Every business should take exhaustive steps for protecting their data from attackers. You should implement security controls that will help you in protecting your data. However, sometimes your vendors can suffer a data breach. The data that you have shared with them will get stolen. This is a nightmare scenario for many companies.
According to a report by the Ponemon Institute, this same thing happened with more than 60% of companies in 2018. The Target data breach also happened due to an HVAC vendor. They were using unsecured access credentials due to which Target data got compromised. Target lost millions of dollars due to this data breach. These events demonstrate the importance of compliance reports. You should ensure that your vendor is also compliant. This will ensure that your data is protected from attackers. In this article, we are going to talk about the importance of compliance reports.
Definition of Compliance Reports:
A compliance report is also known as an attestation report. An independent organization will check your procedures, policies, and controls. They will check if these policies can actually protect your data and sensitive information. It is mostly done every year. Compliance reports ensure that your data is protected from attackers. Customers, business partners, and vendors can check this compliance report before working with you. They want to be reassured that your company is meeting all the regulations.
However, many people think that a compliance report is equivalent to a certificate. This report doesn’t mean that you are following all the compliance standards. For example, consider that two companies have a HIPAA report. You need someone to check the scope of these reports. One report may be covering only 2 or 3 HIPPA criteria while the other report may be covering all the criteria.
Many companies think that a compliance report is a guarantee that an organization is following all the security regulations. You can think of this report as a starting point. It is an important resource that will provide important insight into the security controls that an organization is using. It will check the security controls that an organization is using for protecting their data and customers.
Why Compliance Reports are important for your organization?
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Industry Requirements
Compliance is a very serious issue in many industries. It is an essential thing if you want to do business. For example, every retailer needs to be PCI DSS compliant. If your company can’t guarantee that they can protect their customer’s financial information, then your customers will never trust you. Similarly, if you are in the healthcare sector, then you need to follow HIPAA compliance. Almost every customer takes this compliance very seriously. If you are not compliant, then you might need to deal with penalties. Also, it can lead to a data breach. You can lose your reputation due to a data breach. Thus, it is important to protect the data from your patients.
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Risk Mitigation
A data breach can affect your business reputation. You will lose a lot of your partners and customers. Thus, companies are investing a lot of their energy and time in protecting their data. They want to implement the best security controls to protect their data. The compliance report will help you in identifying gaps in your security policy. An independent auditor can find gaps in your controls. They will help you in finding vulnerabilities in your network. Thus, you can work on filling these security gaps.
Compliance audits will help you in evaluating your security posture. This will help you in minimizing security risks. An auditor might tell you about flag areas that you can improve. They will provide you a foundation that you can use for expanding your security controls. Thus, a security audit is very important for your organization.
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Vendor Quality Control
Most companies are outsourcing their business functions. They are working with third-party vendors for decreasing their costs. Also, it will help you in streamlining your operations. You can focus your resources on other areas. Thus, it is very beneficial to work with other third-party vendors. However, you might think that they are a separate business. The law doesn’t make a distinction between you and your third-party vendors. If a customer is sharing their data with you, then you have to make sure that their data is protected. It is your duty to protect their data from a security breach. If you are sharing their data with other third-party vendors, then you should ensure that your vendor is protecting your data. They should also implement all the necessary security controls. You have to ensure that your vendor doesn’t suffer a data breach otherwise your customers can sue you. They will hold you liable for the data breach.
Due to this, compliance reports are very important. It will help you in selecting the best vendor for your company. You should ensure that your vendor is following all the security regulations. A compliance report will show you all the steps that your vendor is taking for protecting their data. You can review the security controls and policies that they are using. Make sure that they are meeting their security requirements. If they are not following the security requirements, then you should look for some other vendor. A compliance report will help you in determining if a vendor is good for your organization. Make sure that all your vendors are compliant.
Conclusion
These are the main benefits of a compliance report. It will ensure that you are following the best security practices. Your auditor will also help you in finding loopholes in your security policy. It can be very difficult to become security compliant. You need to follow various security policies. Also, you need to implement the best security controls.
Most companies don’t have access to an in-house IT security team. Thus, they can’t implement these security controls. If you don’t have an in-house IT security team, then you should work with an MSP like Bleuwire. Experienced MSPs like Bleuwire can help you in implementing these security controls. They will make sure that you are following all the best security policies. If you need more information regarding Managed IT security services, then you can contact Bleuwire.
Contact us today to learn about Bleuwire™ services and solutions in how we can help your business.
