Governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) may not be the most exciting aspect of cybersecurity management, but it is undeniably one of the most critical, from a strategic perspective.
Time and again, we witness how the absence of a clear cybersecurity strategy leaves organizations exposed to severe breaches, operational disruptions, and regulatory non-compliance. A prime example is the ransomware attack on LoanDepot earlier this year, which compromised sensitive customer data and underscored significant shortcomings in their risk management and compliance practices.
Despite its importance, maintaining a robust cyber GRC strategy has proven a challenge for most businesses. The main roadblocks arise from reliance on manual workflows, which are incapable of keeping up with the rapidly evolving cyber threats and regulatory requirements.
Cypago CEO Arik Solomon recently spoke about these hurdles in an interview with Insights Success. “GRC usually involves document editing, gathering large amounts of data, repetitive configuration reviews, and constant interaction with multiple stakeholders,” he said. “However, when the move to the cloud exploded – an average company today uses dozens over dozens of SaaS tools, and data is literally everywhere – using the same old manual processes doesn’t cut the mustard anymore.”
To move forward, organizations must transition from reactive, point-in-time assessments to a more proactive approach that utilizes automation and emphasizes ongoing compliance via continuous monitoring.
“This is exactly where automation technology can come to the rescue and provide scalable means to help cyber GRC teams and security leaders,” said Solomon. “True, practical, and smart automation-based platforms are the key to the future of cyber GRC in a world where complexity is growing exponentially.”
Let’s take a closer look at how automated continuous monitoring supports cyber GRC functions to simplify decision making and provide real-time visibility into the status of all relevant controls and gaps.
Governance: Data-Driven Decision-Making
Strong governance sits at the heart of an effective cyber GRC strategy, setting the foundation for a secure and compliant organization. The goal of governance is to align cybersecurity efforts with broader business objectives so that security measures not only protect against risk but also enable business growth.
The main component of strong governance is solid decision making. Continuous monitoring provides leaders with real-time, actionable insights that enable them to make informed decisions about risk management, policy creation, access control, and resource allocation.
The dynamic visibility that continuous monitoring brings allows leadership to prioritize their actions to those that have the biggest business impact.
For example, automated monitoring can identify that certain access controls are damaging operational efficiency with minimal security benefits. In that case, it may be wise to reassess and adjust those controls to strike a better balance.
Risk Management: Early Detection of Vulnerabilities
Continuous monitoring is also essential for more “in your face” risks, including software vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, or failed login attempts.
Identifying these threats early is what separates proactive risk management from reactive firefighting, and there is no better way to achieve this than through continuous monitoring.
IT and security teams can set up alerts with their monitoring tools to get notified immediately when new issues arise, which significantly reduces remediation times.
Organizations have long relied on penetration testing to identify vulnerabilities and assess their security posture. However, the dynamic nature of threats means that risks can remain unresolved for months. It’s best to combine the detailed manual assessments with the speed of automated monitoring.
Compliance: Simplified Framework Adherence
Frameworks like GDPR, SOC 2 and ISO 27001 are affecting organizations of all industries and sizes. Some of these frameworks are mandatory, while others can be adopted voluntarily to build trust and adhere to best practices.
Like the threat landscape itself, regulations are dynamic, so point-in-time compliance assessments can easily leave organizations behind and put them at risk of inefficient security and hefty fines.
Automated monitoring allows organizations to always be in the loop about their compliance status so that security teams can identify potential gaps. This helps guide the necessary corrective actions but also streamlines audit preparation by reducing the time it takes to gather evidence and demonstrate compliance.
How to Implement Continuous Monitoring for Cyber GRC
Implementing continuous monitoring can dramatically upgrade your cyber GRC program. To do so effectively requires a calculated approach that combines technology, strategy, and people. Here is how organizations can get started.
- Assess your current frameworks. If you already have a cyber GRC program, start by evaluating your current division of labor, workflow protocols, processes, tools, and priorities. Focus on finding any inefficiencies or gaps where manual methods are hindering your ability to reduce risk or meet compliance requirements.
- Bring together all stakeholders. IT, legal, leadership, and other stakeholders must work together to form a unified strategy that satisfies security priorities, risk tolerance levels and business objectives alike. Early misalignments between these groups can cause a lot of friction down the line.
- Incorporate automation. Once you find areas where automated monitoring can have the most impact, and once you’ve ensured that all stakeholders are on board, it’s time to implement the solution. It’s important to select monitoring tools and platforms that align well with your organization’s specific needs and regulatory obligations.
- Set up alerts and dashboards. To maximize the benefit of monitoring tools, configure alerts for critical events, such as new vulnerabilities, access attempts, or compliance deviations. Dashboards can also be used to present the identified data intuitively for both leadership and security teams.
- Document everything. All monitoring activities and corrective actions should be well documented to assist with audits and keep stakeholders accountable. Luckily, monitoring platforms often offer advanced logging capabilities.
Conclusion
If your company relies on manual cyber GRC processes, it’s time to reconsider the approach. Point-in-time assessments and reactive measures can’t keep up with the dynamic nature of the threat and the regulatory landscapes.
The transformation to a more proactive approach doesn’t have to be too complicated. Simply incorporating continuous monitoring will go a long way in enabling more effective and scalable cyber GRC.
