Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.
Thank you for subscribing us!
Please check your email to confirm your email address.
Share via
Work-related stress has long been the bane of enterprise security execs, mainly chief information security officers (CISOs). For instance, in Nominet’s 2020 research, 90% of CISOs said work-related stress affected their wellbeing and personal lives.
Years after, the situation isn’t getting better.
Threat actors are becoming more advanced by the day. As a result, securing a company’s IT assets, employees, IP, and so on, will only get harder. This has led to higher stress levels, as this recent study found:
Realistically, you can’t wave a magic wand and remove all work-related stress. It is built into the fabric of leading an enterprise security team. However, you can drastically reduce it by simplifying the cybersecurity continuous control monitoring (CCM) process steps.
That’s what we’re delving into today. But first, let’s establish…
What Enterprise Continuous Control Monitoring Process Is
A cybersecurity continuous control monitoring (CCM) process is a collective of the action steps taken to stay one level above cybercriminals. The whole idea is to achieve the golden rule: Prevention is better than cure.
Enterprise security execs use this checklist to implement cybersecurity continuous monitoring (CCM).
Continuous Security Monitoring Process Steps
Four steps enable the cybersecurity CCM process:
1. Consolidate and Integrate Data from Tools
The first step towards achieving CCM is to integrate data from all tools prone to misconfigurations and vulnerabilities into a single platform. This includes critical cloud assets and business tools used across your organization:
Integrating and connecting apps will enable your team to maintain an undated cloud asset inventory. Done with an intelligent, interoperable cybersecurity platform like Cyber Sierra, you get:
Granular data segmentation of integrated assets.
Continuous monitoring of misconfigurations.
More on Cyber Sierra as we proceed.
2. Establish Governance of Security Controls
All risk management compliance programs have security controls that must be in place for an organization to attain and remain compliant. This is true for SOC2, ISO27001, GDPR, and others.
So establishing governance enables your team to know what security controls to prioritize and continuously monitor across programs.
And doing this is easy with Cyber Sierra:
As shown, our intelligent cybersecurity platform automatically aggregates security controls from all implemented compliance programs into one view. From this holistic view, you can:
See programs a security control is attached to.
View evidences of having that control in place.
Assign critical controls to key members of your security team.
Easily create and add new controls to your cybersecurity governance.
3. Automate Vendor Risks’ Assessments
Third-party vendors can introduce risks that undermine your cybersecurity continuous control monitoring efforts. To buttress, research by Verizon revealed that:
Worse, it can take up to 277 days for organizations to detect risks from 3rd-parties, according to IBM. One way to mitigate this as part of the cybersecurity continuous control monitoring process is to automate vendor risks’ assessments.
Cyber Sierra enables your team to do this. For instance, our platform auto-assess evidence of security controls uploaded by 3rd-parties. It also consolidates everything into a single view, where your team can track evidence that failed verifications.
Here’s a sneak peek:
4. Streamline Security Awareness Training
Employees across an entire organization form an important, if not the most important, component of all cybersecurity processes. And continuous control monitoring is no exception.
Ongoing security awareness training is therefore essential for educating employees on the steps outlined above. It is also crucial for equipping them on implementing the ever-changing CCM process.
Cyber Sierra streamlines this in a way that makes sense for enterprise security execs. On the same platform, you can:
Launch new regular cybersecurity training
Monitor ongoing training to ensure employees complete them and stay informed on their responsibilities in achieving continuous control monitoring:
All through the four cybersecurity continuous control monitoring process steps, I showed how our platform helps. Consolidating multiple security tools on a single platform like Cyber Sierra reduces stress for CISOs and enterprise security execs.
Being a pure-play cybersecurity CCM platform, Cyber Sierra has built-in, enterprise-grade capabilities. For instance, the holistic ‘Controls Dashboard’ enable your enterprise security team to continuously monitor controls in near real-time by:
Integrated cloud asset categories or asset types
Custom or standard compliance programs implemented:
As shown, consolidating all security controls into this dashboard enables near real-time risk monitoring. You can also track controls assigned to teammates from the same pane, making it way easier to fix control breaks.
2. Seamless Risk Remediation
An effective cybersecurity continuous control monitoring process should detect threats, control breaks, and promptly remediate them. Achieving this is seamless with Cyber Sierra.
From all controls in your security governance, our platform automatically detects and pulls control breaks into a separate view:
From this view, you can easily assign control breaks for prompt remediation and tracking. Another way Cyber Sierra enables seamless risk management and remediation is through its Risk Register.
Enterprise security teams use it to continuously:
Detect IT assets with misconfigurations and vulnerabilities.
Examine all security controls linked to such assets.
Check the control breaks and assign remediation:
Enterprise tech executives trust Cyber Sierra for simplifying their cybersecurity processes due to the advantages mentioned above. One, out of many examples, is Aditya Anand, the CTO of Hybr1d.
To recap, our recommended cybersecurity CCM process steps are:
Consolidate and integrate data from tools.
Establish governance of security controls.
Automate vendor risks’ assessments, and
Streamline security awareness training.
Typically, each of these steps required a different software product. But most tools often don’t work well together, making the process more complex and stressful for enterprise security leaders.
To solve this, our platform consolidates the core capabilities required into an intelligent, interoperable cybersecurity platform. This way, you can simplify the entire cybersecurity continuous control monitoring process steps from one place:
Simplify the Cybersecurity CCM Process
Access the core tools for simplifying the continuous control monitoring process in one enterprise cybersecurity platform.
Continuous Control Monitoring
CISOs
CTOs
Cybersecurity Enthusiasts
Enterprise Leaders
Startup Founders
Pramodh Rai
Meet Pramodh Rai, a technology aficionado and Cyber Sierra's co-founder, whose zest for innovation is fuelled by a cupboard stacked with zero-sugar Redbull. With a nimble footwork through the tech tulips across Asia Pacific, he's donned hats at Hmlet (the proptech kind) and Funding Societies | Modalku, building high-performing teams and technologies. A Barclays prodigy with dual degrees from Nanyang Technological University, Pramodh is a treasure trove of wisdom, dad jokes, and everything product/tech. He's the Sherpa in sneakers you need.
On the one hand, GRC vendors may not offer the full scale of capabilities required to effectively achieve CCM.
On the other hand, CCM tools that can’t address a broad array of threats often end up working in isolation.
In other words, a half-baked or point continuous control monitoring tool working in isolation isn’t worth it, per IBM’s Charles Henderson:
A solution to this?
An Interoperable CCM Platform
Most CCM platforms have full scale continuous control monitoring capabilities. But as Henderson stressed, implementing another point solution isn’t worth it. They often end up posing a threat to efficient cybersecurity. EY’s Asia-Pacific Cybersecurity Consulting Leader, Richard J. Watson corroborates:
So to help enterprises achieve continuous control monitoring without cluttering their tech stacks, we built Cyber Sierra. You get a pure-play CCM platform with built-in capabilities for remediating other cybersecurity challenges interoperably.
For instance, with our Controls Dashboard, enterprise teams can continuously monitor security controls by:
Asset categories or asset types
Compliance programs or frameworks:
As shown, you can assign risks associated with control breaks to teammates and monitor remediation status in real-time. And with other built-in functionalities, achieving continuous control monitoring while addressing core cybersecurity challenges interoperably is possible.
The Interoperable CCM Platform
Achieve continuous control monitoring while addressing core cybersecurity challenges interoperably.
An interoperable CCM platform like Cyber Sierra is optimal for CISOs and enterprise security execs looking to achieve more with less. To show you how it compares, let’s walk through some cybersecurity CCM tools recommended by Gartner.
Enterprise Cybersecurity Continuous Control Monitoring (CCM) Tools Gartner Recommends
In their cybersecurity CCM study, Gartner recommended ten tools. We streamlined the list to five exclusive to CCM based on conversations with customers, prospects, and enterprise security experts.
Panaseer
The Panaseer CCM tool ingests data from security, cloud and on-premise IT and business tools. The software then normalizes, augments and correlates this data, giving security teams:
Continuous visibility of assets and controls status
Insights for prioritizing security resources
Automated security posture reports.
According to Panaseer’s CCM feature page, they optimize and monitor controls across eight cybersecurity domains:
Vulnerability analysis
Endpoint analysis
Patch analysis
Identify and access management
Privileged access management
Security awareness management
Application security analysis, and
Cloud security.
Given these covered domains, the Panaseer CCM software is ideal for cyber asset and security controls’ management, reporting, and evidenced remediation. But it falls short in two crucial areas.
Enterprise security teams can’t use Panaseer to assess security risks from third-party vendors that can lead to control breaks.
You can’t establish compliance governance and monitor corresponding security controls mapped to implemented compliance frameworks and policies.
Cyber Sierra has these solutions built-in.
For instance, with our platform your team can map and monitor controls for all implemented compliance programs:
The software audits a company’s cloud assets and monitors risks and security controls continuously from data sources and compliance frameworks. Unlike Panaseer, Quod Orbis focuses more on monitoring the security controls of compliance programs.
You get:
Continuous compliance
Real-time compliance controls visibility
Enhanced security and compliance posture
Cyber risk quantification, and
Expert-led management of their platform.
Like Panaseer, you can’t track third-party risk assessments, provide, or monitor continuous employee security awareness training with Quod Orbis. And these are crucial for ensuring the security controls being monitored are adhered to by third-parties and employees.
With Cyber Sierra, in addition to having core CCM capabilities, you can launch and monitor ongoing security awareness training:
Metricstream
Positioned as ‘the connected GRC software,’ Metricstream offers continuous control monitoring capabilities for:
IT & Cyber Risk
Compliance
Audit, and
ESG:
As shown above, Metricstream is more of a GRC solution with continuous control monitoring features for:
Gaining a unified, real-time view of risks, threats, and vulnerabilities for effective risk and IT control assessments.
Staying on top of evolving regulatory requirements relevant to compliance risks, policies, cases, and controls.
Like the others, two areas where Metricstream is lacking are vendor risk assessment monitoring and ongoing employee security awareness training. You need both to ensure security controls being monitored are adhered to by vendors and employees.
Another reason to consider a cybersecurity CCM platform like Cyber Sierra with such capabilities built-in.
JupiterOne
This tool has extensive integration for various apps used across different categories by enterprises. To that effect, JupiterOne is mainly a cyber asset attack surface management (CAASM) solution with continuous compliance monitoring capabilities:
With this tool, security teams can have vulnerabilities from their cloud assets ingested and normalized in a single platform.
You get:
Cloud asset inventory
Granular data segmentation of integrated assets
Continuous compliance, and
Graph-based context.
The graph-based context is JupiterOne’s stand-out feature. Security leaders use it to view the connections between their cloud assets, constantly monitor, and identify any risks involved. Without this feature, JupiterOne would probably not be considered a continuous control monitoring tool.
And that’s because it mainly collects and normalizes assets’ data, maps out cloud assets relationships, and provides visibility. Being an interoperable pure-play CCM platform, Cyber Sierra does these out of the box.
We even have a more advanced graph-based context built-in:
As shown, not only can you integrate and ingest data from your cloud assets to Cyber Sierra. But in a graph-based context you can also:
View how each asset connects to others.
Monitor vulnerabilities between connected assets.
Track security controls broken by specific users of those assets.
RiskOptics
Formerly Reciprocity, RiskOptics bears similarities to Metricstream being that it is more of a GRC platform:
However, RiskOptics’ ROAR (Risk Observation, Assessment and Remediation) feature offers some continuous control monitoring capabilities. It is mainly suited for monitoring and providing insights for closing control gaps in implemented compliance frameworks.
The tool does that in two ways:
Reducing audit fatigue by enabling teams to reuse controls and evidence across frameworks and continuously test control effectiveness, making organizations always audit-ready.
