Compliance automation software is the answer to rising compliance costs

After last year’s U.S. presidential election, many businesses eagerly awaited a new “era of deregulation” that would allegedly result in relaxed compliance requirements – and lower costs. Although some regulations have been relaxed or even repealed, IT compliance is as time-consuming and expensive as ever. A recent survey by Wealth Management found that broker/dealers and registered investment advisors have increased their compliance budgets by an average of 9%. Further, investment advisors charged with compliance oversight report that compliance tasks take up 1/3 of their time. So much for the “era of deregulation.” Fortunately, the era of compliance automation is upon us.

In the Beginning, There Was Excel

For many years, organizations and third-party IT auditors have been using Microsoft Excel to “automate” their IT compliance processes. This worked well – in the 1990s, when the only other option was paper files. If your organization, or your IT auditor, is still using Excel for “compliance automation” in 2017, you aren’t actually “automating” anything. Excel is a great spreadsheet program, but it is not an IT audit and compliance solution, nor will it do anything to help you with IT governance and risk management, which are integral parts of compliance.

Modern RegTech software solutions, such as Continuum GRC’s IT Audit Machine (ITAM), are designed specifically to create, measure, monitor, and manage IT governance programs for compliance frameworks such as COBIT, FedRAMP, COSO, SSAE 18 SOC 1, AT 101 SOC 2, CJIS, DFARS, ISO 27001, ISO 27002, ISO 27005, NIST, and ITIL. With compliance automation software, your organization gets a truly automated, workflow-driven approach to managing, communicating, and implementing IT policies and procedures.

Let’s look at some of the ways in which compliance automation software saves time, money, and headaches.

How IT Compliance Automation Software Helps You Work Smarter, Not Harder

It helps you bridge the cyber security skills gap. The cyber security skills gap is quite real, and it’s getting worse by the day. Qualified cyber security personnel are difficult to find, and even if your company manages to snag one, it will pay top dollar for them. Compliance automation software fills this void by getting you the expert compliance help you need right now, at a price that’s far lower than what you’d pay to hire internal staff or even outsource the work to an IT audit firm. On average, ITAM users see a 46% reduction in labor costs.

It frees up your internal IT resources. Information technology personnel don’t grow on trees, either. By automating your IT compliance processes, your internal IT staff have time to work on initiatives that will grow your business instead of being bogged down with compliance audits.

It enables rapid report generation. Compliance automation software lets you say good-bye and good riddance to fumbling around and trying to reconcile a dozen different spreadsheets. Easy-to-use self-help modules and a centralized repository of all IT compliance requirements, with their associated controls and automated information flows, let you generate complex reports with just a few clicks of your mouse. On average, ITAM users speed up report generation by 180%!

It ensures that your controls are up-to-date. Compliance standards are continually evolving. Excel can’t tell you if your controls are compliant with the latest changes to IT security frameworks, but compliance automation software like ITAM can. If the regulations change, you find out right away, and you can respond right away.

It eliminates silos and improves cyber security. Respondents to the Wealth Management survey named cyber security as the top priority of their compliance efforts. Compliance automation software like ITAM doesn’t just make compliance easier; it integrates IT governance, policy management, risk management, compliance management, audit management, and incident management. With one user portal, you get the big picture of your organization’s cyber security controls, risks, and vulnerabilities.

The cyber security experts at Lazarus Alliance have deep knowledge of the cyber security field, are continually monitoring the latest information security threats, and are committed to protecting organizations of all sizes from security breaches. Our full-service risk assessment services and Continuum GRC RegTech software will help protect your organization from data breaches, ransomware attacks, and other cyber threats.

Lazarus Alliance is proactive cyber security®. Call 1-888-896-7580 to discuss your organization’s cyber security needs and find out how we can help your organization adhere to cyber security regulations, maintain compliance, and secure your systems.

