and IT risk management

·         Use a capable audit tracking system to monitor compliance levels and provide reports for log analysis on demand.

·         Maintain a regular auditing schedule to check for irregularities, and close security gaps

A successful merger or acquisition would mean bringing together two business units into one with solutions that integrate people, processes, technology and policies. And only an efficient compliance solution can enable this. Moreover, compliance management software offers great potential for effective maintenance of compliance with stringent security regulations, while also empowering organizations with compelling security metrics. It has distinctive features to foresee vulnerabilities and risks, and to keep organizations completely secure. With its identity and access management capabilities, compliance software can also ensure a thorough investigation of protocols.

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Assessing Risk Management Portfolio for Effective Compliance

IT risk managers are responsible for ensuring a secure and compliant business environment. Hence, they are constantly in search of resourceful, credible and result-oriented risk management processes that can facilitate risk forecasting and risk intensity assessment to prevent security lapses. However, mitigating risks and ensuring complete security are possible through effective compliance, with conscious efforts to seal security gaps throughout the enterprise.

So, there is a need for organizations to maintain stringent security parameters and plug in every gap. Realizing these requirements of the IT realm, organizations are now investing in highly sophisticated tools with analytical capabilities, which not only prevent known threats but also detect unknown threats. These tools provide advanced threat management support that can help identify potential risks and recommend strategies to curb them.

Compliance management software platforms simplify operations by offering integrative features which deal with every component of the enterprise that is directly or indirectly related to IT security. They not only provide end-to-end solutions for all concerns related to IT security Compliance, audit and risk management needs, but also prohibit unauthorized access to sensitive and confidential data thereby ensuring complete security.

The software also generates reports of the existing compliance status, and also periodically schedules compliance audits, in order to provide valuable vulnerability scanning and management capabilities. This not only helps in detecting compliance gaps but also in implementing remedial measures. These solutions also improve transparency in organizations, which in turn provides high visibility into processes and builds awareness about the existing security status. And that’s not all.  While these tools ensure efficient execution of compliance regulations in an enterprise, they also strictly monitor their progress.

Today’s business scenario and economic climate make it essential for organizations to make every possible attempt to ensure security. However, not all security software or GRC solutions can offer complete protection. But some advanced tools in the market, possess the capabilities mentioned above. With such competent solutions, enterprises can be thoroughly protected. Automated compliance management software has come a long way to include several advanced features which can cater to every aspect of governance risk and compliance needs.  Such a software solution along with a compelling risk management portfolio can help build a secure, positive and progressive IT environment.

IT Compliance Best Practices for a Progressive Future

Compliance can be an overwhelming task with ever-growing demands for adherence to various industry regulations such as HIPAA Compliance, GLBA Compliance, SOX Compliance and many more. However, it is possible to achieve complete compliance and security by encouraging the members of organizations to follow a streamlined path towards effective management of IT resources and efficient operations.

Hence the need is to enforce a strategy that will help accomplish compliance requirements and yield positive results. And the basic aim of such a strategy is to inculcate business best practices, including the following:

Comprehending & Evaluating Compliance Performance: Enforcement of compliance policies should be undertaken with the explicit approval of  the management and the technical teams. The technical team has to ensure that the system and network devices are configured with standards approved by the management team, in a manner that does not hinder compliance.

Implementation of Risk Assessment Measures: An intrusion prevention system proficient in risk assessment provides solutions against anticipated threats. The employees of an organization need to realize that merely understanding the worth of compliance will not serve the purpose. They need to be aware of the present compliance status and the areas that lack compliance, so that standard risk assessment procedures can be implemented. Risk assessment would involve the following:

·         Formulate a plan to optimize available resources

·         Collect all relevant data have for further analysis

·         Review all business processes involving the process owners

·         Test and analyze Technical and technology solutions involving the technology owners

·         Document analytical findings and risk levels, and report the remediation measures and improvisation techniques

Enforcing Appropriate Policies: While ensuring IT Compliance with existing regulations, organizations should also ensure that the security infrastructure is capable of identifying risks and compliance gaps, and reporting the status. A centralized management process can help in this regard, and the controls used should provide both preventive and detective solutions.

Tracking, Enforcing & Reporting: It is very important to ensure that compliance practices are working properly and in the event of non-compliance, matters are dealt with promptly and effectively. Internal audits can be very helpful in tracking and reporting the compliance status.

Organizations are completely secure and compliant only when all governance, risk and compliance issues are addressed effectively. The key is a competent compliance management software solution with automated and integrated processes, which has the capability to perform all the above-mentioned functions efficiently.

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It Security Compliance