Connecting threats, vulnerabilities and risks, and continuously testing compliance and security controls to surface risks.
RiskOptics does not offer the ability to monitor third-party risk assessments, provide or track continuous employee security awareness training, just like other CCM tools Gartner recommends. These are crucial because they ensure security controls being monitored are adhered to by third-parties and employees.
Even though Cyber Sierra isn’t on Gartner’s recommended CCM tools (yet), the platform shines in those areas. Ours is an enterprise-grade pure-play CCM system that also solves other cybersecurity monitoring and remediation challenges interoperably.
Advantages of a Cybersecurity Continuous Control Monitoring System Like Cyber Sierra
Continuous control monitoring wasn’t added to Cyber Sierra as an afterthought or in response to the growing demand. Unlike other platforms, our CCM feature isn’t built separately. You get full-scale continuous control monitoring capabilities built into core cybersecurity areas like:
Governance and compliance
Managing cloud assets
Risk management and remediation
Governance and Compliance
Here, continuous monitoring of security controls associated with compliance programs, frameworks, and policies happens in two ways. Cyber Sierra first consolidates controls from all implemented security governance and compliance programs into one view. From there, it automatically monitors and adds any control that breaks into a dedicated view for easier discovery and remediation:
Second, you also get a more comprehensive ‘Controls Dashboard’ under governance. Enterprise teams use this to monitor security controls relative to compliance programs and integrated cloud assets.
Here’s a sneak peek:
Managing Cloud Assets
Enterprise security teams can integrate and maintain a holistic inventory of all cloud assets used with Cyber Sierra. But to enable the management of risks and vulnerabilities from those assets, our platform takes it one step further.
You get a Risk Dashboard to continuously monitor risks by asset categories and security control breaks by asset types:
As shown, the risk heat map gives your team a unified view of all critical to low risks mapped to all affected cloud assets.
Risk Management and Remediation
The whole purpose of continuous monitoring is to detect, manage, and remediate risks proactively. To do that, a CCM platform shouldn’t just enable enterprise teams to monitor controls. It should facilitate the remediation of risks associated with monitored controls.
Cyber Sierra’s Risk Register enables that.
With it, enterprise security teams can scan all integrated assets (it takes ~10 mins) to:
Identify assets that are vulnerable to threats.
See a breakdown of security controls linked to those assets.
Easily check the control break in one button click:
Implement an Interoperable CCM Tool
Cyber Sierra consolidates the core capabilities for cybersecurity continuous control monitoring into one interoperable technology platform. This is recommended, according to EY’s 2023 Global Cybersecurity Leadership Insights Study.
Based on this, achieving cybersecurity continuous control monitoring with a consolidated platform is logical. And with Cyber Sierra, you get one that monitors and detects incidents efficiently while also tackling other cybersecurity challenges.
Imagine your team doing more with less.
Do More With Less
Achieve continuous control monitoring through a consolidated platform with built-in capabilities for tackling other cybersecurity challenges.
Continuous Control Monitoring
CISOs
CTOs
Cybersecurity Enthusiasts
Enterprise Leaders
Startup Founders
Pramodh Rai
Meet Pramodh Rai, a technology aficionado and Cyber Sierra's co-founder, whose zest for innovation is fuelled by a cupboard stacked with zero-sugar Redbull. With a nimble footwork through the tech tulips across Asia Pacific, he's donned hats at Hmlet (the proptech kind) and Funding Societies | Modalku, building high-performing teams and technologies. A Barclays prodigy with dual degrees from Nanyang Technological University, Pramodh is a treasure trove of wisdom, dad jokes, and everything product/tech. He's the Sherpa in sneakers you need.
Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.
Thank you for subscribing us!
Please check your email to confirm your email address.
Share via
SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, and so on.
I know. The number of cybersecurity and privacy laws enterprises must attain and stay compliant with can be daunting. Especially if your company operates across multiple jurisdictions. Regardless, Hui Chen, a renowned ethics and corporate compliance leader, advised against treating them like a box-checking exercise.
So how can CISOs and IT Executives achieve effectiveness and stop treating compliance like a box-checking exercise? One such way is implementing and managing your enterprise compliance programs holistically. Experts call it enterprise compliance management.
To extend Tzvika Sharaf’s succinct definition, the creation of such high-level workflow must address two key areas:
External compliance revolves around regulation and rules imposed on a company by the industry or government of the jurisdictions it operates in. For example, per the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), if a company misplaces customer personal information from the European Union (EU), they are mandated to provide notification of this mishap within 72 hours.
Internal compliance, on the other hand, is how an enterprise organization responds to and works within the confines of externally imposed compliance regulations.
So for effective enterprise compliance management, you don’t just need well-defined procedures and policies. These should address both internal and external requirements peculiar to each compliance program your enterprise company implements. Achieving that requires centralization, according to Deloitte:
The second challenge:
How do you achieve this needed centralization?
For the rest of this guide, I’d walk you through three pillars you should centralize with technology for that. You’ll also see how Cyber Sierra’s governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) suite automates and makes everything seamless.
Join SMSW
Join CISOs, CTOs, and enterprise security execs subscribed to Secure My Software Weekly (SMSW) for actionable cybersecurity, risk and compliance insights.
Three Pillars of Enterprise Compliance Management
Programs,
People, and
Processes.
Those are the three pillars of enterprise compliance.
Per Deloitte’s report cited above, these pillars must be centralized with a system that enables each to function efficiently and effectively:
1. Programs
The first step in enterprise compliance management is choosing programs to implement and in what order. Both criteria are crucial to avoid treating compliance like a box-checking exercise, as Hui advised against.
Two reasons for that are:
Choosing the right programs ensures your company adheres to industry- and location-specific compliance regulations.
Implementing compliance programs in the right order makes the process easier to navigate and manage for your company.
For instance, if your company handles financial and personal data of European-based customers, PCI DSS and GDPR are a necessity. On the other hand, although ISO 27001 and SOC 2 aren’t compulsory, they are widely recognized and can ease your team’s implementation of other programs.
The order of importance differs depending on whether your company handles health information of customers. In that case, HIPAA is a compliance program to also prioritize. In some cases, it may be necessary to first implement internal compliance and security controls to guide data security management across your company.
Navigating all this can be gruesome.
Which is where a tool with extensive GRC capabilities is crucial. With Cyber Sierra, for instance, choosing and implementing enterprise compliance programs is streamlined. You can implement internal cybersecurity compliance controls. And your security team can also start with widely recognized compliance programs like SOC 2, GDPR, and ISO 27001 that ease the implementation of all other programs.
All from one dashboard:
2. People
Effective compliance management starts with people —your security team and employees across the organization. When grounded and empowered to adhere to all cybersecurity compliance requirements, they can be your greatest asset for staying compliant. Otherwise, they can be your biggest burden and window to data security breaches.
To stress the point:
leading to these data security breaches and compliance failures include:
Employees mis-configuring a database and directly exposing information, and
Employees making errors that enable cybercriminals to access privileged information in a company’s systems.
Here’s why I’m addressing the ‘people’ pillar in enterprise compliance management from the angle of your entire company employees. Having a Director of Compliance and managers to oversee the implementation of compliance programs is crucial. However, if all employees aren’t trained on being compliant, the chances of getting breached and facing non-compliance fines remain high.
It is also important for ongoing security awareness training to cut across all implementable compliance programs. This streamlines the training experience for the staff without overwhelming them with new training for each program.
But that’s not all.
Executives need to track all staff training, so they can follow up and ensure they are being completed. This is where an interoperable cybersecurity platform like Cyber Sierra comes in:
As shown, your team can launch staff-wide ongoing security awareness training that cuts across all compliance programs. More importantly, executives like you get a dashboard to monitor how employees are completing them on our platform, too.
3. Processes
Processes are crucial for managing enterprise compliance. First, they create a culture of transparency on how to implement programs. Second, processes ensure accountability within your team and promotes a methodical approach to compliance management.
Essentially, processes guide employees through the decision-making and actions needed to attain and stay compliant. And aid in documenting and creating audit trails required to demonstrate compliance to auditors, stakeholders, and regulators.
For instance, you need efficient processes for:
Continuous risk assessments
Internal and external security audits
Compliance programs’ policy development
Mapping security controls to each compliance program
Ongoing risk monitoring, scoring, mitigation, and so on.
But each of these processes must be meticulous and adjusted as the regulatory compliance landscape evolves. This is why corporate compliance experts recommend the automation of these processes.
With an intelligent, unified platform like Cyber Sierra, crucial compliance program processes are automated out of the box. For instance, our platform maintains auto-updated versions of policies mapped to different compliance programs:
Having compliance policies in a central place like this cuts off all the gruesome manual work involved in effecting processes for creating, uploading, and maintaining them as the regulatory landscape evolves.
Other Areas Automation Aids Compliance Management
Having a centralized enterprise compliance management system goes beyond enabling its pillars. Although this is crucial as shown so far, there are other areas where automation streamlines compliance management for the CISO and IT Executives.
1. Compliance Controls’ Management
Compliance programs have dozens, and for some, hundreds of security controls that must be implemented. And as each compliance program evolves, evidence of each control must be updated to confirm that security measures are in place and avoid fines.
Doing this at scale, considering there are hundreds of controls across compliance programs, requires a central place for tracking them:
As shown, Cyber Sierra has a robust compliance controls’ management dashboard. Having all controls auto-mapped to different programs like this streamlines the steps usually spent tracking and updating evidence in spreadsheets for your team. It also gives you, the executive, a way to monitor and view uploaded compliance controls’ evidence from one view.
2. Risk Insights and Analysis
Negligence isn’t the sole cause of compliance issues.
Often, failure to proactively identify and mitigate external risks from third-party vendors can result in breaching your compliance stance. In the words of a veteran CISO, Jay Pasteris:
To avoid this, it helps to manage your company’s compliance programs with an interoperable cybersecurity platform like Cyber Sierra. This is because our platform has capabilities for automating continuous 3rd party risk assessments and ongoing risk monitoring.
Automate Enterprise Compliance Management
Managing enterprise compliance manually can be time-consuming and extremely challenging, often leading to costly inefficiencies. Also, it takes more than having software that streamlines becoming and staying compliant with specific programs.
The need to map and manage security controls per compliance program is crucial. And so is the need to automate the process of continuously analyzing, identifying, and mitigating all third-party vendor risks. As shown so far, without these, all efforts toward compliance management could still lead to hefty fines.
It is therefore necessary to automate the entire enterprise compliance management lifecycle with an interoperable cybersecurity platform like Cyber Sierra. Our platform enables the core pillars of enterprise compliance management and has capabilities for the other areas.
And we’re on standby to give you a free tour:
Automate Your Entire Enterprise Compliance Management Lifecycle
Book a free demo and see how cyber sierra help CISOs automate enterprise compliance management.
Governance & Compliance
CISOs
CTOs
Cybersecurity Enthusiasts
Enterprise Leaders
Startup Founders
Pramodh Rai
Meet Pramodh Rai, a technology aficionado and Cyber Sierra's co-founder, whose zest for innovation is fuelled by a cupboard stacked with zero-sugar Redbull. With a nimble footwork through the tech tulips across Asia Pacific, he's donned hats at Hmlet (the proptech kind) and Funding Societies | Modalku, building high-performing teams and technologies. A Barclays prodigy with dual degrees from Nanyang Technological University, Pramodh is a treasure trove of wisdom, dad jokes, and everything product/tech. He's the Sherpa in sneakers you need.
Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.
Thank you for subscribing us!
Please check your email to confirm your email address.
Share via
Staying compliant with regulatory guidelines is paramount for businesses, especially those operating in the banking and financial services sector. India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken proactive measures to address this critical issue, releasing a series of guidelines to help organizations implement effective cybersecurity protocols. In a recent panel discussion organized by Cyber Sierra, industry experts shared their experiences and insights on how to navigate these guidelines successfully.