Ensure a secure cloud migration with these simple, proactive cyber security tips

Enterprises have much to gain by migrating to the cloud, which is why the U.S. government has adopted a “cloud-first” initiative. Cost savings and the ability to scale up and down quickly as organizational needs change are among the benefits of cloud computing. However, the cloud also presents its own set of security issues that can differ, sometimes fundamentally, from what organizations are used to dealing with in-house, and numerous high-profile breaches involving Amazon Web Services customers have left many companies spooked about migrating to the cloud. Fortunately, a secure cloud migration is entirely possible by following a few proactive cyber security practices.

Understand That Cloud Security Differs from On-Site Cyber Security

The first step to a secure cloud migration is to understand that cloud security must be addressed differently from your on-site cyber security. Among other things, you must understand where your cloud provider’s cyber security responsibilities end and yours begin. In general, your cloud provider is responsible for securing the actual cloud infrastructure, such as their physical data centers; your organization is responsible for securing your data and ensuring that you comply with all applicable standards, such as HIPAA and PCI DSS. For example, if your data is breached because one of your users changed the privacy settings of a cloud folder from “private” to “public,” your cloud provider cannot be held responsible.

Put Sound GRC at the Heart of Your Cloud Security

All of the Amazon Web Services breaches that have been in the news have one thing in common: They could have been prevented if the victimized companies had followed fundamental information governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) practices. Cloud security starts with a secure cloud migration plan, which must be rooted in sound GRC. Your organization must identify and clearly define which data is to be stored in the cloud (especially sensitive data probably shouldn’t be), how to set up the cloud hierarchy, and the level of access to grant each user and user group. For example, only certain high-level users should have the ability to change the access levels of cloud folders.

On a related note, migrating to the cloud means altering your entire data environment, which means that all of your cyber security and compliance processes must be reevaluated. A secure cloud migration will do you little good if one of your internal systems is breached.

Look for FedRAMP Certification

U.S. government agencies are required to choose cloud service providers that are FedRAMP-certified. However, it’s a good idea for private-sector companies to give preference to FedRAMP-certified providers as well, because FedRAMP is arguably the “gold standard” in cloud security, indicating that the provider has undergone a rigorous, comprehensive data security audit.

Seek Professional Help

From determining which data is to be stored in the cloud to properly configuring a cloud server, cloud migration can be tricky.  Most organizations do not have the in-house resources to perform a successful, secure cloud migration or ensure cloud security and compliance moving forward, especially in light of the cyber security skills shortage. The security of your systems and data is too important to cross your fingers and hope for the best. Enlist the help of a professional cyber security firm with expertise in GRC, cloud security, and in-house security from the very beginning.

The cyber security experts at Lazarus Alliance have deep knowledge of the cyber security field, are continually monitoring the latest information security threats, and are committed to protecting organizations of all sizes from security breaches. Our full-service risk assessment services and Continuum GRC RegTech software will help protect your organization from data breaches, ransomware attacks, and other cyber threats.

Lazarus Alliance is proactive cyber security®. Call 1-888-896-7580 to discuss your organization’s cyber security needs and find out how we can help your organization adhere to cyber security regulations, maintain compliance, and secure your systems.

FISMA vs. FedRAMP and NIST: Making Sense of Government Compliance Standards

FISMA, FedRAMP, NIST, DFARS, CJIS, HIPAA … Government compliance standards can seem like a veritable alphabet soup. Making matters even worse, a lot of them overlap, and many organizations aren’t certain which standards they need to comply with.

Even if your organization does not currently operate in the public sector, it is important to understand the fundamentals of FISMA, FedRAMP, and NIST. First, the U.S. government is the single largest buyer of goods and services in the world, and your company may ultimately want to tap this lucrative market. Second, any information security standards that the federal government implements will ultimately trickle down into state and local laws, as well as industry frameworks.

What is NIST?

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a non-regulatory agency that is part of the United States Department of Commerce. Its mission is “To promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.”

