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Legacy GRC tools get a bad rap.
For instance, when someone asked members of the r/cybersecurity subreddit community for their primary use of GRC software, the overwhelming response was negative. As you can see below, most respondents called the GRC tools they’ve used ‘shitty:’
Wondering why many people think GRC tools are ‘shitty,’ I dug deeper. My findings can be summarized by one of the many comments to the Reddit post above. The second comment, to be specific. As noted, most legacy GRC tools are basically prettier, more expensive versions of Excel spreadsheets with reminders and folders.
Smart GRC software is different.
But what exactly is it, you ask?
A smart, enterprise GRC solution is purposefully designed as one, unified cybersecurity governance, risk management, and compliance regulatory (GRC) suite. Across these tenets, an excellent one works interoperably. This means that you, your security team, and teams across your company can use it to automate mundane GRC processes while getting near real-time, actionable cybersecurity insights.
Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) opt for them because exceptional ones fill the voids of legacy GRC tools. Specifically, instead of a prettier spreadsheet with basic reminders, smart GRC consolidates the entire enterprise cybersecurity infrastructure under one technology roof, enabling your core team, organization, and security processes to work in sync.
And to cut the long story short…
It’s How You Create a Strong GRC Program
A major challenge in enterprise organizations is the presence of silos, where the core security team and teams across other departments work independently. This often leads to misalignment and inefficiencies in implementing holistic cyber risk measures.
Smart GRC software reduces such unwanted silos. This enables company-wide perspective and real-time implementation of programs across governance, risk management, and regulatory compliance. More importantly, it helps your team evolve with the ever-growing threat landscape, creating a strong GRC program.
But what makes GRC software smart?
According to CSO’s report, smart GRC is one with integrated cybersecurity capabilities, resulting in company-wide alignment:
Based on this, the rest of this article will explore benefits of adopting smart GRC software. In the end, you’d also see why the interoperable nature of Cyber Sierra makes it a more reliable, smart GRC platform for tackling enterprise cybersecurity holistically.
Benefits of Smart GRC in Enterprise Cybersecurity
Consider this illustration:
As shown, due to the interconnectedness of enterprise GRC, a core benefit of smart GRC software (like Cyber Sierra) is its interoperability. Meaning that from implementing governance frameworks to ongoing risk management measures and compliance regulations, your enterprise security team and organization can achieve everything below from one place.
1. Centralized, Optimized Workflows
Getting everyone involved —from stakeholders who provide executive oversight to your core cybersecurity team and employees across the organization— is a crucial benefit of smart GRC software.
But centralization is only the starting point.
The real value is that you’re also able to create, manage, and optimize critical cybersecurity workflow processes collaboratively. This gives you, the executive or security leader, a more comprehensive view of your company’s tech infrastructure and cybersecurity processes.
As was the case with Hemant Kumar, COO at Aktivolabs.
More on that later.
2. No Cumbersome Spreadsheet Versioning
Excel can’t handle modern GRC complexities.
But most people don’t realize this until there are multiple sheets with multiple tabs and hundreds of columns and rows to deal with. At which point you either have to deal with cumbersome versioning problems or train your team to become spreadsheet ninjas.
Because smart GRC software is unified, it solves most, if not all, manual errors and frustrations from using Excel or its cloud-based alternative, Google Sheets. For instance, leveraging a smart GRC platform removes:
The risk of users overwriting various critical data
Leadership forgetting to change access permissions when employees leave your company, and
Dealing with data breaches due to the inherent lack of security on spreadsheets generally.
In addition to eliminating these inefficiencies, smart GRC software also offers massive scalability advantages. Say your organization was expanding and you needed to comply with various new compliance regulations. With a smart GRC platform, for instance, no need to create and manage new versions of sheets manually.
An excellent one comes pre-built with popular compliance programs, giving your team a streamlined process of becoming compliant.
3. Seamless Policy Creation & Maintenance
Across governance, risk management, and regulatory compliance are hundreds, and in many cases, dozens of hundreds of policies to be created and maintained with timely updates. Attempting to do any of the three —create, maintain, and update— with traditional word documents introduces lots of inefficiencies.
For instance, important policy documents may be spread across multiple employees’ computers and not accessible by others on your security team when needed. This creates inaccuracy, redundancy, and policy violations if, say, you needed to update such inaccessible policy documents to keep your company compliant.
Smart GRC solution solves this.
For instance (with Cyber Sierra), all policies across governance, risk management, and compliance are created and consolidated into a unified view automatically. This gives you, your security team, and relevant stakeholders across your organization a centralized pane for creating, managing, and updating policy documents.
With everything in one place, you can see who was assigned a specific policy document, the current version, the last time it was updated, the last time it was reviewed by leadership, and much more.
4. Real-time Cybersecurity Controls’ Audit Logs
Post-GRC implementation effectiveness is as, if not more, crucial as centralizing pre-GRC implementation. It’s how your security team ensures implemented GRC controls are all functioning effectively.
Failure to swiftly identify and fix broken cybersecurity controls across governance, risk management, and regulatory compliance programs can lead to data breaches and hefty fines. This creates a dire need for real-time cybersecurity controls’ audit logs with the goal of spotting and fixing control breaks as they happen.
Smart GRC software streamlines the process.
It can log, audit, and monitor all cybersecurity controls in near real-time. It also gives your team a dedicated view where all control breaks can be immediately tracked and remediated. More importantly, with an exceptional one, you can assign remediation tasks to members of your security team from the same pane.
Crucial Steps In Implementing Enterprise GRC
Get the right people —executive stakeholders and core cybersecurity team— involved, and implementing enterprise GRC comes down to creating and training them on critical processes. Next, empower them with an interoperable, GRC platform, and they will more easily streamline the work involved collaboratively.
As illustrated below:
People
People, as they say, are your first line of cybersecurity defense. This saying applies so much to enterprise GRC implementation because you need the combined efforts of:
Executives experienced in choosing the right GRC governance frameworks and providing leadership oversight
Cybersecurity operators versed in implementing and maintaining implemented GRC frameworks, and
Employees trained on doing their bits to avoid data breaches that could lead to GRC implementation failures and hefty fines.
Smart GRC software brings you and everyone needed to implement and maintain your GRC program into one centralized pane. But to ensure this, the platform must be pre-built with major GRC frameworks and compliance programs like SOC2, PCI DSS, and others across the US, Europe, and Asia. This is crucial because it makes choosing GRC frameworks and initiating the process of implementing your GRC program a few clicks for members of your leadership team.
Another benefit of a smart GRC platform is that you can train your core cybersecurity team and employees across the company on GRC implementation best practices from the same place. This is crucial, as it helps to keep everyone aligned on necessary security awareness.
Processes
Creating and managing policies, which can be dozens or hundreds, in many cases, forms the bulk of enterprise GRC implementation. Typically, your team must create, upload, and provide evidence of corresponding cybersecurity controls for each policy.
As you can imagine, the processes involved can be overwhelming if done manually. But with a smart, interoperable GRC platform, the processes and steps involved are all streamlined.
Each GRC policy your team needs to implement gets a unified view for streamlining all processes and steps involved. For instance:
Details of the policy,
Evidence of controls, and
Version history
…will all be in one place.
Consolidating everything related to each GRC policy this way reduces the implementation processes required to a few clicks. Say you wanted to assign the implementation of a policy to one person and its corresponding controls to others in your team.
It takes just a few clicks to do that.
Why Choose Cyber Sierra’s Smart GRC Platform?
Enterprise organizations choose a smart GRC platform like Cyber Sierra for its inbuilt interoperability. Essentially, this means, instead of point cybersecurity tools for different GRC implementation steps, you and your team can do everything from one place.
Starting with cybersecurity governance.
Our platform has various compliance programs across the main global jurisdiction pre-built. With this, your team can just choose a program (or add a custom one) and have the entire process of becoming compliant streamlined from one place:
But becoming compliant is just a start.
Your team will often need to track and update policies, identify and remediate compliance control breaks to stay compliant to ever-changing regulations. Doing these requires two things:
A centralized pane for managing all policies:
Near real-time audit logs for identifying and remediating cybersecurity compliance control breaks:
As shown above, these crucial capabilities are all pre-built into Cyber Sierra’s interoperable, smart GRC suite.
Scalability is another reason we often see. Growing organizations using Cyber Sierra are able to implement international security and compliance regulations as they emerge and become inevitable.
One example is Aktinolabs:
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.
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It’s no longer news.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) updated its outsourcing regulations in December 2023. For enterprise security executives like you seeking to become compliant, a crucial first step is asking: Why did the regulatory body update it again?
Reviewing the recent documentation extensively, I sensed why this update and compliance to it became a necessity. The first reason is the increasing adoption of technologies by financial institutions (FIs). The second is the ever-growing reliance on third-party vendors.
Yuen isn’t just the Head of Technology at Hong Kong-based Linklaters. He’s a Counsel with over 20 years of experience, specializing in privacy and cybersecurity. As he pointed out, this update is the HKMA’s reminder to re-evaluate your governance systems and security controls for identifying and mitigating all third-party vendor risks.
To help you do that, let’s begin by dissecting…
The New Hong Kong Monetary Authority Outsourcing Letter
The letter’s title, ‘Managing Cyber Risks Associated with Third-party Service Providers,’ stressed the need to facilitate becoming compliant. A section of the letter’s introduction reiterates:
Imagine that as you read this, threat actors are busy targeting weak links in your organization’s supply chain. The HKMA observed this trend when it conducted thematic examinations. They found that cybercriminals are becoming more rampant and sophisticated in their attacks. To help security teams at financial institutions fight back, they updated their outsourcing regulations, outlining critical areas companies now need to prioritize when outsourcing to 3rd parties.
What the HKMA Outsourcing Regulations Entail
Sound cybersecurity practices.
Those three words sum up what the HKMA’s recent Outsourcing Regulations entail. Specifically, they expect security teams at all Authorized Institutions (AIs) to bolster resilience against cyber threat actors by putting effective cyber defense in place. An excerpt from the HKMA’s Outsourcing ‘Sound Practises’ section confirms this.
It reads:
To comply with the requirement of putting effective cyber defense covering in place, the HKMA outlined six areas that must be addressed. They are as follows:
Ensure risk governance framework has sufficient emphasis on cyber risks associated with third-parties
Assess, identify, and mitigate cyber risks throughout the third-party management lifecycle holistically
Assess all supply chain risks associated with 3rd parties supporting critical company operations
Expand cyber threat intelligence monitoring to cover key 3rd parties and actively share information with peer institutions
Strengthen the readiness to counter supply chain attacks with scenario-based response strategies and ongoing drills
Enhance cyber defense capabilities by adopting the latest international standards, practices, and technologies.
Out of these six areas outlined, the HKMA made a crucial recommendation when summarizing the sixth requirement.
It noted:
By encouraging organizations to adopt the technology that can automate and streamline processes, the HKMA clearly stated its importance in becoming compliant. For instance, with Cyber Sierra’s vendor risk management suite, you can automate critical third-party risk management processes and become compliant with the HKMA Outsourcing Regulations.
Before I show you how:
Becoming Compliant with the Updated HKMA Outsourcing Regulations
Three critical third-party risk management stages can be deduced from the HKMA’s six updated outsourcing requirements. Although the regulatory body didn’t spell this out, our team did this grouping to outline parts of becoming compliant that can be automated.