The Roller Coaster Ride of Compliance
For Unity Small Finance Bank, a relatively new player in the industry, the journey of compliance has been akin to a roller coaster ride. As a young bank, they had to learn and adapt quickly to the plethora of guidelines and advisories issued by the RBI. With limited resources at their disposal, managing cybersecurity while ensuring smooth business operations posed a significant challenge. However, with time and the guidance provided by regulatory bodies like RBI, they made significant strides in enhancing their cybersecurity posture.
Keeping Track of Regulatory Guidelines
To help banks and financial institutions keep abreast of the ever-changing cybersecurity landscape, RBI has established a dedicated team responsible for sharing insights and drafting guidelines. Additionally, the introduction of the Daksh portal has proved instrumental in simplifying the compliance process. This self-help portal provides access to comprehensive information on the guidelines, allowing organizations to better understand the expectations and requirements set forth by the regulator.
The Role of Knowledge Sharing
The panel discussion served as a platform for knowledge sharing among industry experts. This collaborative approach has proven invaluable in helping organizations tackle the challenges posed by cybersecurity guidelines. By bringing together professionals from different backgrounds, experiences, and expertise, the session fostered an environment of exchanging thoughts, ideas, and best practices. The collective wisdom gained from such interactions can significantly contribute to the successful implementation of RBI’s cybersecurity guidelines.
Learnings from Compliance
The speakers highlighted the importance of leveraging their collective experiences to navigate the complex landscape of compliance effectively. They emphasized the need for caution and a balanced approach when managing cybersecurity in a fast-paced business environment. Furthermore, the introduction of technology risk guidelines and outsourcing risk guidelines has necessitated a deeper understanding of smart contracts and cloud service providers. By sharing their insights, the panelists aimed to help organizations enhance their compliance strategies and avoid potential pitfalls.
Key Takeaways
How can banks and financial institutions keep tabs on the latest RBI cyber security guidelines and directives?
What are some of the best practices that banks can follow to be audit ready?
How can maintaining a controls catalogue, RBI obligations register, and using RBI’s DAKSH portal help in meeting cybersecurity compliance requirements?
In an era where cybersecurity threats are constantly evolving, organizations must remain vigilant and compliant with regulatory guidelines. The RBI’s proactive approach in releasing cybersecurity guidelines has helped banks and financial institutions strengthen their cybersecurity architecture. By leveraging knowledge sharing platforms, such as panel discussions, industry experts can collectively learn from each other’s experiences and navigate the complex landscape of compliance successfully. As organizations continue to work towards implementing RBI’s cybersecurity guidelines, collaboration and knowledge exchange will play a crucial role in achieving a robust cybersecurity framework.
Srividhya Karthik is a seasoned content marketer and the Head of Marketing at Cyber Sierra. With a firm belief in the power of storytelling, she brings years of experience to create engaging narratives that captivate audiences. She also brings valuable insights from her work in the field of cybersecurity and compliance, possessing a deep understanding of the challenges and pain points faced by customers in these domains.
Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.
Thank you for subscribing us!
Please check your email to confirm your email address.
Share via
‘How do I mitigate vendor risks?’
That’s a common question in my chats with CISOs and IT executives. Being a tech enthusiast and as stressed in previous guides, my usual suggestion is: Leverage technology and streamlined processes to:
But often, CISOs come back seeking help on how best to build and structure their third-party risk management (TPRM) teams. Each time this happens, I’m reminded of these words by Dave Buster:
Dave couldn’t say it better. The right TPRM framework, technology, and automated processes won’t work on their own. So to mitigate risks in our ever-expanding vendor landscape, you need:
Starting with the latter, I’d cover both in this guide.
Third-Party Risk Management Reporting Structure
Get the right people, and you can rest assured your vendor risk management program is in good hands. Design an effective reporting structure for your TPRM team, and you can be sure the right info reaches you (and the C-Suite) at the right time.
The challenge:
What should such a TPRM reporting structure look like?
It ultimately depends on your organization type and overall size of your cybersecurity team. Generally though, experts recommend a centralized TPRM reporting structure:
As illustrated above, a centralized structure eliminates silos and can be more effective for two reasons:
The CISO and Senior Management get real-time insight into how subteams are implementing the TPRM program.
Subteams overseeing various aspects of your TPRM program can track teammates’ actions and act proactively.
If this reporting structure makes sense to you, as it does for most enterprise security execs, the next hurdle I often hear is: What are the roles and responsibilities of subteams dedicated to each step?
The rest of this guide addresses that. As we proceed, you’ll also see how our interoperable cybersecurity platform helps enterprise security teams automate and report critical TPRM processes.
Before we dive in…
Join SMSW
Join CISOs, CTOs, and enterprise security execs subscribed to Secure My Software Weekly (SMSW) for actionable cybersecurity, risk and compliance insights.
Enterprise TPRM Team Roles and Responsibilities
When filling critical roles in your TPRM team and assigning responsibilities, diversity is highly recommended. The Institute of Critical Infrastructure Technology, in a study titled, “The Business Value of a Diverse InfoSec Team,” reiterated this.
So while the centralized reporting structure above helps, it is crucial to keep diversity in mind as you fill the TPRM roles below.
TPRM Program Director/Manager
This individual or team owns the TPRM program.
High-performers have a balance of demonstrable risk management skills, extensive training, experience, and the ability to coordinate all subteams. They report to you, the CISO, and usually, their primary responsibilities would be to help you:
Champion and advocate for the maturity of your TPRM program and develop key partnerships across the org to ensure alignment with your company’s overall 3rd party strategy.
Design and oversee the implementation of your TPRM framework and operating procedures needed to integrate necessary security controls per your business functions.
Establish relevant TPRM program metrics, Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Key Risk Indicators (KRIs), and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for managing all vendor risks.
Design security guardrails for selecting vendors, and define security scores and controls 3rd parties must retain before they can be considered and let into your third-party ecosystem.
Vendor Assessments & Onboarding Subteam
The core responsibility of specialist(s) on this subteam is enforcing the security guidelines defined by the TPRM Program Director, which new vendors must meet. Specifically, this includes:
Vetting, profiling, and tiering vendors
Creating and implementing custom security audits or exams.
Choosing and right-sizing appropriate security assessment questionnaire templates for select vendors.
Onboarding vendors with acceptable security controls, etc.
Imagine doing all that with this:
Josh Angert, Manager at Vendor Centric, observed how core functions of this subteam, if done manually with Excel, can lead to inconsistent vendor risk tiering, wasted time, and poor assessments.
As Josh advised, to curb vendor risk assessment bottlenecks, CISOs can leverage a vendor risk management system to standardize processes.
That’s where Cyber Sierra comes in:
As shown, our system streamlines the gruesome vendor tiering, assessment, and onboarding processes into three easy steps. For instance, your team can profile vendors based on their business type, location, and easily tier those requiring advanced assessments.
Automate Vendor Risk Assessments
Cyber Sierra streamlines crucial vendor assessment processes, so enterprise TPRM teams can compile reports faster.
Vendor Risk Monitoring & Remediation Subteam
This subteam usually comprises risk detection and mitigation experts, each assigned to one or a group of vendors. They work closely with the security assessment subteam, share insights within each other, and report to the TPRM Program Director, or you, the CISO.
Some core responsibilities include:
Own assigned third-party vendors and manage their risks.
Perform daily or weekly risk management tasks on assigned vendors, according to your company’s instituted TPRM program.
Detect, mitigate, and report risks posed by third-parties, and work with them and the DevSecOps team to remediate the same.
Flag third-parties that should be terminated, and in most cases, oversee the offboarding of flagged high-risk vendors.
One way to empower this subteam is through software that enables ongoing vendor risk monitoring. This helps them identify vendors whose security controls become outdated and can’t be verified.
Again, Cyber Sierra automates this:
Our platform uses standardized enterprise security controls to auto-check evidence uploaded by vendors on an ongoing basis. As shown above, you get alerted of those that fail verification, flagging your team to immediately work with the vendor to enforce them.
In other words, having internal (and external) auditors is a must-have. They perform systematic evaluations of your company’s implemented TPRM framework, documentation, processes, and security controls. This enables them to document weaknesses that must be addressed and usually report directly to the CISOs, IT executives, and the TPRM Program Director/Manager.
How Many People Should Be On My TPRM Team?
There’s no magic number.
Generally, the more vendors you manage, the more risk exposure your team may have to deal with, and the more people required. But all third-parties aren’t created equal. In a sample of, say, 200 vendors, only 5-10% (i.e., 10-20) may be high-risk or critical to your company’s operations. In a centralized reporting structure, where processes have been automated, 1-2 full-time employees (FTEs) on your risk monitoring and remediation subteam can manage such vendors closely, in addition to reviewing others occasionally.
Going by this logic, the number of people you may need on your enterprise TPRM team should be around:
1–3 FTEs for up to 200 vendors.
3–5 FTEs for 200 – 600 vendors.
One (1) additional FTE for every 100–200 vendors beyond that.
You may be wondering:
How about the assessment and vendor onboarding subteam?
Well, by automating processes with a tool like Cyber Sierra, your TPRM Director can vet, assess, and onboard vendors in a few steps because those critical to-dos have been streamlined. For instance, they can choose from standard security assessment questionnaires already built into our platform, customize per your company’s needs, and send to vendors:
This finding proves that, irrespective of how many full-time employees (FTEs) on your TPRM team or reporting structure, automation is needed to make them more effective.
We built Cyber Sierra to enable enterprise TPRM teams to achieve this needed automation and become more effective. From tiering critical vendors to continuous security assessments, and ongoing risk monitoring, our platform automates the steps required.
Want to see it for yourself?
Automate Crucial Vendor Risk Management Process
Cyber Sierra streamlines crucial vendor assessment processes, so enterprise TPRM teams can compile reports faster.
Third Party Risk Management
CISOs
CTOs
Cybersecurity Enthusiasts
Enterprise Leaders
Startup Founders
Pramodh Rai
Meet Pramodh Rai, a technology aficionado and Cyber Sierra's co-founder, whose zest for innovation is fuelled by a cupboard stacked with zero-sugar Redbull. With a nimble footwork through the tech tulips across Asia Pacific, he's donned hats at Hmlet (the proptech kind) and Funding Societies | Modalku, building high-performing teams and technologies. A Barclays prodigy with dual degrees from Nanyang Technological University, Pramodh is a treasure trove of wisdom, dad jokes, and everything product/tech. He's the Sherpa in sneakers you need.
Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.
Thank you for subscribing us!
Please check your email to confirm your email address.
Share via
I talk to a lot of CISOs.
Most decry not having enough budget to hire talent and buy every tool needed to implement their desired third-party risk management (TPRM) framework. But even among those who don’t have such challenges, our chats often reveal a common, underlying question:
What metrics do I need to prove my TPRM program is successful? This question is valid to both sides of the spectrum. Because to secure more budget or get approval for next year’s budget, you must establish metrics demonstrating the success of your TPRM program.
In other words, metrics are useful for more than just getting a TPRM program budget approved. They are also crucial for making decisions relative to securing your company from vendor risks.
But the question remains: How do you choose them?
Criteria for Choosing Vendor Risk Management Metrics
There’s no one-size-fits-all criteria.
However, I like Josh Angert’s recommendation for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs). He hammered on the need to always start with the end in mind when establishing TPRM program metrics.
Based on Josh’s insight, the metrics you choose should cut across key performance indicators (KPIs) and key risk indicators (KRIs). KPIs keep your security team focused on aligning your organization’s TPRM program with business objectives. KRIs, on the other hand, track the prompt identification and mitigation of vendor risks.