Among many other responsibilities, NIST creates and promotes information security standards for the federal government. These standards are outlined in NIST’s SP-800 series of publications, including NIST SP 800-53 (also known as NIST 800-53), which outlines security controls for federal information systems and organizations and documents security controls for all federal information systems, except those designed for national security. Federal agencies must comply with NIST guidelines and standards within one year of their publication.

The controls outlined in NIST 800-53 are the basis for FISMA as well as FedRAMP, DFARS, CJIS, HIPAA, FedRAMP +, FedRAMP DoD IL 2, 4, 5, 6 and others.

What is FISMA?

FISMA was first enacted in 2002 as the Federal Information Security Management Act, then updated in 2014 to the Federal Information Security Modernization Act. FISMA applies to:

• All federal government agencies
• State agencies that administer federal programs, such as Medicare/Medicaid and student loans
• All private-sector firms that support federal programs, sell services to the federal government, or receive federal grant money

In a nutshell, FISMA requires the implementation of information security controls that utilize a risk-based approach. The primary framework for FISMA compliance is NIST 800-53. Organizations that demonstrate FISMA compliance are awarded an Authority to Operate (ATO) from the federal agency they are doing business with. This ATO applies only to that particular agency; if an organization has contracts with multiple federal agencies, they must obtain an ATO from each one. The logic behind this is that because every federal agency has different data security needs and vulnerabilities, different controls may apply. A FISMA assessment may be performed directly by the agency granting the ATO or a third-party security assessor.

What is FedRAMP?

The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) was designed to support the federal government’s “cloud-first” initiative by making it easier for federal agencies to contract with cloud providers. Like FISMA, the controls outlined in FedRAMP are based on NIST 800-53.

Unlike FISMA, which requires organizations to seek an ATO from each individual federal agency, a FedRAMP ATO qualifies a cloud service provider to do business with any federal agency. Because FedRAMP ATO’s are more far-reaching, the certification process is far more rigorous. It must also be performed by a certified third-party assessment organization (3PAO) such as Lazarus Alliance. Finally, FedRAMP is more specific than FISMA. FISMA applies to information systems security in general, while FedRAMP applies only to cloud service providers and federal agencies that plan to use cloud service providers.

Since the FedRAMP certification process is so demanding, a FedRAMP ATO is beneficial even for cloud service providers that do not currently work with the federal government. Private-sector companies are aware of how difficult it is to comply with FedRAMP and recognize it as a gold standard of cloud security.

However, this is not to say the FISMA compliance process is “easy.” Organizations need to map the specific NIST 800-53 controls to the FISMA requirements of each agency they wish to do business with. There are hundreds of different controls, and figuring out which ones apply in each situation can be quite complex.

Complying with FedRAMP, FISMA, and NIST 800-53

Regardless of which compliance framework is right for your organization, it’s best to partner with a certified 3PAO such as Lazarus Alliance. Our FISMA and FedRAMP Cybervisors™ will provide your decision-makers with a clear picture of certification costs, timelines, and internal resource demands to facilitate an informed decision about pursuing FedRAMP or FISMA certification based on NIST 800-53.

Further, by leveraging Continuum GRC’s proprietary IT Audit Machine, a revolutionary GRC software package that utilizes pre-loaded, drag-and-drop modules, Lazarus Alliance takes the pain and high costs out of the FedRAMP and FISMA compliance process. Some of our clients have saved up to 1,000% over traditional FedRAMP assessment methods.

The cyber security experts at Lazarus Alliance have deep knowledge of the cyber security field, are continually monitoring the latest information security threats, and are committed to protecting organizations of all sizes from security breaches. Our full-service risk assessment services and Continuum GRC RegTech software will help protect your organization from data breaches, ransomware attacks, and other cyber threats.

Lazarus Alliance is proactive cyber security®. Call +1 (888) 896-7580 to discuss your organization’s cyber security needs and find out how we can help your organization adhere to cyber security regulations, maintain compliance, and secure your systems.