In the United States, the lack of any single, overarching cloud compliance law complicates the matter. Businesses must stay on top of a patchwork of federal and state laws, applicable international laws, and industry-specific regulations. This guide will help streamline the process.

Understanding the Shared Responsibility Model

Business leaders must remember that cloud compliance involves a shared responsibility between the cloud service provider and the customer. Under this shared responsibility model, cloud providers take responsibility for securing the underlying infrastructure, while the customer secures the data and workloads that live in the cloud.

For example, Microsoft secures its data centers and implements robust security around the hardware and networking equipment that supports Microsoft 365 services. It employs some encryption, provides continuous monitoring of the platform, and releases security patches for its applications.

Microsoft customers, on the other hand, must configure the Microsoft 365 security options properly and apply patches promptly. Additionally, they need to take steps to track and protect sensitive data. They must also secure user accounts and control data access. And they need to identify and protect endpoints that include every device that connects to the network.

Major Regulations to Consider

Organizations may need to comply with any number of privacy regulations, depending on their location and industry. But several key regulations apply widely and/or set the tone for other regulations. Understanding these landmark regulations will help organizations build an overall compliance strategy.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), while a European law, still applies to many US businesses, and it serves as a model for many emerging regulations here in the States.

Key requirements of GDPR include the requirement to gain clear consent before processing personal data. Individuals also have the right to access their personal data or request a transfer of that data. And businesses must notify individuals promptly if a breach occurs.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) sets the standard for protection of protected health information (PHI). It requires entities to implement stringent safeguards to protect PHI, including limiting PHI access to authorized personnel. It also requires organizations to encrypt PHI data, conduct regular risk assessments, and train employees.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) mandates strict controls relating to financial data and applies to all public companies in the US. It includes stringent requirements around retention and destruction of financial records. It also requires companies to strengthen IT controls around financial systems and data. And it mandates audit trails and regular risk monitoring.

Several states model their privacy laws on the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). It grants consumers the right to access and correct their data that businesses collect. It also guarantees individuals the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of their personal data, as well as to request deletion of their data. And businesses must take reasonable security measures.

Key Steps to Building a Compliant Cloud Environment

While each regulation has specific requirements, common themes run across regulations. Prioritizing those common elements will help businesses stay ahead of the compliance game.

• Data governance – Develop a comprehensive data governance framework that includes classifying and monitoring sensitive data, tightening access controls around that data, and implementing clear policies around data retention and data sharing.
• Vendor management – Review vendor contracts to ensure necessary language regarding data privacy and security. Additionally, carefully control vendor access and perform regular supply chain audits and monitoring.

• Incident response – Create, implement, and regularly update a plan for responding to data breaches, including mandated notifications.
• Continuous monitoring – Regularly monitor compliance status and make necessary adjustments. Automated compliance monitoring streamlines this process.
• Ensure consumer control over personal data – Display privacy policies clearly on public-facing apps and websites. Include easy-to-use forms for consumers to specify their preferences regarding sharing of personal information, targeted advertising, and cookies.
• Ensure reasonable security measures – In addition to measures already mentioned, implement encryption, strong authentication methods, role-based access controls, and comprehensive network security. Deliver regular employee training around security and compliance.

Additional Tips Round Out the Ultimate Guide to Cloud Compliance

Compliance concerns require substantial time, resources, and energy. However, by wisely leveraging compliance technology such as the compliance solutions from eGovernance.com, businesses can reduce much of the pain involved in regulatory compliance.

eGovernance Compliance allows you to tackle all data compliance monitoring mandates simultaneously, including HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, SOX, PCI-DSS, and more. It gives wide visibility by connecting to all data storage locations through a single console. It also simplifies data classification, aids access control, and provides automated alerts to possible problems.

Take a proactive approach to regulatory compliance by contacting the compliance experts at eMazzanti Technologies.

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Improved Analytics and Automation Strengthen Compliance Efforts

Through analytics and automation, AI proves a game-changer for regulatory compliance. For instance, in a constantly evolving compliance landscape, organizations struggle to keep track of regulatory changes.

AI-enhanced tools bring the ability to analyze large and diverse data sets such as industry regulations, privacy laws, internal policies, and contracts. Using natural language understanding and semantic analysis, AI can help organizations identify relevant regulations and map their internal policies and procedures accordingly.

Additionally, AI allows the automation of tedious tasks such as data collection and classification, reporting, and compliance monitoring. Automating these tasks improves both speed and accuracy. It also helps compliance officers find and track data on multiple platforms throughout the organization.

Unique Risks Necessitate Updated Strategies

However, AI also poses new compliance challenges that require a proactive approach. In the first place, AI and machine learning rely on large amounts of training data. To avoid bias and ensure effective decision-making, companies must ensure these systems have access to accurate, complete, and relevant information.

At the same time, the data used for AI training models may contain sensitive or personal information. Organizations need to adjust policies and procedures around data collection, storage, and use to make sure sensitive data remains compliant.

The rise of AI also introduces new cyber security risks. AI-powered cyber-attacks greatly increase the risk of successful phishing attempts and data breaches. To demonstrate compliance, companies must be able to show that they have implemented appropriate security measures to counter these evolving threats.