So to choose vendor risk management metrics:
Define business objectives relevant to your TPRM program.
Outline mission-critical vendor risks that must be mitigated.
Select enterprise metrics that encompass all of the above:
The rest of this guide explores metrics I see enterprise CISOs using to ascertain the success of their TPRM programs. As we proceed, you’ll also see how our interoperable cybersecurity and compliance automation platform, Cyber Sierra, helps you achieve them.
Before we dive in:
Join SMSW
Join CISOs, CTOs, and enterprise security execs subscribed to Secure My Software Weekly (SMSW) for actionable cybersecurity, risk and compliance insights.
Enterprise Third-Party Risk Management Program Metrics
By knowing what to measure (i.e., the TPRM metrics below), your security team can know what to improve and succeed.
1. Number of Identified Vendor Risks
This metric measures how many 3rd party risks your security team identifies over time. The objective of this metric, relevant to most enterprise TPRM programs, is to identify as many risks as possible.
As organizations add new vendors, they need to identify all risks and security threats brought into their ecosystems. So the more risks identified over time, the more your security team can demonstrate its understanding of 3rd party risks.
2. Number of Reduced Risks
Identifying an appreciable number of risks over time is good. But demonstrating that they are reducing relative to when your program went into effect is more important.
Say your organization hasn’t added new vendors in the last three months. This metric tracks changes in third-party risks within that period. Less risk means your security team is effective.
3. Cost of Managing Third-Party Risks
Security teams should track this in twofold:
Articulate all direct and indirect costs associated with managing vendor risks before implementing your TPRM program.
Show how these costs have reduced over time relative to the negative business impact mitigated.
Reporting this metric is critical because it’s a great way for board members to see your TPRM program as a value, and not a cost center.
4. Time to Detect Vendor Risks
As the name suggests, this metric helps you track how long it takes your team to detect vendor risks on average. A shorter risk detection time shows that your security team is efficient.
Board members would want to see risks being detected as soon as possible. This is why third-party security managers track and report on how their team has reduced their average risk detection time.
5. Time to Mitigate Risks
How long does your team take to mitigate vendor risks?
This metric measures the answer to that question. Once your team detects risks, they must immediately mitigate them. The faster they do this, the more financial and reputational damage your vendor risk management program will save your company.
The enterprise security managers I talk to use this metric to visualize how they are mitigating risks within a timeframe. By tracking it, you can set objectives for improving your time to mitigate risks over time.
6. Time to Complete Risk Assessments
Vendors are business entities contracted to help achieve your company’s mission or business goals. Putting them through rigorous third-party risk assessment is critical for mitigating risks.
However, it is also important to track how long it takes to completely assess vendors. Security managers should strive to reduce the time it takes to assess vendors for two reasons:
Demonstrate to management how efficiently they are risk-assessing and onboarding 3rd parties into their ecosystem.
You can achieve these with software that streamlines the process of initiating and completing vendor risk assessments in three steps:
As shown above, this streamlined 3-step workflow is built into Cyber Sierra’s TPRM module. So instead of looping between spreadsheets or exchanging endless email threads, enterprise security teams can profile, assess, and manage vendor risks in one place.
Achieve Your TPRM Program Metrics
Profile, streamline vendor risk assessments, and manage third-party vendor risks in one place.
Achieving Vendor Risk Management KPIs & KRIs
Tracking the metrics above is good.
But without context, metrics on a dashboard won’t show how effective your TPRM program is. Worse, they are not so helpful if you can’t tie them to noticeable business objective indicators.
Josh Angert shared why indicators —key performance indicators (KPIs) and key risk indicators (KRIs) —are more important:
Let me rephrase that.
Choosing TPRM metrics is vital. It guides your security team. Management, on the other hand, concerns itself with indicators —KPIs and KRIs— tied to business objectives they can track and use to make decisions. Below are three you should prioritize.
1. Resource Efficiency
Imagine using the perfect blend of ingredients to bake a batch of cookies without wasting anything. Resource efficiency is similar to that. It means using just the right amount of time, tools, people, and budget to implement an effective TPRM program.
Resource efficiency indicates to management that your security team is doing a great job while saving time and money. According to Bryan Littlefair, the CEO of Cambridge Cyber Advisers, to improve this KPI, start by having a mature vendor risk management strategy.
Say your company must address an average of 300 vendor risks per month. Throughput gives management an overview of how quickly your security team is able to do that over a given time period.
This important KPI helps you identify and minimize bottlenecks in your vendor risk management processes, enabling your team to do more in less time. This is essential for achieving selected TPRM program metrics.
3. Process Efficiency
Think of process efficiency like striking the right balance between operational effectiveness and risk mitigation.
It helps management track the speed at which your security team assesses, manages, and mitigates third-party risks. While the first two required having the right strategy, this one is about streamlining core elements of third-party risk management.
And this is where Cyber Sierra comes in.
For instance, you can assess, onboard, and manage third-party vendors much faster with our platform. And for prompt risk mitigation, our software auto-verifies all evidence of security controls uploaded by vendors in response to assessment questionnaires.
Unverified evidence indicates a lack of necessary security measures that could lead to data breaches. With Cyber Sierra, your team can follow up with vendors to resolve this on the same pane:
Achieve Key TPRM Program Metrics
As I’ve stressed, knowing what metrics to choose is how you demonstrate that your TPRM program is successful. But as you choose them, it is equally, if not more important to align efforts towards achieving visible KPIs and KRIs.
Your team can do this by streamlining critical processes of your vendor risk management program with Cyber Sierra. For instance, you get the NIST and ISO TPRM assessment frameworks built into our interoperable cybersecurity platform.
With these critical assessment frameworks in one place, your team can assess, onboard, manage, and mitigate vendor risks much faster:
Achieve Your TPRM Program Metrics
Profile, streamline vendor risk assessments, and manage third-party vendor risks in one place.
Third Party Risk Management
CISOs
CTOs
Cybersecurity Enthusiasts
Enterprise Leaders
Startup Founders
Pramodh Rai
Meet Pramodh Rai, a technology aficionado and Cyber Sierra's co-founder, whose zest for innovation is fuelled by a cupboard stacked with zero-sugar Redbull. With a nimble footwork through the tech tulips across Asia Pacific, he's donned hats at Hmlet (the proptech kind) and Funding Societies | Modalku, building high-performing teams and technologies. A Barclays prodigy with dual degrees from Nanyang Technological University, Pramodh is a treasure trove of wisdom, dad jokes, and everything product/tech. He's the Sherpa in sneakers you need.
Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.
Thank you for subscribing us!
Please check your email to confirm your email address.
Share via
What do Toyota, Okta, and Keybank have in common?
On the surface, not much, given they operate in different sectors —car manufacturing, B2B software, and banking, respectively. But review recent cyberattacks that made the news, and you’ll see the commonality: They all suffered major data breaches in 2022 through third-party vendors. Given these are global enterprises, one would argue they had some kind of Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) framework in place.
It begs the question:
Why do companies suffer data breaches through third-parties, despite having some way to manage risks?
If you’re a CISO or an enterprise security exec pondering over that question, here’s the likely answer. First, choosing the right TPRM framework is crucial, but it’s not enough. This is because no matter how good one may be, it is only useful if effectively implemented.
And that brings us to the rest of this article.
We’d explore the top enterprise TPRM frameworks you can choose from. More importantly, you’ll see how our interoperable cybersecurity platform, Cyber Sierra, effectively streamlines their implementation.
Join SMSW
Join CISOs, CTOs, and enterprise security execs subscribed to Secure My Software Weekly (SMSW) for actionable cybersecurity, risk and compliance insights.
In other words, TPRM frameworks developed by NIST and ISO come recommended. But there are variations of these, so choosing which ones to implement should be based on your company’s specific needs.
To help you do that, below are the various frameworks designed by both institutions and their relevance to enterprise TPRM.
However, given the large number of 3rd parties enterprise organizations now work with, private sector organizations can also adopt NIST 800-161. This framework breaks down the supply chain or vendor risk management process into four phases:
Frame,
Access,
Respond, and
Monitor:
Across these phases, there are 19 data security control themes, ranging from employee training to systems and service acquisition.
Generally, the NIST 800-37 RMF outlines steps companies can take to protect their data and systems. This includes assessing the security of systems, analyzing threats, and implementing data security controls. For vendor risk management purposes, section 2.8 of the framework specifically fits the bill. It is invaluable as it helps security teams consider relevant risk mitigation tactics for onboarding new third-parties.
Base your third-party risk assessment questionnaires on security controls in the NIST CSF framework, and your team can accurately assess potential vendors’ cyber threat profiles. This is especially useful for enterprise organizations with strict privacy or regulatory compliance concerns.
4. ISO 27001, 27002, and 27018
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO)developed the ISO 27001, 27002, and 27018 standards. Although known more for implementing governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) programs, these standards can also be used in creating frameworks for evaluating third-party risks.
Specifically, each of these standards have sections guiding security teams to ensure their vendor risk assessments are thorough. This is in addition to each standard helping your team manage a broader information security program across your organization.
5. ISO 27036
Unlike other ISO standards focused more on companies’ overall GRC programs, ISO 27036 series helps organizations manage risks arising from the acquisition of goods and services from suppliers.
ISO 27036 has provisions for addressing physical risks arising from working with professionals such as cleaners, security guards, delivery services, etc. It also has more standard processes for working with cloud service providers, data domiciles, and others.
Elements of an Effective Vendor Risk Management Framework
Notice something in the frameworks above?
Each addresses an element of the TPRM implementation process. For instance, NIST 800-37 enforces risk mitigation tactics for onboarding vendors while the ISO 27001 standard helps security teams design comprehensive risk assessment questionnaires.
This means two things:
First, for effective vendor risk management, companies may need to combine elements from various TPRM frameworks. The elements (or components) to keep in mind are illustrated below:
Secondly, because trying to cut off sections of various frameworks to achieve all necessary elements is too much manual work, there’s a need to streamline the process with a TPRM tool.
This is where Cyber Sierra comes in:
As shown above, our interoperable cybersecurity platform integrates NIST and ISO TPRM frameworks into easy-to-use templates for streamlined implementation.
How to Streamline Third-Party Risk Management Framework Implementation
Effective implementation of an enterprise TPRM framework must have all elements illustrated above. Specifically, it must include components for ongoing risk assessment, due diligence, contractual agreements, incidence response, and continuous monitoring.
Here’s how Cyber Sierra automates the critical ones.
Risk Assessment
This element of a TPRM framework focuses on assessing risks associated with potential third-party vendors. It involves using security questionnaires to evaluate vendors’ security practices, reputation, financial stability, and others.
But there’s a caveat.
Assessee tier (basic or advanced) and possible threats to deal with often depends on a vendor type and their geographic location. To this end, Cyber Sierra enforces security teams to choose a vendor type, geographic location, and if an advanced assessment is needed when initiating each third-party risk assessment flow:
Due Diligence
A study by the Ponemon Institute revealed why due diligence is a core component of an effective-implemented TPRM framework.
They found that:
In other words, don’t expect 3rd parties to be honest about responses to risk assessments on their threat profiles. Instead, use a TPRM platform like Cyber Sierra to auto-verify and automate due diligence on evidence uploaded for each security assessment question:
Contractual Agreements
This component of implementing a TPRM framework requires working with trained legal and compliance professionals. Such expertise is needed for designing custom contractual agreements that effectively outline each 3rd party’s security obligations, requirements, and expectations relative to risk management.
Incidence Response
How will your security team respond to cyber risks and security threats that emerge from vendors in your supply chain network?
This element of an implemented TPRM framework addresses that crucial question. It involves establishing proactive measures for remediating data threats and cyber risks arising from 3rd party vendors in your entire supply chain network.
