No More Compliance Headaches!

Since we’ve focused much of our content on the data-breach aspect of cyber security, we wanted to emphasize a major component of our Security Operations Center (SOC) that doesn’t receive its fair share of the “limelight” – compliance. Compliance is something that we must abide by daily, get audited for yearly, and despise forever – whether you’re in healthcare, finance, retail, manufacturing, or any other industry that processes personal information. We have all heard of HIPAA, GDPR, GLBA, CCPA, SOX, PIPEDA, PCI DSS, FISMA or any other acronym you might see included in a ‘compliance regulation list.’ Compliance is a necessary part of business that may be a pain in our collective a$$e$, but the simple fact is that it minimizes risk. Risk is inherent in violations, fines, breaches, lawsuits, and other forms of negative exposure. By outsourcing our cyber security to a SOC, we alleviate one of our biggest headaches, minimize a massive amount of risk, and effectively allocate valuable resources like time, overhead, and personnel on other priorities – resulting in higher efficiency.  

At Steel Patriot Partners, we have been in your shoes. We have read the articles, done our homework, and have operated other businesses that have had to outsource security. After 25+ years of combined experience of being “in the business” we know the overwhelming feeling of anxiety, the questions and the trust you must have in order to outsource something as personal and as sensitive as data – or, as we like to call it, the secret sauce. That’s also the reason our focus isn’t to sell. Our mission is to educate and empower. Cyber security truly is a community issue. The benefit of a community is that there is strength in numbers. As we continue to educate each other and talk about cyber security with our peers, we make each other more aware and more conscious of our decisions. We continually learn from one another. That makes our entire community safer.  

A SOC and a SOC team can be an asset to an independent organization or an extension of the team you already have in place to handle your IT needs. Lindsey Hardy summarized the relationship perfectly in an article published by HELPNETSECURITY by saying:  

Overall, the goal of SOC 2 is to ensure systems are set up to prioritize security, availability, processing, integrity, confidentiality and privacy of customer data. SOC 2 compliance is evaluated by independent third-party auditors who assess a company’s ability to comply with these core principles. 

Compliance is a continual job for everyone. It is built into our business model. When you decide on a security partner, not only do you get the peace of mind knowing your data is secure, you no longer have the worry of audits and compliance regulations…well, not as much, anyway. Compliance isn’t going anywhere – indications are that it will continue in its seeming quest for more complexity. Finding a trusted partner to manage not only your security, but to also ease the burden of compliance, could be a monumental relief for any business owner, C-level officer, office manager, IT team, or “network guy.”  

If you would like some answers to the questions about outsourcing cyber security, please don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our experts. Our passion is cyber security and the empowerment that comes from education. Cyber security, compliance, SOC as a service, or any other topic regarding the protection of your patient/client data doesn’t have to be as elusive as it’s often cracked up to be. Just give us a follow on social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), send us an email, give us a call at 703-297-4405 or contact us directly! Regardless of the method you choose, we look forward to hearing from you and – as always, we appreciate your time for reading this content! Stay secure!