Third-party risk governance
Threat intelligence and remediation
Continuous preparedness against attacks:
As illustrated below:
1. Third-Party Risk Governance
The 1st and 2nd requirements of the updated HKMA Outsourcing Regulations go hand-in-hand. First, all Authorized Institutions (AIs) are mandated to involve relevant stakeholders when implementing a third-party risk governance framework:
Second, and this is more important. The implemented governance framework should enable your security team to identify all third-party risks.
According to the HKMA:
Two things we took from here:
You need a single pane where all stakeholders can collaborate on the third-party risk governance framework to be implemented.
You need a selection of third-party risk frameworks trusted for identifying all risks involved in working with third-parties.
You can achieve both with an enterprise governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) platform (like Cyber Sierra).
Specifically, the platform should be pre-built with templates of globally-accepted, third-party risk management governance frameworks such as ISO and NIST. You should also be able to invite your leadership team to jointly review, customize, and add custom questions to each. Finally, the platform should enable your organization to automate the many steps involved in implementing a holistic third-party risk management governance framework.
2. Threat Intelligence and Remediation
The HKMA now requires organizations to prioritize third parties and threats likely to pose the most risk. This is emphasized in the 3rd and 4th requirements of the updated HKMA Outsourcing Regulations.
According to the regulatory body:
A good way to do this is to segment the third-parties working with your organizations based on relevant criteria. For instance, when assessing third-party vendors, you can segment by:
Critical vendors sent custom security questionnaires
Assessee types (i.e., software, services, and so on)
Operating locations
Using these, your security team can easily filter and know what 3rd parties they need to conduct additional threat intelligence on. Also, by prioritizing risks from these critical vendors, they’ll know what threats and risks to prioritize when remediating.
A smart GRC platform helps your team automate parts of this process in two ways. First, you can enforce segmenting third-parties when sending initial security assessments. Second, your security team can easily filter and track 3rd parties that need more scrutiny based on the segmentation criteria outlined above.
3. Continuous Preparedness Against Attacks
The threat landscape is always evolving. As such, it has become difficult, if not impossible, to know all new ways threat actors will attack your organization through third-parties.
Even the HKMA knows this:
One way to strengthen preparedness against attacks is through continuous employee security awareness training. When the push comes to shove, your people —security team, other company employees, and partners— are your last line of defense.
By continuously training employees with scenario-based response strategies and lessons from previous supply chain incidents, you equip them with the know-how for countering attacks.
To achieve that:
Launch new third-party breach cybersecurity defense training as the need for them arises
Continuously monitor training progress to ensure employees are completing them and equipped to counter attacks.
HKMA Outsourcing FAQs
Below are answers to some frequently asked questions.
Who does HKMA Outsourcing Regulations apply to?
The HKMA Outsourcing Regulations, as the name goes, apply to banks and financial institutions, referred to as Authorized Institutions (AIs), operating in Hong Kong. The regulator emphasizes those digitalizing financial operations and relying on third-party vendors to facilitate service delivery. The rules also apply to those based out of Hong Kong but whose operations are used by consumers and other institutions in Hong Kong.
What is the HKMA regulatory approach?
The HKMA’s regulatory approach provide digitalized banks and financial institutions operating in Hong Kong with a balanced and proportional risk-based approach to counter third-party risks. The regulatory body’s approach has three principles: risk differentiation, proportionality, and “zero failure” regime. These principles apply equally to all financial institutions in Hong Kong.
When was the release date and compliance deadline of the latest HKMA Outsourcing Regulations?
The latest version of the HKMA Outsourcing Regulations was released in December 2023. Although the regulator didn’t give a deadline for becoming compliant, with the increasing onslaught of threat actors, financial institutions are advised to comply to protect themselves and avoid being breached.
How many requirements are in the updated HKMA Outsourcing Regulations?
There are six requirements organizations must comply with in the updated HKMA Outsourcing Regulations.
How does the HKMA recommend organizations to facilitate becoming compliant with its updated outsourcing regulations?
According to the regulatory body, “AIs are encouraged to adopt technologies to refine, automate and streamline their third-party risk management and cybersecurity controls.”
As stated, prioritize technology that enables your team to facilitate the entire process from a single pane. This will reduce the various mundane tasks involved in the initial implementation phase, as well as for staying compliant.
And that’s where Cyber Sierra’s interoperable, enterprise cybersecurity platform comes in. For instance, Cyber Sierra’s vendor risk management Assessments’ suite is pre-built with globally-accepted third-party risk management templates. So in just a few clicks, you (and your team) can customize any to your specific HKMA Outsourcing Regulations implementation needs:
This, among others, automates many steps involved in becoming and staying compliant with the HKMA Outsourcing Regulations.
And it’s why an Asian-based global bank relies on Cyber Sierra for automating its third-party risk management processes:
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.
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Data breaches, regulatory nightmares, compliance headaches – running a successful business can feel like navigating a minefield. Managing modern-day risks that are complex, interconnected, and constantly evolving can be equally challenging.
To successfully navigate these challenges, you need to implement robust Governance Risk, and Compliance strategies. The right GRC tools can help streamline operations, ensure adherence to regulatory requirements, mitigate risks, and drive long-term business growth.
By automating Governance Risk, and Compliance processes, GRC software can help companies come up with a robust plan to address security vulnerabilities, prevent reputational damage, and avoid insane fines attributed to failure to protect critical customer data.
In March 2024 alone, the EU data protection authorities imposed approximately €4.5 million in fines due to breaches of the General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR).
But how do you choose the software you can trust from the host of GRC solutions out there?
This guide unveils the top 7 GRC tools that can help you conquer risk, ensure compliance, and focus on what matters the most – growing your business.
But before that, let’s get the basics straight.
What are GRC Tools?
GRC tools, or Governance, Risk, and Compliance tools are software applications that provide organizations with a centralized platform to manage risks, and compliance requirements, and implement security best practices effectively.
They are an essential component in today’s complex regulatory environments. Some of the key functions of a GRC platform include the consolidation of information from various departments into a unified data environment.
GRC tools also automate processes, eliminating the need for manual processes and scattered spreadsheets. This reduces errors and saves money and time.
By implementing these software solutions, organizations can gain near real-time visibility into their compliance status, enabling them to make informed decisions, improve efficiency, and reduce the risk of fines and penalties.
GRC tools cater to a wide range of organizations across various industries. They are particularly beneficial for large enterprises with intricate regulatory obligations as they help navigate complex compliance landscapes efficiently.
Similarly, small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can leverage GRC tools to streamline their business processes and ensure compliance without the need for extensive resources.
Overall, GRC software provides a host of benefits to businesses including:
Better decision-making
Enhanced risk management
Efficient compliance management processes
Improved operational efficiency
Robust governance and strategic alignment
Streamlined policy management
Best GRC Tools to Simplify Compliance and Boost Efficiency
Let’s dive into the details of each GRC system.
1. Cyber Sierra
Best for: Small to large enterprises looking for a robust GRC solution to manage all parts of their GRC program in one place.
Cyber Sierra’s GRC solution is a premier tool for seamlessly managing all GRC needs via automation. The software is designed to help organizations of all sizes manage all aspects of their GRC program (compliance, risk management, auditing, controls management, and more) in one place.
It integrates cutting-edge technology to streamline GRC processes and ensure regulatory compliance effortlessly.
Through automation, the tool simplifies tasks, reducing manual efforts and enhancing operational efficiency. This enables organizations to allocate resources more strategically and focus on core objectives.
One of the key strengths of Cyber Sierra’s GRC system lies in its adaptability to evolving regulatory frameworks. The software continuously updates its algorithms to align with the latest compliance standards, keeping organizations ahead of regulatory changes. This ensures that businesses remain compliant and mitigate risks effectively, thereby safeguarding their reputation and financial integrity.
Moreover, this tool prioritizes security, employing robust encryption protocols to safeguard sensitive data. For instance, it offers role-based access control, limiting access to authorized personnel and protecting against potential breaches. This commitment to security instills confidence in users, assuring them of the platform’s reliability and trustworthiness.
Furthermore, the software enhances collaboration across departments, fostering seamless communication and alignment of objectives. To facilitate cross-functional teamwork the platform provides a centralized repository for documentation and workflows. This promotes transparency and accountability, enabling stakeholders to make informed decisions and drive organizational success.
Key features
Here are Cyber Sierra’s standout features that make it the ultimate solution for organizations of all levels:
Intuitive user interface: Cyber Sierra’s GRC software offers a user-friendly interface that simplifies navigation and enhances user experience.
Customizable workflow automation: Unlike other GRC tools which may offer limited customization options, the software provides extensive capabilities for tailoring workflow automation to specific organizational needs, allowing for greater efficiency and adaptability.
Comprehensive risk assessment: Cyber Sierra’s GRC software stands out for its robust risk assessment module, which enables thorough identification, evaluation, and mitigation of risks across the enterprise, providing organizations with a clearer understanding of potential threats.
Real-time monitoring and reporting: Cyber Sierra’s software offers real-time monitoring capabilities coupled with advanced reporting features that allow organizations to proactively identify and address compliance issues as they arise, rather than reacting to them after the fact.
Scalability: It is designed to accommodate the evolving needs of organizations of all sizes. It is best suited for small businesses to large enterprises, with scalability built into its architecture to support growth and expansion without compromising performance.
Advanced analytics and insights: The GRC system distinguishes itself with its advanced analytics and reporting capabilities, leveraging data-driven insights to help organizations make informed decisions and optimize their governance, risk, and compliance strategies effectively.
Pricing
Cyber Sierra offers three different pricing plans. Their prices are available upon request based on your chosen plan.
2. SAP GRC
Best for: Large enterprises seeking comprehensive governance, risk management, and compliance solutions integrated with SAP systems for real-time visibility and control over business risks.
SAP GRC platform is a comprehensive suite of management, auditing, and compliance tools designed to streamline and enhance organizational governance processes.
With the software, enterprises can navigate regulatory landscapes effectively while mitigating risks and ensuring compliance adherence.
At its core, the platform offers robust management tools that facilitate seamless oversight of various aspects of governance, risk, and compliance within an organization. They include auditing tools that enable comprehensive assessment and monitoring of internal controls, ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements and industry standards.
For compliance management, the GRC system employs a broad range of functionalities aimed at proactively addressing regulatory obligations and mitigating security risks.
SAP GRC also provides users with real-time visibility into compliance efforts, enabling them to make data-driven decisions based on insights derived from the platform’s predictive analytics.
The platform’s workflow management features streamline processes enabling efficient collaboration and coordination across departments. This is particularly crucial in enterprise risk management and compliance where timely responses to emerging threats are vital.
Utilizing user access control management capabilities, SAP GRC helps organizations safeguard sensitive information and prevent unauthorized access.
Additionally, by identifying and addressing security vulnerabilities, enterprises can boost their defenses against potential breaches and ensure regulatory compliance.
Furthermore, the platform caters to the evolving regulatory landscape by offering tools tailored to meet the requirements of government agencies and regulations. This facilitates seamless alignment with regulatory frameworks, reducing compliance-related complexities and enhancing operational efficiency.
While powerful, its high cost, complex setup, and need for SAP expertise make it less ideal for smaller businesses.
Enterprise risk compliance and management: Enables organizations to identify, assess, and mitigate various types of risks across different business processes and functions.
International trade management: Streamlines global trade compliance to ensure minimal trade risks.
Cybersecurity and data protection: SAP GRC continuously monitors cyber threats, safeguarding sensitive data.
Integrated solutions: The software integrates seamlessly with existing systems for streamlined risk management.