But to respond to incidents, your security teams must first identify them before they lead to a data breach. This requires proper implementation of the fifth element of a TPRM framework.
Continuous Monitoring
This element of a TPRM framework entails:
Monitoring third-party security controls based on implemented risk management, governance, and compliance policies.
Verifying third-parties’ uploaded evidence of meeting their obligation of having required risk management controls.
Identifying and flagging vendors in your supply chain network without that fail to meet data security requirements.
You can enforce this by asking vendors managed with the Cyber Sierra platform to click on “Get Verified,” say, monthly:
On your team’s dashboard view, our platform automatically verifies vendors’ uploaded evidence of having mandated security controls.
It also flags evidence that fails verification and your team can work with vendors to resolve them on the same pane:
Implement TPRM Frameworks In One Place
As demonstrated in the steps above, you can implement critical elements of an enterprise vendor risk management program with Cyber Sierra. More importantly, our platform lets you choose between the NIST or ISO TPRM frameworks:
This means whichever recommended framework makes more sense for assessing and managing third-party vendor risks in your supply chain, you can do it with our platform without jumping loops.
You can even use both for specific vendors.
Choose (and Implement) Recommended Enterprise TPRM Framework In One Place
Book a free demo to see how Cyber Sierra easily streamlines TPRM Programs for enterprise organizations.
Third Party Risk Management
CISOs
CTOs
Cybersecurity Enthusiasts
Enterprise Leaders
Startup Founders
Pramodh Rai
Meet Pramodh Rai, a technology aficionado and Cyber Sierra's co-founder, whose zest for innovation is fuelled by a cupboard stacked with zero-sugar Redbull. With a nimble footwork through the tech tulips across Asia Pacific, he's donned hats at Hmlet (the proptech kind) and Funding Societies | Modalku, building high-performing teams and technologies. A Barclays prodigy with dual degrees from Nanyang Technological University, Pramodh is a treasure trove of wisdom, dad jokes, and everything product/tech. He's the Sherpa in sneakers you need.
Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.
Thank you for subscribing us!
Please check your email to confirm your email address.
Share via
Cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated. And their growing sophistication is expanding the cyberattack landscape every quarter:
To outsmart them and secure enterprise organizations, security teams must adopt measures that proactively identify and mitigate vulnerabilities and attacks beforehand. Narendra Sahoo, CISA, reiterated how enterprise security teams can do this.
Gartner calls this recommended proactive measure cybersecurity continuous control monitoring (CCM). Being a relatively new approach, it’s best for CISOs and enterprise security executives to begin by knowing what to include as they plan its implementation.
We’ll cover that in this guide and explore an actionable checklist to help your security team get it right. But let’s start with the often-asked question…
What Should a Continuous Cybersecurity Monitoring Plan Include?
Based on this definition, an effective continuous cybersecurity monitoring plan should, through technology and automation:
Map and maintain awareness of all systems and IT assets across your company and third-party vendor ecosystem.
Understand all emerging external threats and internal threat-related activities relative to established security controls.
Collect, analyze, and provide actionable security-related info across all mapped IT assets, security frameworks, and compliance regulations.
Integrate risk management and information security frameworks, and enable your security team to proactively manage risks.
Automating the areas outlined above in your CCM plan ensures coverage for all steps of the typical CCM lifecycle phases:
But each phase of the CCM lifecycle above has many steps and, in some cases, substeps. This, in turn, makes their implementation something security teams need to meticulously follow, step-by-step.
In the cybersecurity continuous control monitoring (CCM) checklist below, we explore the steps in each phase. You’ll also see how Cyber Sierra, our interoperable cybersecurity and compliance automation platform, streamlines their implementation.
Download the checklist to follow along:
The Enterprise Cybersecurity Continuous Control Monitoring (CCM) Checklist
Implement Cybersecurity Continuous Control Monitoring in your enterprise organization with this step-by-step checklist.
Why should we implement the CCM process?
By implementing a CCM process, enterprises can proactively manage risks, maintain regulatory compliance, improve operational efficiency, and foster a culture of continuous improvement, ultimately contributing to long-term success and sustainability.
Regulatory compliance:
CCM facilitates regulatory conformity and adherence to industry benchmarks pertaining to internal control oversight, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), COSO framework, and other governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) directives.
Risk mitigation:
It offers near real-time visibility into control vulnerabilities, empowering organizations to promptly identify and mitigate risks, thereby reducing the potential for fraud, errors, or operational disruptions.
Operational efficiency:
CCM automates the monitoring of controls, diminishing the need for periodic manual testing and audits, which can be time-consuming and resource-intensive endeavors.
Continuous enhancement:
By continuously monitoring controls, organizations can pinpoint areas for improvement and implement necessary adjustments to bolster the efficacy of their control environment.
Cost optimization:
An effective CCM can aid organizations in avoiding the costs associated with control failures, such as fines, legal fees, and reputational damage.
Informed decision-making:
CCM furnishes management with up-to-date information on the state of internal controls, enabling them to make more informed decisions regarding risk management and resource allocation.
Competitive Advantage:
Implementing a robust CCM process demonstrates an enterprise’s commitment to strong internal controls, risk management, and good governance practices, which can enhance its reputation and provide a competitive advantage in the market.
Enterprise Cybersecurity Continuous Control Monitoring (CCM) Checklist
Renowned Security Architect, Matthew Pascucci, advised:
Matthew’s advice is spot on.
In short, it is the expected outcome of the first step of our CCM checklist. So let’s dive in.
1. Analyze Continuous Control Objectives
Enterprises with any form of existing compliance and risk management process already have some form of security controls in place. If that’s your case, as it is with most enterprise organizations, achieving continuous monitoring of those security controls starts with analyzing your controls’ objectives.
You achieve this by initiating an extensive assessment of your organization’s compliance and cybersecurity controls. In other words, assess existing risks, cyber threats and vulnerabilities with a CCM platform.
The platform you choose should be able to:
Connect and map all the IT assets in your cloud and network environments, and those of third-party vendors.
Outline and categorize all technical and non-technical security controls across mapped assets and environments.
Integrate existing risk management, compliance, and information security frameworks to match outlined controls.
Identify vulnerabilities and gaps in existing security controls relative to mapped assets across cloud environments.
You can automate these tasks with Cyber Sierra. First, connect and map IT assets used across your company and third-party vendor ecosystem by integrating them with Cyber Sierra:
After integrating, scan one, some, or all apps and systems used across your organization in a few clicks. Each time your team initiates a scan with Cyber Sierra, it not only performs a scan, but also performs a comprehensive risk assessment of the integrated IT assets.
This is because our interoperable cybersecurity platform analyzes all integrated assets against standardized risk management, compliance, and information security frameworks in the background. This helps to detect and push vulnerabilities, cyber threats, and risks into your dashboard.
Here’s a peek:
Analyze Control Objectives and Implement Continuous Control Monitoring in One Place.
2. Evaluate Controls’ Implementation Options
What implementation options are feasible after analyzing the objectives of your controls through a comprehensive risk assessment? That’s the question your team must answer here.
To do this:
Review your company’s service portfolio to identify and determine what security controls are mission-critical.
Identify areas where additional resources (i.e., expertise, capital, training, etc.) are required for implementing continuous monitoring of mission-critical security controls, based on gaps found during the analysis and risk assessment phase.
Examine existing risk management, compliance, and information security procedures and processes to uncover what needs an upgrade to achieve continuous control monitoring.
3. Determine Continuous Control Implementation
According to Steve Durbin, CEO of the Information Security Forum:
Continuous control monitoring is a fast-paced process, where your security team must stay one step ahead of cybercriminals. So as observed by Steve, having a cohesive security architecture is essential for effective, consistent, and safe implementation.
Establishing the objective and priority of each implemented or should-be implemented security control relative to your business goal(s). This helps everyone in your security team working on specific security controls to give it necessary priority.
Determining and documenting acceptable approaches for implementing CCM. This helps your team know where to start, how to proceed, and the possible, acceptable outcome of each implemented or should-be implemented security control.
Outlining the conditions and steps for adapting all mission-critical security controls being monitored.
4. Create Continuous Control Procedures
This step involves creating continuous security control procedures based on stardardard or customized cybersecurity policy frameworks. Examples of standard cybersecurity policy frameworks to create continuous control procedures from are NIST, ISO, SOC, etc.
So for this step:
Examine standard cybersecurity policy frameworks to identify security controls critical to your business.
Create procedures for implementing controls identified from standard policy frameworks.
Identify necessary security controls not available in the standard cybersecurity policy frameworks examined; then, create custom policies and procedures for implementing them.
For the third sub-step, you’ll need a platform like Cyber Sierra that allows the upload of custom cybersecurity policies. Our compliance automation suite allows the creation of customized risk governance programs and uploading of custom control policies for them:
5. Deploy Continuous Control Instances
Implementing control instances operationalizes the cybersecurity controls established within the policy frameworks developed in the previous phase.
This involves:
Collaborating with your security operations team to implement continuous cybersecurity controls instances.
Implementing the security services needed to enforce and make defined control instances work.
Providing evidence for evaluating adherence to established security controls, policies, and procedures.
You may need to hire external expertise or launch employee security awareness training on deploying continuous control instances. Cyber Sierra can help with the latter:
As shown, you can launch and track the completion of cybersecurity training programs relevant to implementing CCM with our employee Security Awareness module.
Monitor and test security controls based on defined procedures and implemented risk management and compliance policies.
Identify and score emerging threats according to their likely impact on your organization’s security program.
Provides actionable information for your DevSecOps team to remediate threats and vulnerabilities in near-real-time.
For a CCM platform to tick the boxes above, it must ingest data from your mapped IT assets against established security policies. It must also refresh this ingested data in real-time automatically, ensuring continuous monitoring of security controls. Finally, it must alert security teams of risks that could lead to a breach.
The Risk Register on Cyber Sierra meets those requirements.
As shown, it detected threats in a GSuite asset category down to individual users. In this case, it refreshes ingested data in real-time, creating a threat alert and risk score whenever a user connects an unapproved external app with SSO to their GSuite.
7. Optimize Continuous Control Implementation
Continuous control monitoring is a never-ending process.
As the threat landscape, risk management trends, and compliance regulation requirements evolve, so should your continuous control implementation. Also, as your organization grows or collaborates with new third-party vendors, your continuous security control requirements will must adjust, too.
So choose an interval that makes sense for your organization, say weekly or monthly; and optimize CCM implementation by:
Enhancing ongoing data ingestion by uncovering new or disconnected apps and systems in your IT asset inventory.
Detecting control gaps and threats not accounted for as your DevSecOps team remediates identified risks.
Informing overall threat intelligence management across your organization based on risks and vulnerabilities detected throughout the CCM process.
What Tool is Used in Continuous Control Monitoring?
Due to its growing popularity, pure-play continuous control monitoring (CCM) platforms are emerging. At the same time, some niche governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) vendors are incorporating CCM capabilities into their solutions.
While the latter can do some of the job, it’s best to use a CCM tool built to support implementation across all phases of the CCM lifecycle. As the checklist explored above showed, that includes a long list of steps all related to each other in one way or another.
Based on this, Gartner recommends the use of a CCM tool that automates four core things:
Cyber Sierra has these capabilities built into its platform.
In short, ours is an interoperable cybersecurity and compliance automation software. This means the capabilities outlined above work well together, making the automation of CCM procedures and processes seamless.
Automate Continuous Cybersecurity Control Monitoring
As shown throughout various steps of the CCM lifecycle phases, automation is at the core of implementing CCM. And it is more feasible with an interoperable cybersecurity and compliance automation platform.
This is where Cyber Sierra comes in.
