Compliance vs. Security: Striking the Right Balance in Cybersecurity

Compliance and security often go hand in hand as ideas that attempt to protect against cyber threats. While both compliance and security are designed to lower risk, they are not mutually inclusive—that is, not everything that is required for compliance will necessarily help with security, and not everything that bolsters security will necessarily put you in compliance. Both are vital to organizations with a vested interest in protecting their data and networks as well as those of employees and customers, but they are not one and the same. It is important to understand how compliance and security work and how they affect each other in order to stay ahead of threats.

What’s the Difference?

Compliance refers to the adherence to certain rules and regulations set forth by any number of entities—government organizations, industry standards, and even individual companies. While these regulations are intended to lower risk, their scope is often much broader than the security measures that an organization would have in place. This is because government and industry regulations are designed not only to lower the risk of cybersecurity incidents affecting a company but also to decrease legal, financial, and even physical risks for organizations, employees, and customers alike. Regulatory entities also often require proof of compliance to ensure that organizations are conforming to the rules in place.

Security, on the other hand, is primarily focused on preventing, detecting, and remediating cybersecurity incidents such as cyberattacks and accidental data breaches. This includes protecting data both in motion and at rest, at endpoints and wherever it is stored, and maintaining measures to monitor activity and detect potential security incidents. The difference is subtle but important: security is an organization concerned with protecting its own assets, whereas compliance is concerned with ensuring that the organization is in line with regulations. Many aspects overlap, but it is also possible for the two to clash.

How Compliance and Security Interact

There are a number of ways in which compliance and security are often at odds. Smaller organizations may not have the staff or resources to appoint a dedicated compliance team, and proving compliance may draw attention away from cybersecurity measures. Compliance also tends to stipulate certain regulations that may actively detract from cybersecurity—employee and customer privacy rights, while essential, can make it more difficult to monitor potentially suspicious or risky behavior. It is also tedious for security or compliance teams to have to document proof of their compliance, especially if they must do it retroactively.

Many governmental regulations, such as India’s PDPB or the European Union’s GDPR, are put together with the basic goal of protecting citizens against cybersecurity threats and privacy violations. Often, compliance with these regulations is required in order for an organization to be permitted to conduct business in the affected region. Because these regulations vary from place to place and because we live in an increasingly globalized society, organizations must keep up with many different regulatory entities in order to maintain business operations and reach potential customers who live in places with stricter regulatory compliance laws.

Striking the Perfect Balance

Despite the difficulties that compliance regulations can present for organizations, it is possible to find the right balance between compliance and security. In fact, there are tactics to take advantage of compliance and security measures so that each can bolster the other in certain ways. One of the major difficulties with compliance is maintaining documentary proof that your organization meets all regulations, but an increased focus on visibility can help with both security and compliance. Being able to see and understand risk areas and security posture not only fortifies security but also makes documentation easier and saves compliance teams time digging through systems to gather evidence of compliance.

At the same time, putting aside the potential difficulty of maintaining documentation, the actual measures that must be in place in order to achieve compliance are still designed to lower risk. Therefore, implementing those measures not only goes toward compliance with regulations but also improves an organization’s security posture. Some regulations require the presence of firewalls, others mandate reporting security incidents, and still others demand the deployment of solutions that lower the risk of ransomware, phishing, and all manner of cyberattacks. By staying in compliance with these regulations, an organization is investing in its own security as well.

Conclusion

Security and compliance are not one and the same, but they don’t have to be in conflict with each other, either. While it is true that security measures can negatively affect compliance and maintaining and proving compliance can negatively affect security, it is not an immutable fact that the two must be at odds. With the right strategy, an organization can build an effective security strategy, establish and maintain compliance, protect its own data and networks, and protect employees and customers all at the same time.

Webinar: When Security and Compliance Align: The Perfect Partnership

Explore the benefits of adopting a security-first approach and how to put one into action with Tripwire Senior Product Manager David Bruce and a panel of industry experts in this on-demand webinar. 

Watch it here: https://www.tripwire.com/resources/videos/when-security-and-compliance-align