Pricing
SAP GRC costs anywhere from $500 to $15,000 per license. Free demo available.
3. MetricStream GRC
Best for: Organizations requiring a scalable, integrated GRC platform with flexible and customizable modules for various compliance needs.
MetricStream is a cloud-based GRC platform that offers a variety of robust features to help organizations manage their enterprise risk management (ERM) program. They include internal audits, internal controls, and compliance with internal policies and external regulations.
The platform’s auditing tools can automate many internal audit processes such as risk assessments, control assessments, and incident management. This can help organizations streamline internal audits and improve audit efficiency.
Its centralized repository allows organizations to store audit trails and other audit documentation, which can facilitate collaboration between internal audit teams and other departments.
As a compliance management solution, MetricStream GRC can help organizations automate compliance tasks such as regulatory reporting and compliance training.
The platform also provides a way to track compliance activities and identify potential gaps in compliance. This can help organizations reduce their risk of non-compliance and associated fines or penalties.
MetricStream’s user-friendly interface makes it easy for users with varying levels of technical expertise to navigate the platform and complete GRC tasks.
Additionally, it offers robust integration capabilities, allowing it to connect with other enterprise systems such as ERP and CRM systems. This can help organizations streamline data collection and reporting for GRC activities.
Overall, MetricStream appears to be a comprehensive GRC platform that can help organizations improve their risk management, compliance, and internal audit processes.
Note that the specific features and benefits of MetricStream may vary depending on the specific needs of your organization.
A drawback to note is that its advanced customization may lead to complexity. Besides, it has a hefty license fee and requires ongoing maintenance costs.
Key features
Intuitive reports and analytics: The platform provides built-in analytical dashboards and reports with rich visualizations and real-time insights to enable stakeholders to make informed decisions promptly.
Integrated risk management: The GRC platform offers comprehensive risk management capabilities, allowing organizations to identify, assess, mitigate, and monitor risks across the enterprise.
Audit management: It offers capabilities for managing internal audits and assessments efficiently.
Pricing
MetricStream GRC pricing is available upon request.
4. StandardFusion
Best for: Ideal for small to mid-sized businesses looking for a user-friendly GRC platform with easy deployment.
Compliance can be a complex process for organizations but StandardFusion makes it simple to understand.
StandardFusion stands out as a comprehensive GRC platform, offering a reliable solution for organizations seeking an integrated risk management solution.
This cloud-based platform excels in providing source solutions for risk management, audit management, compliance management, vendor management, policy management, privacy management, and compliance automation.
With a user-friendly interface, StandardFusion enhances the management of internal controls and fosters a risk-aware culture within organizations.
One of the key strengths of the software is its diverse deployment options, catering to the needs of organizations at different stages of growth.
Besides, it streamlines the compliance process by centralizing internal policies and procedures, making it a valuable tool for business users across various industries.
The platform’s robust features make it a complete security solution, ideal for audit purposes and ensuring adherence to multiple standards like ISO, SOC 2®, NIST, HIPAA, GDPR, and more.
StandardFusion’s emphasis on being a single source of truth for all compliance-related activities sets it apart, offering a seamless experience for users to manage their governance processes efficiently.
Its ability to adapt to organizational growth, coupled with its user-friendly design and focus on internal controls, makes it a top choice for organizations looking to enhance their risk management practices and maintain a strong compliance posture.
A downside of the software is that it may lack advanced features for complex GRC requirements. Also, it provides limited scalability for larger enterprises.
Key features:
Unified data environment: Organizations can use the tool to consolidate data from various sources to get a holistic view of internal controls, and compliance processes, and launch effective risk management strategies.
Simplified compliance management: The platform breaks down compliance requirements into manageable steps, allowing businesses to track progress and identify any gaps.
Scalability and flexibility: StandardFusion offers various deployment options to cater to organizational growth. Whether you’re a small startup or a large enterprise, the platform can adapt to your specific needs.
Risk-aware culture: StandardFusion helps foster a risk-aware culture by making risk management a more accessible and collaborative process. It allows for easy identification, assessment, and mitigation of potential threats.
Complete security solution: The software prioritizes data security with robust features to protect sensitive information. This ensures all GRC data is stored securely and meets audit purposes.
Pricing
Pricing starts from $1,500 per user, per month.
5. ServiceNow
Best for: Automation-focused approach to GRC, ideal for IT-heavy organizations.
With ServiceNow’s GRC software organizations get a comprehensive solution for managing compliance processes and mitigating potential risks by breaking down silos.
Designed to streamline auditing purposes, this cloud-based platform provides organizations with the tools necessary to safeguard their digital assets effectively.
One of the standout features of ServiceNow’s GRC software is its ability to offer insights into risks that could potentially impact organizational growth.
By centralizing compliance tools within a single platform, businesses can assess and address potential risks more efficiently, ensure regulatory compliance, and protect sensitive data.
The platform’s cloud-based GRC tools enable organizations to manage their compliance processes more effectively with greater flexibility and scalability. With the ability to automate various tasks, such as risk assessments and policy management, businesses can reduce the burden on their resources while ensuring continuous compliance.
The GRC software also offers a complete security solution that helps organizations identify and mitigate potential risks to their digital assets. With real-time visibility into compliance status and potential vulnerabilities, businesses can proactively address security threats before they escalate.
One downside to note about this software is that its initial setup and customization can be time-consuming. May also require additional modules for full GRC functionality.
Key features
Integrated risk management: ServiceNow helps users identify, assess, and prioritize risks across the organization and develop plans to mitigate them.
Third-party risk management: The platform helps to reduce risk, and improve organizational resilience, and compliance by taking control of the third-party risk lifecycle.
Business continuity management: It helps organizations plan for and recover from disasters
Policy and compliance management: The software can automate and manage policy lifecycles and continuously monitor for compliance. This can help reduce errors and costs associated with manual processes and improve focus on higher-value tasks.
Pricing
ServiceNow pricing is available upon request.
6. Fusion Framework System
Best for: Organizations prioritizing risk management and business continuity planning. Provides comprehensive data visualization for clear risk insights.
Fusion Framework System is a comprehensive solution for enterprise risk management. With a robust risk management plan, it addresses security, compliance, and critical risks effectively.
The platform’s dashboard reporting provides real-time insights into risks, aiding informed decision-making.
The platform’s integrated risk management features streamline the risk management process, enhancing efficiency.
Fusion’s focus on third-party risk management ensures thorough risk assessment across all business relationships. It also helps users mitigate compliance risks through tailored solutions, ensuring adherence to regulations.
The platform excels in predictive risk analysis which enables proactive risk mitigation strategies. Its emphasis on critical risks ensures timely identification and response to potential threats.
Additionally, the dashboard reporting feature provides clear visibility into risk exposure, facilitating strategic planning. Fusion’s approach to risk management fosters a culture of proactive risk identification and mitigation.
With its comprehensive suite of tools, Fusion’s platform empowers organizations to manage risks effectively. It offers tailored solutions for diverse industries, ensuring relevance and applicability.
Note that the software relies on existing GRC tools for data input and may require additional integration efforts.
Key features
Access controls/permissions: Organizations can use the software to manage user privileges and ensure data security and regulatory compliance.
Activity tracking: It can monitor user actions and system events for compliance and risk management.
Assessment management: It allows users to conduct and track risk assessments to identify and mitigate potential threats.
Audit trail: Users can maintain a comprehensive record of system activities for accountability and compliance purposes.
IT incident management: Fusion allows users to manage and resolve IT incidents efficiently to minimize disruptions and risks.
IT risk management: With the software, users can identify, assess, and mitigate IT-related risks to protect assets and operations.
Pricing
Pricing is available upon request.
7. SAI360 GRC
Best for: Third-party access control and monitoring.
SAI360’s Integrated GRC Solution offers a cutting-edge approach to operational risk management, governance, and compliance.
It provides a comprehensive view of risks, empowering risk managers with valuable insights into risks for informed decision-making. The platform excels in corporate governance, facilitating the management of governance processes effectively.
With a focus on internal auditing and controls, SAI360 ensures robust internal controls and seamless third-party risk management. It stands out in regulatory compliance, helping organizations meet regulatory requirements effortlessly.
The platform’s policy management tools enable efficient creation, distribution, and enforcement of corporate governance policies. Additionally, the software streamlines incident management and conflict of interest processes.
SAI360’s GRC software is a powerful tool that integrates industry-leading technology to deliver efficiency and security. It features tailored modules that address disruptions proactively, safeguarding businesses across various sectors.
The platform’s advanced reporting and analytics capabilities enable quick risk assessment and opportunity identification, supporting data-driven decision-making.
A downside to note is that the software primarily focuses on third-party risk and may also require additional tools for additional GRC needs.
Key features
Pre-configured modules: The software comes with pre-built modules for common risk management areas like operational risk, IT risk, and internal audit. This saves you time and effort in setting up the system and allows you to get started quickly.
Robust reporting and analytics: SAI360 GRC provides comprehensive reporting and analytics tools that help you gain insights into your risks. This information can be used to identify trends, track progress, and make better risk management decisions.
Industry-leading technology: The platform leverages advanced technology to streamline and secure risk management processes. This can include features like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation.
Pricing
Pricing is available upon request.
How to Choose the Best GRC Tool
Knowing the best GRC tools is one thing but determining the right software for your business is another.While there are tons of GRC solutions on the market, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for all businesses.
Here are key considerations to help you choose the best GRC software for your specific business.
i. Identify Your Goals and Requirements
Clearly define your organization’s GRC objectives to ensure the chosen tool aligns with your specific needs and goals. Your goals may include regulatory compliance, risk management, policy enforcement, and more. This helps in selecting a solution tailored to address your unique challenges effectively.
ii. Consider Usability
Prioritize user-friendly GRC tools with intuitive interfaces and streamlined workflows to enhance adoption rates and facilitate efficient usage across your organization. Ease of navigation and accessibility features contribute to maximizing productivity and minimizing training requirements.
iii. Consider Customer Support
Assess the quality and responsiveness of the platform’s customer support services. Consider their availability, response times, and expertise levels, to ensure prompt assistance and resolution of any issues or inquiries that may arise during tool usage.
iv. Evaluate The Cost
Compare pricing models, including subscription fees, licensing options, and additional charges for features or support services. This will help you determine the overall cost-effectiveness of the GRC tool within your budget constraints while considering long-term scalability and ROI.
v. Consider Scalability
Choose a GRC tool capable of scaling alongside your organization’s growth and evolving needs. Ensure the tool can accommodate increased data volumes, user expansion, and additional functionalities without compromising performance or stability.
vi. Consider Customization Capabilities
Look for GRC solutions that offer customization options to tailor features, workflows, and reporting capabilities according to your organization’s unique requirements. This will help to ensure flexibility and alignment with specific business processes and compliance frameworks.
vii. Deployment Options
There are three types of deployment options for most GRC tools namely, cloud-based, on-premises, and hybrid. Consider how you want to access the software and assess its suitability based on factors like security, infrastructure preferences, etc.
viii. Integrations Capabilities
Prioritize GRC tools that offer seamless integration capabilities with your existing systems, applications, and data sources within your organization’s ecosystem. This will allow smooth data sharing, automation, and interoperability to streamline workflows and enhance efficiency.
How Cyber Sierra Can Help You
While most popular GRC tools manage risk and regulatory compliance, you need a robust and enterprise-wide tool that will help your organization manage all your GRC requirements in a centralized dashboard like Cyber Sierra does.