Why not book a free demo of Cyber Sierra to get a sneak peek into how our platform automates the ongoing implementation of CCM?
Automate Enterprise Cybersecurity Continuous Control Monitoring Implementation from One Place.
Continuous Control Monitoring
CISOs
CTOs
Cybersecurity Enthusiasts
Enterprise Leaders
Startup Founders
Pramodh Rai
Meet Pramodh Rai, a technology aficionado and Cyber Sierra's co-founder, whose zest for innovation is fuelled by a cupboard stacked with zero-sugar Redbull. With a nimble footwork through the tech tulips across Asia Pacific, he's donned hats at Hmlet (the proptech kind) and Funding Societies | Modalku, building high-performing teams and technologies. A Barclays prodigy with dual degrees from Nanyang Technological University, Pramodh is a treasure trove of wisdom, dad jokes, and everything product/tech. He's the Sherpa in sneakers you need.
Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.
Thank you for subscribing us!
Please check your email to confirm your email address.
Share via
Top 10 Alternatives to Scrut in 2024
Are you on the lookout for a robust compliance management software that could enhance your data security and compliance management processes?
Scrut has certainly carved a niche for itself in the business world as a preferred choice for handling compliance matters, but it might not be the perfect fit for every organization’s specific needs. It’s crucial to thoroughly evaluate all accessible alternatives before settling on your final choice.
In this guide, we will shed light on 10 promising alternatives to Scrut and delve into the unique advantages they hold over their rivals.
Top 10 Scrut Alternatives: Key Features, Pricing Plans, and More
Here are the top 10 alternatives to Scrut that we have shortlisted for you:
Cyber Sierra offers a comprehensive, one-of-a-kind cybersecurity suite, created specifically to fulfill the requirements of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs), technology pioneers, and other personnel engaged in the realm of data protection.
One notable attribute of Cyber Sierra is its seamless convergence of various security modules, forming an all-in-one security solution.
It unifies governance, risk management, cybersecurity compliance, cyber insurance offerings, threat landscape, and staff security training programs into its consolidated platform, effectively reducing the fragmentation often found in the many cybersecurity solutions in the market.
Key features
Omni governance: aids firms in achieving compliance standards recognized globally – ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, and PDPA.
Cybersecurity health check: performs thorough assessment and identification of threats linked to your digital entities.
Staff security education: provides a curriculum to empower employees in detecting and deflecting phishing attempts.
Third-party risk oversight: simplifies the process of security clearance for vendors and ensures routine monitoring of potential risks.
Continuous control monitoring: Monitors in near real-time the security controls, flagging off controls breaks and risk mitigation strategies.
Strengths
All-in-one security solution: brings together governance, risk management, cybersecurity compliance, cyber insurance offering, threat landscape, and personnel training modules in one consolidated platform.
Vendor risk command: simplifies the complexity of managing third-party associates and brings down associated risks.
Weaknesses
The platform is relatively new in the market.
Optimal for:
Cyber Sierra provides perfect resonance for both established corporations and startups confronted with regulative compliance, data protection, and similar concerns.
Additionally, it benefits corporations aiming to harmonize their cybersecurity, governance, and insurance methodologies, transitioning from multiple vendors to an integrated, intelligent platform.
Vanta is a platform that specializes in security and compliance management, with a focus on simplifying the processes involved in achieving SOC 2 compliance. It underscores the importance of security in a company’s technology environment by enabling continuous monitoring and automation of compliance processes. This functionality significantly decreases the amount of time and resources needed to prepare for SOC 2 certification.
Key features
Continuous Monitoring: By offering continuous security monitoring, Vanta ensures real-time compliance, enabling companies to remain updated and secure at all times.
Automation: To make the SOC 2 certification process faster and more efficient, it automates compliance efforts, streamlining workflows and reducing manual intervention.
Integration: It provides seamless integration with popular services and platforms like AWS, GCP, Azure, and more. This wide range of integration options makes it more adaptable to different technology environments.
Strengths
Time efficiency: Reduces the time and effort required to achieve SOC 2 compliance, saving companies valuable resources.
Integration: Integrates easily with numerous popular platforms, making it adaptable to various technology environments.
Weaknesses
Limited Scope: As a specialist in SOC 2 compliance, Vanta may not cater to other security frameworks or standards that some businesses might need.
Customization: With restricted customization options, Vanta may be less flexible for businesses that have unique compliance needs or those seeking to tailor their experiences.
Best suited for
Vanta serves as an excellent solution for mid-sized to large businesses, especially those from industries that necessitate strict security compliance standards. This makes it relevant for sectors such as technology, healthcare, or finance, where compliance with stringent security standards (like SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI and GDPR) becomes unavoidable.
Secureframe is a distinct compliance platform precisely developed to ease the process of achieving SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications. The tool’s strength lies in delivering thorough and consistent monitoring across multiple cloud platforms, including AWS, GCP, and Azure.
Key Features
Compliance monitoring: Secureframe offers continuous compliance monitoring across a diverse suite of services, ensuring round-the-clock security.
Automation: Through automation, Secureframe can dramatically decrease the time and resource requirements typically associated with security compliance tasks.
Integration capabilities: The platform operates smoothly with leading cloud services like AWS, GCP, and Azure, promoting harmonious operations.
Strengths
Robust reporting: Secureframe provides comprehensive and easy-to-understand reporting functionality, making it easier for businesses to keep track of compliance and security statuses.
User-friendly interface: The platform boasts a simplified, intuitive interface that makes navigation and task execution easy for users without technical expertise.
Multi-cloud support: Its ability to seamlessly work across multiple commonly used cloud services, including AWS, GCP, and Azure, is an added boon for businesses operating within these environments.
Weaknesses
Limited customization: Certain users have indicated a need for complex customization opportunities, suggesting that the platform might not provide enough versatility to meet the needs of all businesses.
Best suited for
Secureframe is especially beneficial for businesses, regardless of their size, that are aiming to simplify the process of obtaining SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications. Its superior integration abilities with popular cloud platforms make it particularly advantageous for companies that are reliant on AWS, GCP, and Azure for cloud services.
Drata is a security and compliance management platform that offers comprehensive support to companies striving to accomplish and sustain SOC 2 compliance.
The platform’s audit management software mechanizes the process of tracking, managing, and overseeing the necessary technical and operational controls for SOC 2 certification.
Key Features
Asset management: Drata enables companies to identify and track all assets such as servers, devices, and applications, making their management more effective.
Policy & procedure templates: Pre-built templates for policies and procedures on the platform allow companies to efficiently generate internal compliance documentation.
User access reviews: The platform ensures adequate access controls with regular user access reviews.
Security training: Drata offers continuous employee training and phishing simulations to heighten awareness of existing security threats and practices.
Strengths
Automated evidence collection:By automating the collection of evidence, Drata reduces the manual effort and potential for human errors.
Exceptional customer support: The platform boasts a responsive and knowledgeable support team that guides clients throughout the compliance process.
Weaknesses
Onboarding process: Users have reported finding the onboarding process long and convoluted, possibly resulting in a slower initial setup.
Complex functionality: The broad functionality offered by Drata may prove complicated for non-technical users.
Scalability: Being a relatively new player in the market, Drata could face challenges when scaling up to address the needs of larger organizations with more complex compliance requirements.
Pricing: The pricing model of Drata might be a hurdle for smaller businesses with restrictive budgets.
Best Suited For
Drata is particularly beneficial for organizations wishing to earn and maintain SOC 2 compliance while minimizing manual tasks. Thanks to its advanced automation features, it appeals to businesses in search of a more streamlined audit experience.
Sprinto is a security and compliance automation platform that helps businesses maintain compliance with a variety of frameworks including SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS.
With its customization and real-time monitoring capabilities, Sprinto equips companies to continuously check and efficiently manage their security and compliance state.
Key features
Asset management: Sprinto’s security compliance lets businesses consolidate risk, map entity-level controls, and run fully automated checks.
Policy implementation: The platform offers automated workflows, policy templates, and training modules that cater to various security compliance needs.
Exceptional support: Sprinto’s experts guide businesses through every step of the compliance process, right from risk assessment to meeting audit requirements.
Cloud compatibility: Sprinto integrates seamlessly with most modern business cloud services for comprehensive risk assessment and control mapping.
Strengths
Automation: Sprinto’s automation capabilities significantly reduce the effort required to achieve compliance.
Wide compliance coverage: Supports a broad range of compliance frameworks, enabling businesses to manage multiple compliances simultaneously.
Expert support: Sprinto provides expert-led implementation support from day one, ensuring appropriate controls and practices are in place.
Integration capability: Works seamlessly with many business cloud services, allowing for efficient mapping of controls and comprehensive risk assessment.
Weaknesses
Adaptive requirements: Businesses have to adapt to the platform to fully take advantage of automated checks and continuous monitoring.
Customer support: There is room for improvement in Sprinto’s customer service, as reported by some users regarding response times.
Best for
Sprinto is best suited for fast-growing cloud companies looking to streamline their security compliance processes. Its automation capabilities and broad compliance coverage make it an ideal choice for businesses seeking a more efficient, hands-off approach to maintaining security compliance.
AuditBoard serves as a sophisticated audit, risk, and compliance management platform devised to deliver user-friendliness. The platform aids corporations in handling intricate audit, compliance, and risk management tasks, presenting uninterrupted accessibility and collaboration utilities.
Key features
Holistic control management: AuditBoard encompasses end-to-end audit management, encapsulating capabilities such as risk appraisal, control test management, issue tracking, and report generation.
Operational auditing provisions: The platform furnishes an integrated toolkit, purposed to streamline and enhance internal and operational audits.
Risk evaluation: It aids in effortless detection and supervision of risks across various departments within an organization.
Real-time reports: It ensures prompt insights and custom report generation for audit progress tracking and issue management.
Strengths
User-friendliness: The intuitive interface of AuditBoard receives commendations for making audit and risk evaluations much simpler.
Collaboration: Its efficient collaboration tools bolster communication among internal teams and between organizations and external auditors.
Weaknesses
Customer assistance: Some incidences reflect dissatisfaction with the timely and effective response of AuditBoard’s customer support.
Navigation complexity: Few users find navigating through the platform somewhat complex, especially when handling multiple projects concurrently.
Cost: The high cost associated with its comprehensive features may not be affordable to small- and medium-sized businesses.
Best Suited For
AuditBoard stands as an optimal choice for large-scale organizations in search of a robust, all-in-one audit and risk management solution. It works exceptionally well for companies frequently conducting internal and operational audits, and those requiring real-time insights into their audit and risk undertakings.
Wiz serves as a holistic cloud security solution, granting enterprises an extensive perspective of security risks within their entire cloud ecosystem. This advanced Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) tool surpasses agent-based solutions by scanning the complete cloud infrastructure for potential weaknesses, and configuration problems, and detecting concealed threats.
Key features
All-encompassing visibility: Wiz delivers a comprehensive outlook of multi-cloud environments, providing a centralized overview of security concerns.
Intelligent remediation: The solution identifies vulnerabilities and presents actionable insights for addressing security risks.
Collaboration: Wiz fosters cooperation among DevOps, cloud infrastructure, and security teams through a unified platform.
Ongoing security monitoring: Wiz persistently observes cloud environments to detect and notify users of security issues or misconfigurations.
Strengths
Thorough: Wiz offers extensive security evaluation, encompassing all major cloud platforms.
Efficient automation: The solution facilitates role automation and showcases user-friendly dashboards to enhance security procedures.
Simple setup and usage: Wiz is reputed to be easy to implement with minimal configuration prerequisites.
Weaknesses
Insufficient documentation: Some users have noted that Wiz’s documentation could be more in-depth and comprehensive.
Ambiguity in pricing: A few reviewers have remarked that pricing information is not easily accessible, complicating cost-related decision-making.
