Compliance
A secure and compliant work environment is what data protection regulations worldwide mandate your business to build and maintain. It must be secure enough to mitigate as many risks as possible and be compliant with every single rule/guideline listed in the regulation. The most important aspect to remember is that these regulations take into consideration your remote work environment as well. No matter how centralized or decentralized your IT environment is, you must prove that you have undertaken the necessary measures to protect the integrity of sensitive data. Your commitment to compliance across all work environments, proven with the required documentation, is the only way you can avoid regulatory action against your business.
Continue reading to find out how you can effectively prioritize your business’ commitment towards compliance with data protection regulations.
Two Unavoidable Pieces of the Puzzle
If building a secure and compliant work environment is akin to a putting together a jigsaw puzzle, it would still be incomplete without two essential pieces – the machines and the humans. If the machines and the humans do what they are supposed to do to ensure security and compliance, your business would remain considerably secure in the face of any major setback.
Although your business may not be 100 percent immune to cyberthreats, it would still be resilient enough to avoid most of them and also recover from an unfortunate breach quicker than one would imagine while avoiding regulatory action for non-compliance.
Now, let’s take a look at the significance of the two vital pieces mentioned above and their roles.
The Machines
This piece of the puzzle pertains to every device and portion of technology that is a part of your business’ work environment. You must ensure the right devices are used and the right technology is used to secure these devices. For example, if you are a business required to comply with HIPAA regulations, you cannot use a phone system that does not comply with HIPAA regulations.
Similarly, you must avail an identity and access management (IAM) solution to ensure only authorized users access your business’ network through their devices. Let us reiterate that these principles do not just apply to the devices in your office. They also apply to any device used to access your network, even if it is an employee’s personal device or any other device allowed under your business’ bring your own device (BYOD) policy.