Cyber Sierra’s GRC offers unique features such as advanced risk analytics, customizable compliance frameworks, integration with emerging technologies like AI and machine learning, and more.
Additionally, the software focuses on specific industries as well as compliance standards which provide tailored solutions to meet diverse organizational needs.
Besides, it’s easy to use for both beginners and experts alike. Anyone in your team can use Cyber Sierra without prior technical knowledge.
Here is how you can automate your GRC processes with Cyber Sierra:
Identification and assessment: Cyber Sierra’s GRC helps identify and assess all of your risks across all asset categories. This means you can get a comprehensive picture of your vulnerabilities from data to infrastructure.
Control development and implementation: Once the risks are identified, the software then helps develop and implement controls to mitigate those risks. These controls can be anything from security policies to technical safeguards.
Continuous control monitoring: Cyber Sierra’s GRC doesn’t stop at just identifying and mitigating risks. It also continuously monitors the effectiveness of those controls. This ensures that your controls are still working as intended over time.
Reporting: Finally, Cyber Sierra’s GRC allows you to report on your GRC activities to stakeholders. This means you can easily generate reports that demonstrate your compliance posture to auditors, regulators, or other interested parties.
Automate your GRC processes and take complexity and guesswork out of compliance with Cyber Sierra today!
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.
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Have you watched the movie Titanic? Of course, you have. What could have changed the dreadful climax of all time? If only the Captain had a proper monitoring system to realize the ship needed more lifeboats and a thorough understanding of the icebergs along the route.
Now, imagine your business as a ship navigating treacherous waters. Regulatory compliance requirements are the map, navigation tools, and safety standards that guide you along the journey, steering you clear of hazards and toward safe harbors. But the waters keep changing, and that’s why this comprehensive guide will provide you with complete awareness of regulatory compliance management and how to ace it like a pro!
What is Regulatory Compliance?
Regulatory compliance refers to an organization’s adherence to the laws, regulations, guidelines, and business practices relevant to its industry and countries of operation. It also includes complying with the organization’s specific procedures, standards, and guidelines.
Regulatory compliance management and regulatory compliance requirements vary significantly depending on the industry, vertical, jurisdiction, and business geography. For organizations with a global footprint, it becomes increasingly important to comply with regulatory compliance requirements across the wide range of geographies they operate. Also, certain industries, such as financial services, information technology, and healthcare, include more complex regulatory risk management. The reason is simple: the impact of these industries on aspects of the economy, business, and infrastructure is significant.
According toNavex Global’s 2023 Definitive Risk & Compliance Benchmark Report, 76% of risk and compliance professionals stated that ensuring their organization builds and maintains an ethical culture of compliance was a very important or absolutely essential consideration in its decision-making processes.
Importance of Regulatory Compliance
Regulatory compliance has become more important than ever, as businesses are now more susceptible to cybersecurity breaches. Moreover, the significance of regulatory compliance is indispensable for the following reasons:
Upholds the integrity of the business. Everything gets lost when there is no integrity.
Protects and strengthens stakeholder and public interest.
Allows the company to operate ethically and fairly and circles back to brand reputation.
Helps you conquer more clients and business partners. When goodwill and trust increase, it is obvious!
As a byproduct of the above, the brand perception increases, and so does profitability.
Helps with steering clear of criminal liability and other major fraudulent crises that can topple not only businesses but even governments. Ask about the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008!
Helps avoid loss to finance and reputation in case of non-compliance
In a nutshell, be future-ready to manage and mitigate risks when regulatory compliance management is in place.
Challenges in Regulatory Compliance
Adhering to regulatory compliance is not that easy. Going back to the Titanic example, even when the rescue team wanted to help, they faced many challenges. Rose jumped back onto the deck (she was crazy and in love, of course!), passengers grew agitated, clashes broke out, and more. Similarly, regulatory compliance management comes with its own set of obstacles.
Just as the Titanic crew had to navigate tumultuous situations amidst the sinking ship, businesses must steer through turbulent waters to achieve and maintain compliance. Changing regulations, complex requirements, data management issues, and resource constraints can all act as icebergs threatening to derail your compliance efforts.
However, just like the bravery of the Titanic crew inspired hope, a comprehensive plan can guide your organization safely through compliance challenges. With the right map, tools, and expertise, you can chart a course towards fully adhering to all relevant rules and standards governing your industry.
When Regulatory changes keep changing
Regulatory compliance requirements have experienced a surge in recent years, posing significant challenges for compliance teams across various industries and regions. Major regulations worldwide have undergone substantial revisions and upgrades, such as Singapore’s Compliance Code of Practice (CCoP) 2.0, Hong Kong’s Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) guidelines, the United States’ Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations, and Australia’s Comprehensive Income and Risk Management Program (CIRMP).
These evolving regulatory requirements demand continuous adaptation from compliance professionals to stay abreast of the latest standards and requirements. As regulations become more stringent and complex, compliance teams face mounting pressure to maintain comprehensive knowledge and effectively manage their organization’s compliance obligations. Failure to keep pace with these changes can result in substantial risks, including financial penalties, reputational damage, and potential legal consequences.
When finance and technology joined hands
The integration of technology into financial services brings undeniable benefits, but it necessitates increased collaboration between fintech and traditional institutions. This collaboration is essential to address potential overlaps and gaps in regulatory compliance requirements. Regulatory authorities face the challenge of understanding and regulating the combined characteristics of these entities from both financial and technological perspectives. As a result, there’s a growing need for new regulatory guidelines, particularly concerning anti-money laundering (AML) and privacy, to safeguard consumer security.
When cybersecurity and data privacy risks became common
Increasing global footprints and digital transformations have made all of us heavily rely on third-party technologies. There is a rise in cyber-attacks and data privacy issues when there is a third party involved. Third-party risk management is one of the top things to achieve in regulatory compliance management for every regulator. Proper data management and cybersecurity practices are the need of the hour.
Cost of compliance management
Besides the significant fees and penalties of non-compliance, budget constraints are a very important challenge for many businesses when it comes to regulatory compliance. While the costs associated with compliance are undeniable, it’s crucial to recognize that a strategic, enterprise-wide approach can not only mitigate these expenses but also unlock long-term benefits.
Building a proactive compliance culture
Establishing a strong culture of compliance is crucial for promoting good employee conduct, especially with the rise of remote and hybrid work models after the pandemic. Amidst these changes, the growing importance of culture and conduct risks highlights the need for compliance teams to encourage proactive reporting. However, achieving this goal presents numerous challenges. From effectively communicating regulatory updates to instilling a sense of caution regarding compliance management risks, compliance teams face the difficult task of ensuring that every employee is well-informed and engaged. Overcoming these obstacles and emphasizing the significance of regulatory compliance across the organization emerges as a formidable challenge for compliance teams.
Regulatory Compliance by Industry
The nature of regulatory compliance management and regulatory compliance requirements vary depending on different industries. Certain industries require heavy regulations compared to others.
Regulatory compliance for financial services
The financial services industry demands a tailored approach to compliance management due to the comprehensive and complex nature of regulations it is subject to. These regulations are designed to uphold stability, transparency, and consumer protection within the sector.
Regulatory bodies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) , the Federal Reserve in the US, the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) across geographies, oversee compliance.
Regulatory compliance requirements mandate anti-money laundering (AML) regulations, know-your-customer (KYC) requirements, data security standards, including Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard – PCI DSS), and other financial reporting, regulatory standards such as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles – GAAP).
Furthermore, specific jurisdictions like Singapore (Monetary Authority of Singapore – MAS), India (Reserve Bank of India – RBI, Securities and Exchange Board of India – SEBI), Australia (Australian Prudential Regulation Authority – APRA, Australian Securities and Investments Commission – ASIC), and Hong Kong (Securities and Futures Commission – SFC, Hong Kong Monetary Authority – HKMA) have their own unique regulatory frameworks governing the financial services industry.
Singapore: MAS regulates financial stability, AML/CFT, and cybersecurity.
India: RBI and SEBI enforce prudential norms, risk management, and securities laws.
Australia: APRA ensures financial stability, while ASIC focuses on consumer and investor protection.
Hong Kong: SFC and HKMA overseas market integrity, AML, KYC, and data privacy.
Regulatory compliance for energy suppliers
Regulatory compliance in the energy suppliers industry mandates regulations for safety and environmental protection. Regulatory risk management for this industry aims to ensure safety, environmental protection, and efficient operations. These include compliance requirements related to environmental regulations (e.g., emissions standards, waste management), safety standards (e.g., Occupational Safety and Health Administration – OSHA in the US), and industry-specific regulations governing energy production, distribution, and pricing.
Regulatory compliance for government agencies
Government agencies are subjected to strict compliance regulations. This mandate helps in achieving equality for everyone and encourages ethical staff behavior. Compliance management for the government sector includes federal, state/provincial, and local laws, as well as regulations specific to the agency’s mandate. These can be budgetary regulations, procurement laws, and administrative procedures acts. Ethical standards are indispensable, and regulatory complaint requirements here foster avoiding conflicts of interest, maintaining transparency and accountability, and adhering to codes of conduct and ethics guidelines.
Since government agencies deal with sensitive information, such as citizen data, financial records, and classified materials, compliance with data security and privacy regulations is crucial to protect this information from unauthorized access, disclosure, or misuse. For example, in the United States, you are expected to comply with laws such as the Privacy Act, in the European Union, you are expected to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
They are also required to ensure accessibility and non-discrimination in the delivery of their services and programs. This includes compliance with laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the United States, which mandates accessibility accommodations for individuals with disabilities.
Regulatory compliance for the healthcare sector
Healthcare companies require strict compliance laws. This is obvious as they store a lot of sensitive and personal patient data. Hospitals and other healthcare providers are built majorly on trust and reputation. This requires them to exhibit the necessary steps that they have taken to comply with certain regulations, such as patient privacy rules, including providing adequate server security and encryption.
How Does Regulatory Compliance Work?
Regulatory compliance works as a systematic process. It enables organizations to adhere to relevant laws, regulations, standards, and guidelines that govern its operations. Here’s an overview of the process it entails:
Identify applicable regulations:
The organization first identifies the necessary regulations, laws, and standards relevant to its industry, jurisdiction, and activities. This process requires thorough research and understanding of the regulatory landscape.
Assessment and analysis:
Now that the applicable regulations are identified, it’s time to conduct a comprehensive assessment to understand the specific regulatory compliance requirements and implications for its business operations. This is usually done by analyzing the regulatory provisions, assessing current practices, and identifying any areas of non-compliance.
Developing a compliance framework:
The assessment is done and the findings are ready; now the organization develops a compliance framework that clearly outlines compliance management policies, procedures, controls, and measures that will ensure adherence to regulatory compliance requirements. Now, the roadmap for achieving and maintaining compliance is ready.
Implementing controls and processes:
Kudos! The compliance framework is in place now, and the organization implements the necessary controls, processes, and systems to operationalize the outlined compliance requirements. This is usually executed by establishing protocols for data protection, implementing safety procedures, conducting employee training, and integrating compliance into everyday business operations.
Monitoring and review:
One thing that needs to be understood is that compliance is an ongoing process. It requires continuous monitoring and constant review to ensure that the controls are effective, that the regulations are being followed, and tracking any changes in requirements are promptly addressed.
Documentation and reporting:
Every organization should maintain detailed documentation of its compliance efforts, including policies, procedures, records, and reports. Regulatory compliance documentation not only serves as evidence of adherence to regulatory requirements but will also be required for regulatory inspections, audits, and reporting obligations.