Possibly overwhelming notifications: While Wiz monitors cloud environments, the frequency of its alerts might inundate some users.
Best Suited For
Wiz is an ideal choice for businesses operating in multi-cloud environments, necessitating a comprehensive, all-inclusive view of their cloud security posture. Its competence in delivering a centralized security perspective is particularly beneficial for companies with intricate cloud infrastructures.
Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud is a comprehensive cybersecurity solution that amalgamates backup services, disaster recovery capabilities, AI-empowered protection against malware and ransomware, and remote support. With its multi-layered approach, the solution safeguards data across multiple environments and devices.
Key features
Backup and disaster recovery: The service delivers constant data protection along with backup services, also equipping businesses with disaster recovery strategies for critical situations.
Cybersecurity: Leveraging AI and machine learning technologies, the platform can preemptively spot and ward off evolving threats.
Remote support: It offers remote assistance for swift problem resolution from any place.
Strengths
Holistic protection: Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud brings together backup, security, and recovery within a single framework to provide multi-tiered security.
User Friendliness: Several users praise the platform for its intuitive interface and seamless navigation.
Reliable backup and recovery: Many users commend its reliable performance when it comes to data backup and recovery.
Weaknesses
Potential performance issues: Some users noted that the software may become slow, particularly during large-scale backup operations.
Customer support: Some customers have reported disappointing experiences with delayed responses from the support team.
Lack of comprehensive reports: A handful of clients have expressed a need for a more robust reporting feature that could elaborate on a comprehensive analysis.
Best Suited for
Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud is ideal for organizations that put strong emphasis on extensive, integrated cybersecurity measures. Given its diverse features, it acts as a versatile solution for various sectors—be it IT, retail, healthcare, finance, or any other industry necessitating stringent data security.
Druva Data Resiliency Cloud is a service-driven data management and protection system, providing secure backup, disaster recovery, and data governance across various environments like data centers, endpoints, and cloud applications.
Key Features
Unified data protection: Druva delivers dependable and consolidated backup and recovery solutions for data centers, endpoints, and SaaS applications.
Disaster recovery: It offers a straightforward, rapidly responsive, and cost-efficient method for on-demand disaster recovery.
Global deduplication: Druva’s global deduplication feature facilitates efficient storage and bandwidth usage, leading to reduced costs and quicker backups.
Security and compliance: The solution provides data protection in adherence with multiple regulations such as GDPR, featuring encryption, access control, and audit trails.
Strengths
SaaS deployment: As a service-oriented solution, Druva is easy to install, maintain, and scale, relieving the IT teams’ burdens.
Efficient data management: Druva provides a centralized console for managing data protection tasks across diverse environments, simplifying data management procedures.
Cost-effectiveness: Druva dispenses with hardware and infrastructure expenses, resulting in a more budget-friendly solution.
Customer support: Druva’s support team has received positive feedback for their quick response time and helpfulness.
Weaknesses
Performance with large datasets: Some reports indicate a slowdown in performance when processing extensive datasets, suggesting it might not be the best fit for businesses with large-scale data processing needs.
Confusing pricing structure: Some users have indicated that the pricing structure might be a bit convoluted and lacks clarity.
Best Suited For
Druva Data Resiliency Cloud is ideal for enterprises of all sizes seeking a service-driven, budget-friendly, and straightforward data protection solution. It’s particularly advantageous for businesses functioning in distributed environments, involving numerous data center applications and endpoints.
Contrarily, businesses required to deal with large-scale datasets or those with specific customization needs may want to explore other solutions or test Druva’s performance before choosing a final course.
Duo Security, now integrated with Cisco, is a cloud-based access security platform that defends users, data, and applications from potential threats. It authenticates user identities and verifies the device health status before granting access to applications, ensuring compliance with enterprise security standards.
Key Features
Two-factor authentication (2FA): Duo enhances network and application access security by necessitating a secondary authentication method in addition to the primary password.
Device trust: Duo provides visibility into all devices attempting to access your applications and grants them access only after meeting your security criteria.
Adaptive authentication: Duo employs adaptive policies and machine learning to deliver secure access based on user behavior and device information.
Secure single sign-on (SSO): Users can securely and effortlessly access all applications through Duo’s SSO capability.
Strengths
Ease of use: Duo is renowned for its user-friendly interface and simple deployment.
Robust security: Duo’s two-factor authentication considerably lowers the odds of unauthorized access.
Wide Integration: Duo seamlessly integrates with various existing VPNs, cloud applications, and other network infrastructures.
Customer support: Duo’s customer service team stands out for its promptness and effectiveness.
Weaknesses
Limited granular control: Users seeking specific controls or advanced customization might find Duo Security lacking granularity, particularly when configuring policies.
Software updates: Occasionally, users have cited challenges or temporary interruptions following software updates.
Cost: Duo’s pricing structure might be prohibitive for startups or smaller businesses.
User interface: Despite being user-friendly, some users suggest the interface could benefit from a more contemporary and visually appealing upgrade.
Best Suited For
Duo Security is an ideal fit for businesses with diverse software ecosystems, as it effortlessly operates across a variety of applications and devices. Organizations requiring a flexible access security solution will find Duo’s features advantageous.
Top 10 Scrut Alternatives: Comparative Analysis
Here’s a comparative analysis of the top 10 Scrut alternatives to find the best platform that suits your needs:
Stick With The Best
Selecting suitable software for your organization can be an intricate task. However, by scrutinizing the features, costs, and user experiences associated with each option, the decision-making process can be substantially easier.
Despite the availability of various software solutions capable of aiding your organization’s management functions, it is crucial to opt for one that closely aligns with your needs.
Among security systems, Cyber Sierra distinguishes itself by integrating high functionality and robust protection within a single platform.
The platform’s uncomplicated design facilitates the rapid and easy implementation of security measures, thereby providing additional shielding against potential cyber threats.
Book a demo to see how Cyber Sierra can help your business.
Governance & Compliance
CISOs
CTOs
Cybersecurity Enthusiasts
Enterprise Leaders
Startup Founders
Srividhya Karthik
Srividhya Karthik is a seasoned content marketer and the Head of Marketing at Cyber Sierra. With a firm belief in the power of storytelling, she brings years of experience to create engaging narratives that captivate audiences. She also brings valuable insights from her work in the field of cybersecurity and compliance, possessing a deep understanding of the challenges and pain points faced by customers in these domains.
Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.
Thank you for subscribing us!
Please check your email to confirm your email address.
Share via
Top 10 Alternatives to Secureframe in 2024
Are you exploring comprehensive compliance management software that could uplift your organization’s data privacy and compliance management practices?
Secureframe is a well-renowned choice in the corporate world for managing compliance affairs. That said, it might not necessarily be the ultimate solution for all organizations and their distinctive requirements.
There are many competent alternatives to Secureframe that offer similar functionalities but with a few modifications. The following list gives you an insight into some of them so that you can make an educated decision when it comes to selecting the right software for your business.
Top 10 Secureframe Alternatives: Key Features, Pricing Plans, and More
Here are the top 10 alternatives to Secureframe that we have shortlisted for you:
Cyber Sierra is a unified cybersecurity platform, specially designed to cater to the demands of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs), tech innovators, and other individuals involved in the field of data security.
A key feature of Cyber Sierra is its effortless convergence of many security components, forming a complete cybersecurity solution.
This system brings together governance, risk management, cybersecurity adherence, cyber insurance offerings, threat view, and personnel training modules within one unified platform, effectively reducing the typical disjointed nature of cybersecurity management.
Key Features
Universal Governance: Helps companies meet widely recognized compliance standards such as ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, and PDPA.
Cybersecurity Health Examination: Carries out in-depth reviews and identification of threats connected to your digital assets.
Employee Security Instruction: Offers learning materials that help employees recognize and ward off phishing attempts.
Third-Party Risk Supervision: Streamlines the security clearance process for suppliers and ensures regular tracking of potential dangers.
Continuous control monitoring: Monitors in near real-time the security controls, flagging off controls breaks and risk mitigation strategies.
Strengths
All-purpose Security Solution: Merges governance, risk management, cybersecurity compliance, cyber insurance offerings, threat landscape, and staff training modules into one unified platform.
Third-party risk management: Simplifies the challenge of handling third-party partners and reduces related risks.
Weaknesses
The platform is relatively new in the market.
Best For
Cyber Sierra is well suited for both well-established companies and startups grappling with regulatory compliance, and data protection, amongst other issues.
In addition, it aids companies looking to streamline their cybersecurity, governance, and insurance approaches, switching from multiple suppliers to a single, smart platform.
Vanta is a dedicated platform for security and compliance management, particularly simplifying processes for achieving SOC 2 compliance. It insightfully accentuates the need for robust security within a company’s tech ecosystem by facilitating consistent monitoring and compliance process automation. Deploying these mechanisms significantly cuts down the time and resources necessary for SOC 2 certification preparedness.
Key Features
Continuous Monitoring: Vanta offers non-stop security monitoring to ensure up-to-the-minute compliance, allowing companies to remain continually updated and secure.
Automation: To accelerate and streamline the SOC 2 certification process, Vanta employs automation in compliance tasks, effectively bringing down manual intervention.
Integration: Vanta integrates seamlessly with renowned services and platforms such as AWS, GCP, Azure, among others. This broad range of integration options enhances adaptability to various tech environments.
Strengths
Time Efficiency: Vanta notably diminishes the time and effort allocated for SOC 2 compliance, freeing up valuable resources for companies.
Integration: Its wide interoperability with numerous popular platforms ensures adaptability to diverse tech environments.
Weaknesses
Limited Scope: Functioning as a specialist for SOC 2 compliance, Vanta might fail to appeal to the requirements of other security frameworks or standards desired by certain businesses.
Customization: With limited customization capabilities, Vanta may lack the necessary flexibility for businesses with unique compliance requirements or those wanting a more tailored experience.
Best for
Vanta is ideally suited for medium to large businesses, particularly those in industries requiring rigorous security compliance standards. This includes sectors such as tech, healthcare, or finance, where compliance with stringent safety standards (e.g., SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI, and GDPR) is mandatory.
Focused on the automation of cloud configuration testing, Scrut Automation is a powerful cloud security platform developed to add strong layers of cloud-native defense for AWS, Azure, GCP, and more.
Key features
Automated cloud configurations testing: Scrut Automation continuously checks your cloud configurations against 150+ CIS benchmarks.
Historical records: The platform creates a historical record of your security state, allowing you to track improvements over time.
Integration: Seamlessly works with popular cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
Strengths
In-depth security coverage: With over 150 CIS benchmarks, it effectively protects your cloud environment.
Time-efficient: By automating labor-intensive tasks and prioritizing remediations, it accelerates information security progression.
Weaknesses
Learning curve: Understanding and navigating certain functionalities may take time for users new to cloud security settings.
Limited customization: Scrut Automation may offer limited options for customization and personalization based on individual user requirements.
Best for
Organizations using cloud computing services from providers like AWS, Azure, and GCP will greatly benefit from Scrut Automation. Its extensive security and compliance coverage make it suitable for large enterprises in need of robust cloud security.
Medium and smaller businesses looking to fortify their cloud security while preferring an automated process will also find it beneficial.
Drata serves as a security and compliance management platform, providing extensive assistance to companies working towards obtaining and upholding SOC 2 compliance.
Its audit management software simplifies the process of monitoring, managing, and supervising technical and operational controls required for SOC 2 certification.
Key Features
Asset management: Drata empowers organizations to identify and manage assets like servers, devices, and applications for enhanced control.
Policy & procedure templates: The platform offers ready-to-use templates, enabling companies to create internal compliance documentation efficiently.
User access reviews: Drata conducts routine user access evaluations to enforce proper access controls.
