Compliance vs. Security: What’s the Deal?
As your organization strives to maintain its reputation, keep its data secure, and adhere to regulatory standards, compliance and security have become essential components of any business.
But what exactly does security and compliance mean, you might be wondering. While the terms compliance and security are often used interchangeably, they are different concepts that serve different purposes. Both are necessary to protect and secure your organization, but they require different approaches and tools. In this post, we will discuss the similarities, overlap, and differences between the two.
Similarities:
Protecting Assets: Both compliance and security are designed to protect an organization's assets, including data, financial resources, and intellectual property.
Risk Management: Both compliance and security aim to mitigate risk by identifying and assessing potential threats and vulnerabilities.
Regulatory Requirements: Both compliance and security are driven by regulatory requirements that organizations must follow to avoid legal and financial penalties.
Overlap:
Policies and Procedures: Compliance and security both require policies and procedures that dictate how an organization will handle security and compliance-related tasks.
Audits: Both compliance and security require audits to ensure that an organization is adhering to its policies and procedures and meeting regulatory requirements.
Training and Awareness: Both compliance and security require training and awareness programs to ensure that employees understand their responsibilities and how to protect the organization's assets.
Differences:
Focus: Compliance is focused on meeting regulatory requirements, while security is focused on protecting an organization's assets.
Scope: Compliance is a broader concept that encompasses legal, financial, and regulatory requirements, while security focuses on protecting against cybersecurity threats.
Objectives: The primary objective of compliance is to meet legal and regulatory requirements, while the primary objective of security is to prevent and mitigate security breaches.
Tools and Technologies: Compliance and security use different tools and technologies. Compliance relies on governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) tools, while security relies on security information and event management (SIEM), intrusion detection systems (IDS), and other security-specific tools.
Understanding the similarities, overlap, and differences between compliance and security is essential for developing an effective strategy that addresses both areas. At Com-Sec, we work with you to determine and achieve your security goals.