Adapting to changes:
Regulatory requirements will keep changing due to new legislation, updates, and evolving industry standards. Here, the organization stays informed about changes in regulations relevant to its operations and immediately adapts its compliance efforts accordingly.
How to Implement a Regulatory Compliance Plan?
Congratulations! You’ve made the wise decision to establish a robust regulatory compliance plan for your organization. Navigating the complex landscape of industry regulations can be daunting, but fear not – Cyber Sierra’s proven 8-step framework will guide you through the process, ensuring an effective and rewarding implementation.
What are your goals?
The first step is simply to simply define your goals. Ask yourself what you wish to achieve with your regulatory compliance management plan. The goals can be diverse – you might want to cut down the hefty fines, penalties, and payouts of the company, save time and expense based on retrospective investigations, or work with everyone in the team to use complaints to increase growth or it could be even as simple as getting awareness on a new piece of incoming legislation that might affect your organization in the future.
Begin by clearly defining your objectives for the regulatory compliance management plan. Whether it’s reducing financial liabilities, saving time on retrospective investigations, fostering team collaboration for growth, or staying ahead of upcoming legislation, establishing clear goals is essential. Sit down with your team to map out a risk assessment and prioritize goals for the short and long term, setting achievable targets to work towards. It’s crucial to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) targets to track progress effectively.
For example, if you head the operations of an international bank, the primary goal is to strengthen its regulatory compliance program to mitigate the risk of money laundering activities and ensure adherence to AML regulations. By implementing stricter compliance measures, you can aim to enhance your reputation, safeguard your assets, and maintain the trust of your customers and regulators.
What is your corporate culture?
Understand and draft what corporate culture your business falls into. When this is done, it is easier to align compliance with corporate culture. Aligning regulatory compliance with corporate culture makes it easier for everyone in the company to bring acceptance of your new policies. Ensure you outline the advantages of regulatory compliance management at each level of the company’s structure, and it will come a long way in making your employees understand its importance more clearly.
Identify and define the risks that compliance can help you avoid in each strategic area of the organization to build a strong case for your policy. Everyone in the company must be aware of your regulatory compliance management. Or your risk management efforts will turn out to be ineffective. For example, understand your bank’s corporate culture of integrity and transparency and encourage the compliance team to integrate AML compliance training into the organization’s values and mission. By emphasizing the importance of ethical conduct and regulatory adherence, you can foster a culture of compliance where every employee understands their role in preventing financial crimes.
What is your functional scope?
The scope of regulatory risk management is no longer a retrospective role. But it is more forward-facing and it only acts as a preventative function in the organization. If you want to foresee regulatory issues before they occur, you have to increase resources, and your compliance management plan needs to reflect that. Start at a basic level and gradually increase the scope over time.
Consider incorporating technologies like robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance efficiency and accuracy. Start with a foundational level of compliance and gradually expand the scope over time as resources allow. For example, by recognizing the proactive nature of regulatory risk management, you can allocate resources to enhance your AML compliance capabilities. Starting with basic transaction monitoring systems, you can gradually expand the scope to include advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms to detect suspicious activities and prevent potential money laundering risks.
What is the nature of your regulatory environment?
As discussed in the challenges already, the regulatory environment is always changing. This makes it essential for your team to stay on top of regulatory compliance trends at all times. Monitor legislative developments not only in your primary operating region but also in any other jurisdictions where your business operates. Thoroughly analyze proposed regulations to anticipate their impact on your operations. Break down regulatory requirements into actionable steps to ensure full compliance.
For example, your bank’s compliance team can stay vigilant in monitoring regulatory developments related to AML regulations globally. They can analyze updates to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations to ensure CityBank’s compliance procedures remain up-to-date and align with evolving regulatory standards.
How to develop formal procedures, rules, and standards?
Now, you have a clear understanding of the prospective regulatory landscape. It’s time to develop the formal policies, standards, and procedures required to comply with the law. Though most of these procedures will closely follow the technical standards outlined in the legislation, you should also consider adding your own internal checks. This helps in identifying potential human or software errors and avoiding consequences.
For example, with a clear understanding of AML regulatory requirements, you can develop formal policies and procedures tailored to detect and prevent money laundering activities effectively. Collaborating with industry experts and regulatory authorities, you can establish robust customer due diligence processes and transaction monitoring protocols to comply with AML laws.
Have you trained your employees?
All your efforts will become null if your employees are not trained. Thorough training about your procedures is important, and making them understand the reasons behind them is mandatory to make sure that the business remains compliant. Train your employees to spot a compliance issue, report it accurately, and escalate it through the right means. At the next level, your management should be well-equipped to handle reports and take swift calls on what to do next, as well as how their operations with business partners are affected.
For example, you can conduct comprehensive AML compliance training programs for all employees, ranging from frontline staff to senior management. Through interactive workshops and scenario-based simulations, employees learn to identify red flags indicative of money laundering activities and understand the importance of reporting suspicious transactions promptly.
Do you practice accurate record-keeping?
Accurate record-keeping is crucial for demonstrating compliance with regulatory requirements and facilitating audits or investigations. Establish clear guidelines for documenting compliance-related activities and maintaining records securely. Regularly review and update record-keeping practices to adapt to changing regulatory landscapes.
For example, you can implement electronic record-keeping systems to maintain detailed transaction records and customer profiles, ensuring accurate documentation of AML compliance efforts and enabling timely reporting to regulatory authorities.
Do you monitor compliance consistently?
Continuously monitor and evaluate compliance performance to identify areas for improvement and ensure ongoing adherence to regulatory standards. Utilize analytics tools and metrics to track progress toward goals and measure the effectiveness of compliance initiatives. Regularly report findings to senior leadership to demonstrate the value of compliance efforts and secure support for future initiatives. You can use a digital tool such as CyberSierra to keep a central control repository, identify third-party risks, and automate data collection and risk assessment.
For example, you can continuously monitor your AML compliance performance using data analytics tools and risk assessment frameworks. By tracking key performance indicators such as transaction monitoring alerts and suspicious activity reports, you can assess the effectiveness of its AML controls and identify areas for improvement to strengthen your compliance program further.
Keeping a regular check on your goals on a quarterly or annual basis will help in evaluating your support compliance efforts. Present the results to your senior leadership and explain the benefits of an effective program. This motivates decision-makers to justify the efforts and investment in corporate regulatory compliance.
How does Cyber Sierra help you with regulatory compliance management?
Cyber Sierra understands business challenges and offers a comprehensive solution to simplify data collection, risk assessments, and compliance management. Our cutting-edge AI platform streamlines the entire process, making it effortless to gather, analyze, and interpret data, enabling you to identify and mitigate risks proactively.
Cyber Sierra automates data collection & risk assessments, helps with policies management, generates comprehensive reports and maintains detailed records for transparency and accountability. The platform also streamline compliance management across various regulatory frameworks using automation
Don’t let compliance complexities sink your operations. Take a proactive approach and experience the best regulatory compliance management for your business. Schedule a demo with Cyber Sierra today and unlock the power of automated, streamlined, and efficient compliance management.
FAQs
What is regulatory compliance management?
Regulatory compliance management, in simple terms, is a company’s adherence to laws, regulations, guidelines, procedures, rules, and other necessary specifications relevant to its business processes, industry and country of operation. Not adhering to regulatory compliance results in legal punishment, including hefty federal penalties.
Is regulatory compliance management important?
Regulatory compliance management is very important. It goes beyond merely adhering to legal requirements; it serves as a cornerstone for establishing a credible brand reputation, fostering trust with partners, customers, and stakeholders, and safeguarding the organization from potential breaches. Non-compliance can have severe consequences, including financial penalties, reputational damage, loss of consumer confidence, and even the potential termination of business operations.
How can regulatory compliance management benefit your organization?
Regulatory compliance benefits businesses by identifying and mitigating risks associated with legal and regulatory obligations. A robust compliance framework, encompassing comprehensive processes and stringent security controls, equips organizations to proactively mitigate and circumvent non-compliance incidents, such as data breaches, workplace accidents, or environmental contraventions. Adherence to regulatory mandates not only safeguards organizations from substantial financial penalties but also fortifies their brand reputation and credibility within the industry.
How often should you create a compliance management plan?
The frequency of creating a compliance management plan varies based on factors like industry standards, regulatory requirements, and organizational needs. While there’s no fixed rule, it’s generally recommended to review and update the plan at least annually. This ensures that it remains aligned with evolving regulations, business changes, and emerging risks, helping to maintain compliance effectiveness and mitigate potential issues.
Can we use automation for compliance management?
Yes, you can use compliance automation technology, such as Cyber Sierra, to continually check your systems for compliance. Compliance automation helps automate workflows and removes manual processes. For example, Cyber Sierra’s smart GRC automation helps in streamlining Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) processes, saving time and effort in data collection, analyses, and reporting.
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.
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In the rapidly changing and ever-demanding business scenario, organizations face huge pressure to successfully navigate the complexities while simultaneously ensuring compliance with various cyber security standards and regulations. The more disorganized the structure, the higher the chance for scattered data, mismanaged human resources, lack of risk visibility, and inadequate audit trails. The solution to these issues lies in the adoption of a GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) framework which aligns with your business objectives to achieve a well-managed set of functions. Let’s delve deeper and understand what the GRC framework is, how to implement it, its associated key components, and its benefits.
What is a GRC Framework?
The GRC framework, or Governance, Risk, and Compliance Framework, is a well-designed and structured model that leverages timely information on data, risks, policies, and compliance to reduce compliance risk.
It is more than a mere checklist that enables organizations to align their everyday operations with planned strategic objectives while managing risks and complying with relevant regulations. When adopted well, a GRC framework can help organizations integrate best practices and process day-to-day operations to effectively manage its IT and security risks, reduce costs, and meet compliance requirements.
Key components of GRC framework
The GRC framework comprises three important components. Each of these components has its own nature, and mastering all three is important for a rewarding GRC framework.
Governance
Governance, in simple terms, is about the set of rules, policies, and processes that help an organization plan its everyday activities and align them to support and enable its business goals.
Good governance in the GRC framework
includes ethics, procedures, resource management, accountability, stability, and management controls.
enables the top management to guide and take control of what happens at every level of the organization.
helps every business unit in the organization be directed and aligned with the defined corporate goals and overall customer needs.
makes employees feel empowered, though their behavior and resources are controlled, but not in a negative way.
focuses more on being well-coordinated and heavily controlled.
aims to achieve accountability for conduct and results.
defines employee roles based on lines or sectors of the business.
evaluates employees based on their performance and results achieved, not on their job responsibilities.
Governance in the GRC framework predominantly aims to balance the interests of multiple stakeholders in the organization. These include top management, employees, contractors, freelancers, suppliers, and investors. It also provides control over available facilities and infrastructure.
How does governance help in maintaining balance? Here’s a GRC framework example – an organization encompasses multiple internal and external stakeholders. The contracts between these stakeholders need to be intact so that there is a proper sharing of responsibilities, rights, and rewards. It also includes well-defined procedures for reconciliation in cases of conflicting interests among stakeholders. Also, structured policies aid in supervision, control, and data flow functions, including a system of checks and balances.
Risk Management
Right on cue comes risk management. The ignored middle child of the GRC framework turns out to be a headache later. Risk management is the process of identifying, evaluating, analyzing, and mitigating or transferring different risks. These risks can be financial, legal, process-oriented, strategic, and security-related and threaten an organization’s operations.