Security training: Continuous employee training and phishing simulations on the platform raise awareness about security threats and best practices.
Strengths
Automated evidence collection: Drata’s automation of evidence gathering reduces manual work and the possibility of human errors.
Exceptional customer support: Users benefit from the platform’s responsive and well-informed support team throughout the compliance journey.
Weaknesses
Onboarding process: Some users have noted that the onboarding process can be lengthy and intricate, which may result in a slower initial setup.
Scalability: As a relatively new market entrant, Drata may encounter difficulties when scaling to meet the demands of larger organizations with higher-level compliance requirements.
Pricing: Drata’s pricing model could be an obstacle for smaller businesses with budget constraints.
Best For
Drata is particularly advantageous to organizations aiming to achieve and sustain SOC 2 compliance with minimal manual involvement.
Due to its advanced automation capabilities, the platform is highly attractive to businesses seeking a more seamless audit experience.
Sprinto operates as a security and compliance automation platform aimed at aiding businesses to achieve and maintain compliance with multiple frameworks such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS. Its customized real-time monitoring capabilities allow corporations to continuously track and manage their security and compliance status.
Key Features
Asset Management: The security compliance feature of Sprinto consolidates risk, maps entity-level controls, and enables automated checks.
Policy Implementation: Its automated workflows, policy templates, and action-oriented training modules cater to diverse security compliance requirements.
Exceptional Support: Sprinto’s team of experts guide businesses throughout the compliance process, from risk assessment to actualizing audit requirements.
Cloud Compatibility: Comprehensive risk assessment and control mapping is achievable owing to Sprinto’s seamless integration with modern business cloud services.
Strengths
Automation Capabilities: Sprinto significantly lightens the effort needed to achieve compliance due to its automation capabilities.
Wide Compliance Coverage: Sprinto’s support for an inclusive set of compliance frameworks enables businesses to manage multiple compliances simultaneously.
Expert Support: Sprinto provides expert-driven implementation support from the commencement, ensuring that appropriate controls and practices are implemented.
Integration Capability: It works efficiently with many business cloud services enabling proficient mapping of controls and thorough risk assessment.
Weaknesses
Adaptive Requirements: Businesses must adapt to Sprinto’s platform to leverage the full potential of its automated checks and continuous monitoring features.
Customer Support: Some users report room for improvement in Sprinto’s customer service, specifically in terms of response times.
Best For
Sprinto is an excellent choice for rapidly expanding cloud companies wanting to streamline their security compliance processes. Its automation abilities and extended compliance coverage make it attractive for businesses desiring a more efficient and less hands-on approach to maintaining security compliance.
AuditBoard is a robust, intuitive platform that simplifies audit, risk, and compliance management for enterprises. It empowers businesses to handle detailed audits, compliance, and risk management tasks while showcasing features like seamless accessibility and collaborative capabilities.
Key Features
Integrated Control Management: AuditBoard offers comprehensive control management for effective audits, risk assessment, control tests, issue tracking, and reporting operations.
Operational Auditing: This platform is equipped with tools for the efficient and effortless execution of internal and operational audits.
Risk Assessment: With AuditBoard, the identification and management of risks across various organizational departments are streamlined and simplified.
Real-time Reporting: Users can take advantage of real-time insights and custom reports for tracking audit progress and resolving issues.
Strengths
Ease of Use: Known for its user-friendly interface, AuditBoard makes audit and risk assessment activities simpler.
Collaboration: The collaboration tools provided enhance communication between internal teams and external auditors.
Weaknesses
Customer Support: Some customers had reservations concerning the effectiveness and promptness of AuditBoard’s customer service.
Less Intuitive Navigation: According to some users, the system navigation can be challenging when dealing with multiple projects.
Expensive: Due to its remarkable range of features, AuditBoard carries a proportionally remarkable price tag which may not be affordable for smaller companies.
Best for
AuditBoard is an ideal choice for large companies seeking an all-inclusive audit and risk management solution. It is an excellent tool for companies conducting regular internal and operational audits and requiring real-time audit and risk management insights.
Wiz is a cutting-edge cloud security solution that delivers a complete overview of security risks across the entire cloud environment. As a next-generation Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) tool, it transcends agent-based solutions by examining the full cloud stack for potential vulnerabilities, configuration problems, and concealed threats.
Key features
360-Degree Visibility: Wiz furnishes complete visibility into multi-cloud environments, offering a centralized perspective of security concerns.
Smart Remediation: Wiz detects vulnerabilities and presents actionable recommendations for addressing security risks.
Collaboration: By utilizing a single platform, Wiz fosters cooperation among DevOps, cloud infrastructure, and security teams.
Ongoing Security Monitoring: Wiz persistently surveys cloud environments, identifying and notifying users of security issues or misconfigurations in real-time.
Strengths
Comprehensive Security: Wiz delivers inclusive security evaluations for all major cloud platforms.
Efficient Automation: With automated roles and easy-to-understand dashboards, Wiz streamlines security processes.
Simple Setup and Use: Many users attest to Wiz’s ease of implementation and minimal configuration requirements.
Weaknesses
Insufficient Documentation: A few users have remarked that Wiz’s documentation could be more extensive and in-depth.
Pricing Ambiguity: Some reviewers noted that pricing information is not easily accessible, resulting in difficulties in determining the cost of Wiz’s implementation.
Frequent Notifications: As Wiz continually monitors cloud environments, certain users may find the volume of notifications overbearing.
Best for
Wiz is an ideal choice for businesses operating within multi-cloud environments that prioritize a thorough and holistic understanding of their cloud security position. Companies with intricate cloud infrastructure will greatly benefit from Wiz’s capacity to offer a centralized security viewpoint.
Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud is an all-inclusive cybersecurity platform that bundles backup, disaster recovery, artificial intelligence-powered malware and ransomware protection, remote assistance, and security into a single ecosystem. The solution’s aim is to deliver a multi-faceted protection approach for data across multiple devices and environments.
Key Features
Backup and disaster recovery: Acronis safeguards data consistently with its robust backup resolutions, presenting disaster recovery alternatives in case of significant issues.
Cyber security: Utilizes AI and machine learning technologies to spot and counteract emerging threats proficiently.
Patch management: Identifies and promptly updates outdated software iterations, lowering the risks of vulnerabilities.
Remote assistance: Delivers remote support, allowing users and administrators to handle issues from anywhere promptly.
Strengths
Comprehensive Safeguarding: Supplies multi-layered protection via an integrated approach to backup, security, and disaster recovery.
User-friendly Experience: Users commend the platform for its intuitive interface and accessible navigation.
Dependable Backup and Recovery: Acronis’ performance in data backup and rejuvenation is widely appreciated.
Weaknesses
Occasional Performance Hiccups: Some end-users noted that the application might experience sluggishness, particularly during intensive backup tasks.
Technical Support Concerns: A few customers mentioned delays and subpar experiences when interacting with the support team.
Under-elaborate Reporting: Certain clients suggest the need for more comprehensive report analysis with additional details in the platform’s reporting feature.
Best for
Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud is a recommendable solution for organizations emphasizing robust, all-around cybersecurity measures. Its inclusive nature deems it an advantageous choice for companies across diverse sectors such as IT, retail, healthcare, finance, and any other field where data security is of utmost importance.
Druva Data Resiliency Cloud presents itself as a SaaS-driven data protection and management tool, providing reliable backup, disaster recovery, and information governance across numerous environments, such as endpoints, data centers, and cloud-centric applications.
Key Features
Combined Data Protection: Druva furnishes dependable, unified backup and recuperation solutions for endpoints, data centers, and SaaS-based applications.
Disaster Recoil: Proposes a simplistic, prompt, and economical approach for unexpected disaster recovery needs.
Global Deduplication: Druva’s worldwide deduplication facilitates proficient storage and bandwidth use, cutting costs and accelerating backups.
Security and Regulatory Compliance: The solution guarantees data safety following multiple regulations like GDPR, offering encryption, access regulation, and audit tracks.
Strengths
SaaS Deployment: Being a SaaS-based solution, Druva makes deployment, upkeep, and scalability easier, lessening the load on IT staff.
Effective Data Handling: Druva offers a centralized dashboard for managing data protection activities across varying environments, streamlining data management processes.
Cost-Efficiency: It removes hardware and infrastructural costs, making it a more budget-friendly solution.
Client Support: Druva is applauded for its approachable and competent customer support.
Weaknesses
Handling Extensive Data Sets: Reports suggest that performance may drop when dealing with hefty data sets, making it potentially unsuitable for businesses handling large scale data processing.
Intricate Pricing Architecture: Some users have indicated that Druva’s pricing structure can be puzzling and may lack transparency.
Best for
Druva Data Resiliency Cloud is a commendable choice for organizations of all magnitudes to secure a SaaS-based, cost-effective, and uncomplicated data protection service. It caters well to businesses with scattered environments, inclusive of endpoints and varying data center applications.
Businesses with substantial data volumes or bespoke customization requirements might want to explore alternatives or assess Druva’s performance prior to making a commitment.
Duo Security, a subsidiary of Cisco, offers a cloud-based solution for security access, safeguarding users, data, and applications from potential breaches. It verifies the identities of users and device health prior to granting application access, ensuring alignment with business security compliance mandates.
Key Features
Two-factor Authentication (2FA): Duo reinforces secure network and application access by implementing a complementary form of authentication on top of the primary password.
Device Trust: Duo equips businesses with insights into every device accessing their applications, permitting access only after verifying their alignment with security standards.
Adaptive Authentication: Duo employs adaptive policies and machine learning to bolster access security based on user behavior and device intelligence.
Secure Single Sign-On (SSO): Users enjoy smooth, secure access to all enterprise applications through Duo’s SSO feature.
Strengths
User-friendly: Duo’s configuration and deployment are hassle-free and it boasts a user-friendly interface.
Robust Security: Duo’s two-factor authentication minimizes the risk of unauthorized access.
Extensive Integration: Duo seamlessly integrates with an array of existing VPNs, cloud applications, and network infrastructures.
Customer Support: Duo’s support team is recognized for their responsiveness and effectiveness.
Weaknesses
Inadequate Granular Control: For users seeking advanced customization options or specific controls, Duo Security may fall short, especially in policy configuration.
Software Updates: A few users have experienced issues or interruptions after implementing software updates.
Pricing: Small businesses or startups may find Duo’s pricing structure on higher side.
User Interface: Some users believe the interface could be upgraded and more aesthetically appealing.
Best for
Duo’s cross-compatibility with multiple applications and devices makes it an effective solution for businesses with a diverse software suite.
Top 10 Secureframe Alternatives: Comparative Analysis
Here is a comparative analysis of the top 10 alternatives to Secureframe, which will aid your selection of an ideal software for your respective needs.
Stick With the Best
When it comes to picking the right software, a detailed analysis of key features, pricing, and user experiences can narrow down options and streamline your decision-making process.
With an array of management tools available in the market, it’s pivotal to choose one that matches your organization’s specific requirements.
Among these security software, Cyber Sierra stands out due to its potent blend of extensive features and sophisticated protection.
The platform’s user-friendly interface allows swift and effortless enactment of important security protocols that give your business an added layer of defense against cyber vulnerabilities.
Schedule a demo today and learn how Cyber Sierra can optimally secure your business.
Governance & Compliance
CISOs
CTOs
Cybersecurity Enthusiasts
Enterprise Leaders
Startup Founders
Srividhya Karthik
Srividhya Karthik is a seasoned content marketer and the Head of Marketing at Cyber Sierra. With a firm belief in the power of storytelling, she brings years of experience to create engaging narratives that captivate audiences. She also brings valuable insights from her work in the field of cybersecurity and compliance, possessing a deep understanding of the challenges and pain points faced by customers in these domains.