Risk management
reduces the risks faced by an organization through an effective IT governance and compliance framework.
effectively monitors, controls, and reduces the impact of negative incidents on the organization.
focuses on maximizing the impact of positive events.
creates objectives that are in line with an organization’s values. Based on this, it builds a system of people, processes, and technology.
aims to achieve the objectives of an organization while refining its risk profile and securing value.
works on identifying threats and risks related to cybersecurity and information security.
For example, a risk management program within the GRC framework will include an assessment of the technology used and the identification of operational and technological failures, as these will impact the core business. It will also monitor the risks involved with infrastructure and the potential failure of networks and find ways to control them.
A risk assessment program needs to adhere to internal, contractual, legal, ethical, and societal objectives and keep track of any new rules pertaining to technology and cybersecurity. A company can safeguard itself from uncertainty, cut expenses, and raise the possibility of success and business continuity by concentrating on risk and allocating the resources required to control and mitigate risk.
should be in line with the different objectives of an organization, such as legal, contractual, internal, social, and ethical.
stay on top of the new technology-related regulations, and government regulations and monitor them to ensure compliance.
will allocate resources accordingly and help businesses safeguard themselves against uncertainty.
helps in effective risk control that results in cost reduction and enhances the likelihood of business continuity and success.
Compliance
Here comes the last one on the cue, the most spoiled one of the lot: compliance. Compliance management deals with adherence to rules, procedures, policies, and laws laid down by an organization, government, agency, and more. Non-compliance leads to a lack of performance, hefty fines, penalties, and lawsuits.
Regulatory compliance also encompasses external laws, regulations related to jurisdiction, and industry standards that are mandatory for functioning. On the other hand, internal compliance deals with different aspects such as rules, regulations, and management internal controls decided by an individual company. Both the internal compliance management program and external compliance requirements need to be integrated for the smooth functioning of an organization.
An effective compliance program
helps in understanding the areas of greatest risk and allocating more resources to those areas.
focuses on developing, implementing, and communicating policies to employees to overcome those risk areas.
offers guidance for employees and vendors. This makes the process of following compliance policies easier.
Types of GRC Framework
The key components of the GRC framework are clear now. Let’s learn more about the types of GRC frameworks.
Integrated GRC Framework
In an integrated GRC framework, governance, risk management, and compliance functions are unified under a single overarching structure. This approach promotes synergy and efficiency by streamlining processes and fostering a holistic view of organizational risks and compliance requirements.
Modular GRC Framework
A modular GRC framework consists of distinct but interconnected modules for governance, risk management, and compliance functions. Organizations can customize and implement individual modules based on their specific needs and priorities, allowing for greater flexibility and scalability.
Specialized GRC Framework
Specialized GRC frameworks cater to organizations operating in highly regulated industries or facing unique compliance challenges. These frameworks are tailored to address specific regulatory requirements or industry standards, offering targeted solutions for governance, risk, and compliance management.
Benefits of GRC Framework
Implementing the GRC framework makes your life easier. Period. No other way to argue about it. So, what are the benefits of the GRC framework? Read below:
Improved operational efficiency
GRC framework helps automate common mundane processes. Continuous monitoring of controls, risks involved, and KRIs leads to this. So, organizations learn better and more efficient ways to run operations.
Better quality information
The GRC framework brings an integrated approach, and now your management team can have a complete 360-degree view of every piece of data. This helps with informed decision-making.
Cost reduction
With the GRC framework, you can build a roadmap of business rules, better reviews, and consolidated controls. This leads to better use of resources and reduces the cost of implementation.
Automation
The GRC framework reduces manual efforts by eliminating the need for spreadsheets, documents, emails, and direct calls to manage everyday functions. This leads to a shift in reduced manual efforts and eliminates redundant tasks, processes, workflows, and more.
Transparency
Siloed functions come with the GRC framework, and this helps provide full visibility into processes. In this scenario, every department works independently. So, you get visibility for all involved parties.
Efficiency
GRC frameworks bring all the processes related to risks, internal audits, and compliance into a centralized system, which makes managing time-consuming, complex processes easier.
Risk and security
Businesses can manage, implement, track, monitor, and automate risks with the aid of GRC frameworks. This gives upper management the ability to decide more wisely, define objectives that match shifting market demands, and allocate resources to reduce risks.
How to Implement GRC Framework
There is no right or wrong way to build your GRC framework. But the starting point is to bring together all your business components and unify them from a bottom-up approach to implementation.
1. Determine the Benefits of Putting a GRC Platform in Place
The first step is understanding, analyzing, realizing, and accepting the value of GRC framework implementation in your business. Only this will help you identify wide range GRC strategies that can be beneficial for your organization.
Identify existing processes that are working just fine and need not be changed. These can be retained and added to your unified system.
Identifying irrelevant data, technologies, and assets that are redundant reduces value and can even complicate your unification process.
Now, you have the most profitable assets in your hands, and these can be used to enhance your GRC strategy.
2. Create a GRC Project Roadmap
To understand your strategy’s scope, outline the purpose clearly and summarize the main functions of the GRC framework. This has to be accurately done with ongoing collaboration between all stakeholders. Only then will the product result align with the needs of each department without contradictions. Knowing the potential benefits of the GRC framework can help identify desired outcomes for every department here. This helps in the cybersecurity GRC framework and the IT governance risk and compliance framework.
3. Conduct a Gap Analysis
A crucial step in the compliance assessment process is gap analysis, which acts as a diagnostic tool to find differences between an organization’s current procedures and the ideal level of compliance.
During gap analysis, determine the following for each:
Process maturity
Data quality
Operational gaps
Keep these factors in mind when you conduct a gap analysis:
Finding any duplicate or missing data
Finding any redundant or duplicate processes
Finding ways to automate processes or reduce the manual ones
4. Establish and Match Expectations with Stakeholders
Ensure your entire organization is on board with the GRC framework and its implementation. This is often overlooked. The GRC framework involves every department, and all your key stakeholders should have their voices heard about the proposal.
The main steps in achieving organizational alignment are:
Align executive team members with important considerations, like budget and roll-out dates. Before moving forward and making any necessary changes, you must ensure the leadership is on board with your plan before you notify the rest of the organization.
Use a top-down strategy. After receiving executive permission, you must establish practical and well-communicated change management procedures throughout all other business divisions. For instance, it’s reasonable to anticipate that your suggested modifications will encounter some opposition. Long-standing internal policies, external policies, and procedures within departments will probably need to be phased away gradually.
You should provide each team with frequent, educational updates explaining the pertinent changes and how they will impact their duties to facilitate a smooth transition. Establish an open channel of communication for team members to share any worries, recommendations, or other insightful comments that might change your approach.
5. Create a Solid Base for Your GRC Strategy
Get the proper groundwork done. Make sure your GRC system is practical and adaptable. This plays a significant role in the IT governance risk and compliance framework given the increased risk of cyber threats and vulnerabilities and the disastrous impact of data breaches. It is also important to pay closer attention to check if your GRC framework is adaptable to ever-changing regulatory changes.
6. Join Forces with a GRC Solution Supplier
There are a lot of moving components involved in implementing a GRC program from scratch, such as merging information silos, maintaining updates, and employing manual procedures like spreadsheets. Many of these pain points can be streamlined by a smart GRC platform, freeing up your implementation time for higher-level work.
You must exercise due diligence, just like you would with any third-party vendor, to make sure your selected GRC technology complies with regulations and doesn’t put your company at serious risk for security breaches.
Through time and money savings, the appropriate GRC technology should provide a return on investment (ROI).
When selecting GRC software, consider the following crucial inquiries:
Is it simple to use and intuitive?
Is it using workflows that are automated?
Is customization possible? Custom reporting, for instance
Is it adaptable?
Do its features carry out actions?
7. Make Your GRC Strategy Uniform
The ability of a GRC strategy to meet the needs of the entire business is one of its key characteristics. Although every department will have unique needs, there ought to be a standard to work from.
8. Oversee and Update Your GRC Plan
Launching your GRC framework is not a one-time, set-and-forget endeavor. Once the implementation is over, it is your responsibility to ensure your strategy is adaptable and evolves with the changes in your business objectives.
Every team should keep up-to-date, precise records of its GRC requirements that are dated and include a note of any significant changes, including the introduction of new technology. A smart GRC platform can automate a good majority of this workflow.
These reports are the reference for your regular stakeholder meetings. Based on these recordings and meetings, you can ensure that your whole organization is aligned with the overall strategy. Another best practice is to conduct an audit at least annually to maintain regulatory compliance management. Any compliance issues identified should then be prioritized for remediation.
How does GRC automation work?
GRC automation software works by seamlessly integrating with your existing systems and processes, streamlining governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) procedures. This integration allows for efficient data collection, analysis, and reporting, ultimately saving time and effort.
Data Integration:
GRC automation integrates with various systems like ERP, HRIS, etc., to automatically collect data, eliminating manual entry and reducing errors.
Automated Workflows:
Predefined workflows and rules process data, aligning with policies and regulations. Automated tasks include risk assessments, control testing, issue management, and compliance monitoring.
Real-time Monitoring and Reporting:
Continuous monitoring assesses adherence to policies and regulations, enabling prompt identification and resolution of risks and violations.
Centralized Dashboard and Reporting:
Consolidated dashboards provide a comprehensive view of GRC posture. Automated reporting tailors information for stakeholders, promoting transparency and informed decision-making.
Scalability and Flexibility:
GRC automation solutions adapt to growth and evolving requirements, incorporating new data sources, workflows, and reporting needs for ongoing compliance and risk management.
What are the advantages of GRC automation?
Efficiency and Time Savings:
Automating data collection, analysis, and reporting processes streamlines GRC procedures, saving significant time and effort compared to manual methods.
Reduced Human Error:
By minimizing manual interventions, GRC automation lowers the possibility of human error, ensuring consistent and trustworthy compliance management.
Proactive Risk Identification:
Real-time monitoring capabilities enabled by automation allow organizations to quickly recognize and resolve potential business risks before they escalate.
Scalability and Adaptability:
GRC automation solutions are easily scalable and can adapt to evolving compliance requirements as businesses grow and expand, ensuring ongoing regulatory adherence.
Centralized Visibility:
Automated GRC platforms often provide centralized dashboards, offering a comprehensive view of an organization’s governance, risk, and compliance posture, promoting transparency and informed decision-making.
Consistent Application of Policies and Regulations:
Automated workflows and rules ensure that policies, regulations, and risk management frameworks are applied consistently across the organization, reducing the risk of non-compliance.
Audit Trail and Reporting:
GRC automation solutions maintain detailed audit trails and generate customized reports tailored to specific stakeholders, such as executives, auditors, and regulatory bodies, facilitating compliance demonstrations and regulatory reporting.
Resource Optimization:
By automating repetitive and time-consuming GRC tasks, organizations can reallocate human resources to more strategic and value-adding activities, optimizing resource utilization.
How can Cyber Sierra’s Smart GRC automation help?
Cyber Sierra’s platform goes beyond traditional GRC frameworks by offering an all-inclusive AI-enabled platform. It encompasses features such as control mapping, automated checks, risk unification, staff training, and streamlined access control, effectively turning compliance into a seamless and integrated process.
Here’s a look at the top features:
Automated Data Collection and Risk Identification:
Cyber Sierra automates data collection and analyses from various sources for effective risk identification and mitigation.
Near Real-time Compliance Monitoring:
Cyber Sierra’s Continuous Control Monitoring (CCM) feature enables real-time monitoring of processes and activities, ensuring ongoing compliance with relevant regulations and internal policies. It proactively identifies and flags any instances of non-compliance, allowing organizations to promptly address issues before they escalate.
Comprehensive Reporting and Auditing:
The platform offers you in-depth reporting tailored to stakeholders, and detailed audit trails promote accountability and transparency.
Multi-framework Compliance Management:
Cyber Sierra streamlines compliance across multiple industry regulations and standards such as ISO, PCI DSS, HIPAA, SAMA, CIRMP, MAS TRM, and HKMA, reducing non-compliance risks.
Proactive Risk Assessment:
It identifies and prioritizes potential risks based on impact and likelihood for strategic risk management.
Prioritization and Scoping
: The platform prioritizes compliance requirements, scopes risks and controls for efficient resource allocation.
If you are looking for a smart GRC solution, talk to our experts today to know how Cyber Sierra can help you reach your security goals.
Governance & Compliance
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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.
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‘A lot more is now required.’
That’s how I’ll summarize the huge lift in requirements in version two of the Cybersecurity Code of Practice (CCoP 2.0) Regulations. Per KPMG’s assessments, to become compliant, clauses companies must now adhere to jumped 116%, from 102 to a whopping 220:
This increase leaves you, a CISO or company executive charged with leading your team’s compliance efforts, with much more to do. It’s also crucial to note that, after CCoP 2.0 went into effect in July 2022, Singapore’s CyberSecurity Act (CSA) allowed a grace period of just twelve (12) months. The implication of this is that you need some urgency to avoid the hammer.
The first are the organizations in sectors explicitly spelled out by the CSA. Per their official statement, Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) of companies in designated sectors responsible for essential services in Singapore must comply.
They include:
Government
Energy
Healthcare
Banking and Finance
Transport (Land, Maritime, and Aviation)
Media
Infocomm, and
Security and Energy Services
Your company may not be in these sectors.
Regardless, if your organization works with businesses in those sectors, you also need to comply. This is because of the second way the CSA states who CCoP 2.0 is applicable to:
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Key CCoP 2.0 Requirements for CII
As earlier mentioned, across its eleven (11) requirement sections, there are about 220 auditable security clauses in CCoP 2.0.
As shown below:
Protection, Governance, Detection, Operational Technology (OT) Security, Response & Recovery, Cyber Resilience, and Cybersecurity Training & Awareness. These seven requirements all have over half a dozen security clauses. At face value, it may seem like the key requirements for complying with CCoP 2.0 CII revolve around these.
While they do to some extent, the bulk of what’s needed in the clauses under these requirements comes down to creating policy documents. Companies can work with compliance consultants to get these done. Where you want to channel your efforts is on ensuring that your CII systems are actually secured from cyber threats.
Achieving that goes beyond creating policy documents. You need a way to automate processes for governing, detecting, and training employees on ways to remediate cyber threats and vulnerabilities.
And that’s where Cyber Sierra helps.
Our platform enables you to coordinate your entire team and manage multiple compliance audits from one place. For instance, Speedoc, a Singaporean-based tech company, relies on Cyber Sierra for this:
How to Automate CCoP 2.0 Compliance Audit
The CSA applied five design principles in drafting CCoP 2.0. These principles are important because they provide the guardrails to successfully prepare for CCoP 2.0 compliance audit.
They are illustrated here:
Cumulatively, these principles give organizations the flexibility to focus on CCoP 2.0 requirements they deem necessary. With that in mind, the steps below summarizes how Cyber Sierra automates vital requirements involved in crushing a CCoP compliance audit.
Governance
This requirement essentially mandates having qualified employees assigned to the right roles and working collaboratively to:
Provide cybersecurity leadership and oversight
Handle cybersecurity change management
Create policies, standards, and guidelines
Perform periodic internal compliance audits
Select necessary cloud security requirements
Implement vendor risk management framework.
Cyber Sierra makes doing all these easier. With our platform, you can add all employees on your Governance team, assign responsibilities, and work collaboratively from one place:
Protection
Protection is the CCoP 2.0 requirement with the most number of security clauses. Clauses under this requirement primarily force organizations to protect their CII from unauthorized access.
Twelve crucial clauses covered includes:
Privilege access management
Access control
Patch management
System hardening
Database security
Penetration testing
Network segmentation
Windows domain controller
Cryptography key management
Network segmentation
Application security, and
Vulnerability management.
To meet CCoP 2.0’s Protection requirements, having a solid process for detecting threats is an important step. This is because in Clause 5.14.2, the Code states:
To achieve this, you need to automate detecting where threats and vulnerabilities are coming and get insights for remediating them.
And that’s the next vital requirement.
Detection
This requirement can be summarized to one thing: Your organization should have technology for enacting cybersecurity controls that helps your security team streamline processes involved in:
Cyber threat intelligence
Continuous controls’ monitoring
Cybersecurity log management, and
Threat hunting.
Cyber Sierra’s Risk Dashboard automates all that:
As shown, this feature enables your team to filter and scan Critical Information Infrastructure assets continuously. Besides detecting and identifying cyber threats and vulnerabilities that could affect your CII from this, you also get a dashboard with real-time reports needed for compliance audits. On the same dashboard, your team can manage and get factual insights for resolving vulnerabilities.
Cybersecurity Training & Awareness
Clauses under this requirement can be split into two parts:
Cybersecurity awareness programme, and
Cybersecurity training and skills.
Both may sound like the same thing, but they are not. One is about keeping employees aware of existing and emerging cybersecurity attack types. The other is concerned with equipping them with the skills needed to counter threats and effect cybersecurity responsibilities.
To comply with both, in 9.1.3, the CCoP 2.0 mandates that:
Cyber Sierra helps you automate this. Our Employee Awareness suite gives you a single pane to:
Launch and manage employee awareness and training programs
Monitor and nudge employees to complete programs, so everyone is always ready for CCoP 2.0 compliance audits:
Staying Compliant with CCoP 2.0 Regulations
Achieving CCoP 2.0 compliance is flexible.
As the guiding principles used in creating its draft revealed, organizations are free to choose and only comply with CII requirements that are applicable to them. But once those initial requirements have been chosen and their corresponding security controls defined, staying compliant can’t be treated flexibly.
The CSA mandates organizations to implement a continuous cycle of security assessments to enable swift responses to cybersecurity incidents. This was hammered in clause 13.21 of their official documentation of responses to feedback on CCoP 2.0 compliance:
In other words, you should monitor the cybersecurity controls defined in your CCoP 2.0 compliance continuously to stay compliant. Cyber Sierra’s Governance suite enables that.
Organizations leverage it to:
Monitor CCoP 2.0 compliance control breaks continuously
Get practical remediation insights
Assign and remediate risks with teammates collaboratively.
Here’s a peek:
Automate Becoming and Staying CCoP 2.0-Compliant.
Cyber Sierra automates crucial steps involved in becoming (and staying) CCoP 2.0-compliant
Governance & Compliance
CISOs
CTOs
Cybersecurity Enthusiasts
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Join thousands of professionals and get the latest insight on Compliance & Cybersecurity.
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Top 10 Alternatives to AuditBoard in 2023
Are you searching for a perfect compliance management tool capable of boosting your data protection and compliance handling methods?
AuditBoard, though a frequently adopted choice in the business sphere for compliance issues, may not necessarily be the optimal match for every organization’s unique needs.
With a wide range of options available in the market, it is only natural that many businesses are still at a loss over the ideal compliance management solution for their business.
If you are one of those looking for an AuditBoard alternative with similar features but more benefits, here’s our list of 10 popular options to consider.
Top 10 AuditBoard Alternatives: Key Features, Pricing Plans, and More
Here are the top 10 alternatives to AuditBoard that we have shortlisted for you:
Cyber Sierra delivers a unique cybersecurity platform, developed to focus on the needs of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs), tech trailblazers, and others related to data safety.
What stands out about Cyber Sierra is its excellent integration of varied security elements, resulting in a comprehensive cybersecurity solution.
It consolidates governance, risk management, cybersecurity rules compliance, cyber insurance offerings, threat monitoring, and personnel training programs into a single, simplified platform, effectively minimizing the usual division often seen in managing cybersecurity.
Key Features
Universal Control: Assists businesses in upholding compliance standards recognized globally – like ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, and PDPA.
Cybersecurity Health Audit: Manages detailed examination and detects threats associated with your digital presence.
Staff Security Training: Furnishes a study course to teach employees how to identify and counteract phishing schemes.
Third-party risk management: Effortlessly handles the process of security clearance for partners and ensures consistent surveillance of possible risks.
Continuous controls monitoring: Monitors in near real-time the security controls, flagging off controls breaks and risk mitigation strategies.
Strengths
Integrated Security Solution: Unites governance, risk management, cybersecurity compliance, cyber insurance offering, threat observation, and employee training modules onto a single platform.
Constant Vigilance: Continuous risk management, threat prediction, and risk scoring.
Third-party risk management: Makes handling third-party risks less complicated and brings down associated risks.
Weaknesses
The platform is relatively new in the market.
Ideal For
Cyber Sierra is an excellent choice for both flourishing businesses and startups dealing with regulatory compliance, data safety, and related issues.
Moreover, it offers an advantage to businesses set to merge their cybersecurity, governance, and insurance strategies, shifting from several vendors to a unified platform.
Vanta is a specialized platform focusing on security and compliance management, zealously easing the pathway to SOC 2 compliance. It underscores the relevance of secure technology within a business, enabling the convenience of routine monitoring and automation of compliance procedures.
Key Features
Continuous Monitoring: Vanta’s continuous security monitoring ensures constant compliance, enabling firms to stay current and secure continuously.
Automation: To optimize the SOC 2 certification procedure, Vanta automates compliance activities, thereby simplifying workflows and minimizing the need for manual work.
Integration: It allows for easy integration with popular services and platforms, including AWS, GCP, and Azure. This assortment of integration choices fosters adaptability to variable tech situations.
Strengths
Time Efficiency: Vanta effectively curtails the duration and human effort required to meet SOC 2 compliance, offering companies much-needed resource savings.
Integration: Its ability to integrate with various established platforms enhances its adaptability to different technological environments.
Weaknesses
Limited Scope: As Vanta specializes in SOC 2 compliance, it might not cater to other security frameworks or standards necessary for some businesses.
Customization: With restricted customization options, Vanta might not offer sufficient flexibility for businesses with unique compliance requirements.
Ideal For:
Vanta is an excellent fit for mid-scale to large businesses, notably those operating in sectors demanding stringent security compliance standards, such as tech, healthcare, or finance. Compliance with rigorous security standards like SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI, and GDPR is inevitable in these sectors.
A dedicated cloud security solution for automating cloud configuration testing, Scrut Automation provides potent cloud-native protection layers for AWS, Azure, GCP, and other platforms.
Historical records: A history of your security state helps track improvement over time, providing valuable insights.
Integration: Enjoy seamless integration with major cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
Strengths
In-depth security coverage: Over 150 CIS benchmarks are employed to guard your cloud environment effectively.
Time-efficient: As it automates time-consuming tasks and ranks remediations, your information security progression speeds up.
Weaknesses
Learning curve: Users new to cloud security configurations may require time to grasp and utilize certain functionalities.
Limited customization: The platform has limited customization and personalization options, depending on specific user requirements.
Best for
Scrut Automation is ideal for organizations using cloud computing services from providers such as AWS, Azure, and GCP. Thanks to comprehensive security and compliance coverage, it serves large enterprises in need of dependable cloud security. Medium and small businesses looking for cloud security reinforcement via automation will also benefit significantly.
Drata acts as a security and compliance management platform that delivers all-encompassing support to companies endeavoring to achieve and maintain SOC 2 compliance. The platform’s audit management software automates the tracking, administration, and supervision of necessary technical and operational controls for SOC 2 certification.
Key Features
Asset management: Drata allows organizations to detect and manage assets such as servers, devices, and applications for more effective control.
Policy & procedure templates: Companies benefit from pre-built templates on the platform, enabling efficient generation of pertinent compliance documentation.
User access reviews: Systematic user access assessments by Drata help maintain appropriate access controls.
Security training: The platform grants continuous employee education and phishing simulations to elevate security threat awareness and best practices.
Strengths
Automated evidence collection: Drata’s evidence collection process automation minimizes manual labor and chances of human error.
Exceptional customer support: Its highly responsive and knowledgeable customer support team guides users throughout the compliance process.
Weaknesses
Onboarding process: A longer and more complex onboarding process, as reported by users, may cause initial setup delays.
Complex functionality: Drata’s wide range of functions could be challenging for non-technical users to comprehend.
Scalability: Being a relatively recent market addition, Drata might face growth-related challenges when catering to larger organizations with intricate compliance needs.
Pricing: Budget-constrained smaller businesses might find the pricing model of Drata a hindrance.\
Best For
Organizations looking to secure and preserve SOC 2 compliance while diminishing manual tasks can greatly benefit from Drata. Its sophisticated automation functions make it an appealing choice for businesses in pursuit of a more efficient audit process.
Sprinto functions as a security and compliance automation platform. It is designed to support businesses in maintaining compliance with notable frameworks such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS. Its capacity for customization and real-time monitoring lets companies consistently scrutinize and manage their security and compliance state efficiently.
Key Features
Asset Management: Sprinto’s security compliance tool allows businesses to aggregate risk, streamline entity-level controls, and run fully automated checks.
Policy Implementation: The platform pronounces automated workflows, policy templates, and custom training modules for multiple security compliance needs.
Exceptional Support: With Sprinto, businesses get guidance through every compliance process stage, from risk assessment to audit requirements fulfillment.
Cloud Compatibility: Sprinto flawlessly integrates with a wide range of modern business cloud services, enabling exhaustive risk assessment and control mapping.
Strengths
Automation: The automation offered by Sprinto notably reduces the effort and time needed to accomplish compliance.
Broad Compliance Coverage: Sprinto caters to a wide range of compliance frameworks, empowering businesses to manage multiple compliances in tandem.
Expert Support: From day one, Sprinto provides expert-guided support, guaranteeing that appropriate controls and practices are established.
Integration Capability: The platform harmonizes effortlessly with many business cloud services, facilitating efficient control mapping and well-rounded risk evaluation.
Weaknesses
Adaptive Requirements: To fully utilize the benefits of automated checks and continuous monitoring, businesses might need to first adapt to the Sprinto platform.
Customer Support: A section of users suggest that Sprinto’s customer service could improve, especially concerning response times.
Best For
Sprinto is optimally suited for burgeoning cloud companies striving to simplify their security compliance processes.
Its advanced automation features and extensive compliance coverage positions it as a prime choice for companies in search of an efficient and hands-off method to uphold security compliance.
Secureframe is a compliance management platform that empowers businesses to simplify SOC 2 and ISO 27001 compliances. The platform emphasizes efficient, ongoing monitoring for several services, including AWS, GCP, and Azure.
Key features
Continuous Compliance Monitoring: Facilitates ongoing compliance for a variety of services.
Automation: Enhances security compliance tasks by minimizing the required time and resources.
Integration Features: Interacts smoothly with widely-used cloud services like AWS, GCP, and Azure.
Strengths
Efficiency in Time Saving: Drastically reduces the duration typically required for documenting and overseeing compliance that can span weeks.
Integrated Approach: Works seamlessly with popular cloud services, providing potential advantages to companies utilizing these platforms.
Weaknesses
Inadequate Customization: According to some users’ feedback, Secureframe might benefit from more sophisticated customization options, indicating it may not provide the flexibility some businesses necessitate.
Best for
Secureframe is an optimal solution for businesses of all sizes aiming to simplify their SOC 2 and ISO 27001 compliances. It’s particularly beneficial for companies that rely on AWS, GCP, and Azure for their cloud services, thanks to its strengthened integration capabilities.
Wiz is an advanced cloud security solution that grants businesses a comprehensive outlook on security risks throughout their entire cloud ecosystem. This innovative Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) tool surpasses agent-based approaches by scanning the full cloud stack to identify vulnerabilities, configuration mishaps, and latent dangers.
Key features
Full Spectrum Visibility: Wiz delivers all-encompassing visibility for entire multi-cloud settings, presenting a unified look at security matters.
Intelligent Risk Mitigation: Wiz pinpoints vulnerabilities and provides practical guidance to alleviate security hazards.
Team Collaboration: Wiz encourages collaboration across DevOps, cloud infrastructure, and security teams via a singular platform.
Real-Time Security Monitoring: Wiz examines cloud ecosystems continuously, detecting and alerting users of any security concerns or misconfigurations as they occur.
Streamlined Automation: Users can implement effective security processes due to role automation and clear dashboards.
Effortless Setup and Usage: Wiz is reportedly easy to execute, requiring minimal configuration prerequisites.
Weaknesses
Inadequate Documentation: Some users have suggested that Wiz’s documentation could benefit from being more thorough and detailed.
Unclear Pricing: A portion of reviewers remarked that pricing details are not readily available, posing challenges when estimating the cost of Wiz’s deployment.
Excessive Notifications: As Wiz actively monitors cloud conditions, a few users may perceive the notifications as excessive.
Best for
Wiz is optimal for businesses operating within multi-cloud contexts that value a detailed, all-encompassing perspective of their cloud security posture. Those with complex cloud infrastructures will appreciate Wiz’s aptitude for rendering a harmonized security view.
Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud is a sweeping cybersecurity suite that consolidates backup, disaster recovery, AI-driven malware and ransomware defense, remote aid, and security in a unified system. It aims to provide a well-rounded approach to safeguarding data across an array of devices and settings.
Key Features
Backup and disaster recovery: Acronis secures data by offering dependable backup options and disaster recovery tools in the event of severe setbacks.
Cyber security: Employs AI-and machine learning-powered techniques to detect and tackle new menaces.
Patch management: Assesses and automatically upgrades outdated software versions to mitigate risks posed by vulnerabilities.
Remote assistance: Features remote support, enabling users and administrators to swiftly resolve issues from any point.
Strengths
Holistic Protection: Furnishes multi-layered security by melding backup, disaster recovery, and security provisions.
Easy to Navigate: The platform receives praise for its straightforward, easy-to-use interface.
Trustworthy Backup and Recovery: Users express satisfaction with Acronis’ performance regarding data backup and restoration.
Weaknesses
Potential Performance Constraints: A few users reported stuttering, particularly during resource-intensive backup operations.
Support Team Challenges: Some customers experienced less-than-stellar service and delays when engaging with the support team.
Inadequate Reporting: Some users pointed out that the reporting functionalities could offer more granular detail for deeper analysis.
Best for
Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud is particularly well-suited for businesses prioritizing solid, comprehensive cybersecurity postures. Given its all-encompassing nature, the solution proves valuable for firms in industries such as IT, retail, healthcare, finance, and any other field where data security is crucial.
Druva Data Resiliency Cloud is a cloud-native data protection and management solution using a SaaS model. It offers robust backup, disaster recovery, and information governance across different environments, including endpoints, data centers, and cloud-specific applications.
Key Features
Holistic Data Protection: Druva furnishes a solid, comprehensive backup and recovery solution for endpoints, data centers, SaaS applications.
Disaster Recovery: It offers a time-efficient, cost-saving strategy for on-the-spot disaster recovery.
Global Deduplication: With Druva’s deduplication feature, users can ensure effective storage and bandwidth usage, expediting backups, and curbing costs.
Security and Compliance: The solution complies with a range of data protection regulations, including GDPR, with provisions for encryption, access control, and audit trails.
Strengths
SaaS Model: As a SaaS-based offering, Druva is easy to roll out, maintain and scale, which minimizes stress on IT departments.
Efficient Data Management: Druva presents a centralized interface for overseeing data protection tasks across various platforms, streamlining data management.
Cost-Friendly: The elimination of hardware and infrastructure costs contributes to Druva’s cost-effectiveness.
Customer Support: Druva’s customer support team scores high in responsiveness and usefulness.
Weaknesses
Performance with Large Data Sets: It has been noted that the performance may dip when processing with large data sets.
Pricing Structure: Users have pointed out that Druva’s pricing model could be more straightforward and clear.
Best for
Druva Data Resiliency Cloud is highly recommended for businesses of all sizes seeking a SaaS-based, cost-effective, user-friendly data protection service. It is especially useful for organizations managing distributed systems, including endpoints and various data center applications.
Companies with extensive data processing requirements might wish to explore other options or test Druva’s performance before making a long-term commitment.
Operating under the umbrella of Cisco, Duo Security is a cloud-oriented access security platform shielding users, data, and applications from potential security risks. It ascertains users’ identities and the condition of their devices prior to granting access to applications—a step that helps comply with business security protocols.
Key Features
Two-factor Authentication (2FA): Extending beyond just the primary password, Duo strengthens the security framework by requiring an additional authentication form to access networks and applications.
Device Trust: Through Duo, businesses can obtain a comprehensive understanding of each device accessing their applications, thereby ensuring adherence to security standards.
Adaptive Authentication: It utilizes adaptive strategies and machine learning to enhance access security based on user behavior and device insights.
Secure Single Sign-On (SSO): Users experience uninterrupted, secure access to all applications through the SSO feature provided by Duo.
Strengths
Intuitive Use: Duo receives appreciation for its ease of use, easy deployment process, and an intuitive user interface.
Robust Security Framework: The two-factor authentication feature by Duo significantly mitigates the likelihood of unauthorized access.
Broad Integration Potential: Duo interfaces smoothly with a variety of existing VPNs, cloud-based applications, and other network infrastructures.
Responsive Customer Support: Duo’s customer support is renowned for their prompt and efficient problem-solving.
Weaknesses
Limited Customizability: Duo Security can be perceived lacking in granular control, especially for users needing specific controls or advanced customizability options.
Software Updates: Some users reported potential hiccups or difficulties following software updates.
Cost Considerations: For smaller businesses or startups, Duo’s pricing structure may appear to be on the steeper side.
User Interface Improvements: Although user-friendly, some users have indicated that the interface could be more engrossing and modernized in its appeal.
Best for
Businesses with diverse software applications and device integrations will benefit significantly from Duo, thanks to its wide-ranging compatibility.
Top 10 AuditBoard Alternatives: Comparative Analysis
Here is a comparative analysis of the top 10 alternatives to AuditBoard, tailored to assist you in identifying the optimal software specific to your needs.
Selecting the Best Software
Now, the task of identifying the right software for your needs can be simplified by meticulously considering relevant features, cost factors, and user feedback.
Given the breadth of software solutions proposed to enhance your organization’s management functions, it’s essential to choose one that resonates with your specific necessities.
Among security systems, Cyber Sierra distinguishes itself by integrating high functionality and robust protection within a single platform.
Cyber Sierra’s simple design enables the prompt and straightforward application of needed security controls, giving your business fortified protection against potential cyber threats.
Schedule a demo today and learn how Cyber Sierra can optimally secure your business.
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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.