Finally, compliance requires transparency and accountability. While automation delivers key benefits, it requires human oversight. Organizations will need to disclose their use of AI systems. They must also be able to explain the logic, methods, and limitations of their AI systems to outside regulators.

Best Practices for Effectively Managing AI and Compliance

To leverage the benefits of AI while providing data security and transparency, businesses should adopt a holistic approach. For example, they should:

• Strengthen information governance with AI in mind – Effective AI depends on huge amounts of high-quality data. More than ever, businesses must know where their data lives and what their data contains. And they must carefully control AI access to data based on sensitivity and regulatory requirements.
• Adjust cyber security policies and procedures as necessary – Cyber security strategies need to account for emerging AI-powered cyber threats such as deepfakes. Additionally, security teams must guard against threat actors that attempt to manipulate AI algorithms and corrupt the data that feed them.

• Implement regular audits and compliance monitoring – Regularly audit AI systems for potential vulnerabilities. This may include adjusting algorithms to accommodate regulatory requirements. Continuous compliance monitoring should include policies specific to data usage for AI.
• Provide robust training – Businesses should provide effective training to staff on the principles, practices, and implications of AI projects. For instance, employees need to understand the potential for bias and other ethical issues. And they need to understand how to recognize and remedy potential problems with AI systems.

Build a Comprehensive and Agile Data Compliance Strategy

AI introduces new vistas in a constantly changing data environment. For compliance, it presents a double-edged sword. On the one hand, AI can streamline compliance efforts and allow organizations to effectively manage and monitor data at scale. On the other hand, AI introduces increased security risks and complicates compliance efforts.

eGovernance compliance solutions provide critical data visibility and control throughout the organization. They simplify data classification and compliance monitoring and provide critical transparency. Combined with comprehensive data security from eMazzanti, eGovernance delivers the peace of mind businesses need.

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Information governance encompasses the overall strategy for information across the organization. This includes identifying, categorizing, and storing data. It also involves managing information lifecycles, ensuring data security and supporting eDiscovery and regulatory compliance.

IT governance, on the other hand, ensures the technical foundation and support for information governance. By implementing information governance and IT governance in coordination, organizations optimize their use of information assets. At the same time, they improve risk management, ensure regulatory compliance and drive innovation.

Data Management

Data holds tremendous potential to provide insights, improve decision making, and inform strategy. At the same time, the sheer velocity of data poses challenges. Organizations ingest huge quantities of data in various formats from a wide range of sources. But if people cannot find and access quality data when they need it, it holds little value.

IT governance supports data management by providing the tools, policies, and processes to ensure data quality and availability. This includes supporting the classification and storage of data as well as controlling information access and sharing. It also involves enabling effective and responsible archiving and destruction of data.

For example, IT governance establishes the data architecture necessary to ensure that all team members can access accurate information, regardless of their location. It also provides data analytics and visualization tools to enable data exploration and reporting.

Risk Management

Any business activity entails risk that can negatively impact the company’s performance, reputation, and even its bottom line. Insufficient cyber security measures introduce the risk of data breach, for instance. Likewise, natural disasters and ransomware can interrupt business continuity and result in crippling data loss.

Risk management requires IT governance to provide the necessary resources and processes to enable risk identification, analysis, and response. For example, effective IT governance provides for risk assessments to identify potential vulnerabilities of IT systems and processes. It will also include the implementation of strategies and controls to close security gaps moving forward.

Additionally, risk management must include implementing data backup and recovery procedures as part of an overall business continuity strategy. And once the organization has identified risks and initiated mitigation strategies, ongoing IT monitoring enables timely resolution of any issues.

Compliance Management

Effective risk management forms a critical component of overall compliance management. Regulatory compliance plays a critical role in avoiding legal penalties, maintaining trust, and achieving competitive advantage. For many organizations, compliance challenges provide the initial motivation for developing and implementing information governance programs.

Here again, IT governance supports compliance management by providing necessary systems and processes to enable compliance evidence and improvement. This includes policies and procedures around data privacy and security. It also includes a strong reporting component to establish proof of compliance with applicable legislation and industry standards.

Innovation

Data plays an increasingly important role in guiding innovation. For example, by analyzing data from various sources, the company can understand what customers need and value. Data also provides insights into gaps and opportunities in current product offerings. With these insights, the organization can then design and deliver solutions specifically targeted to customer needs.

IT governance supports data-driven innovation by fostering a culture of experimentation and collaboration while providing the necessary resources and guidance. This often includes delivering the guidance and structure to responsibly and successfully leverage emerging technologies such as AI.

Optimize Use of Information Assets with Effective IT Governance

By coordinating IT governance and information governance, organizations increase the value of data assets while reducing risk, achieving compliance, and supporting innovation. This requires ensuring that IT infrastructure and operations are automated and integrated where feasible. It also involves using best practices to enhance information security, quality and availability.

Consider seeking external guidance and support as you develop your governance strategies. For instance, the consultants at eMazzanti and Messaging Architects bring a wealth of experience and tools to help you unlock the power of data for your organization.

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According to the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach in 2022 was $ 4.35 million. The report also found that 45% of breaches occurred in the cloud, with public cloud breaches costing the most. Thus, effective ISG makes financial sense.

Clear Vision and Action Required

The primary elements of ISG include:

• A clear vision and direction for information security communicated and supported by senior management and stakeholders.

For example, an organization can define its information security mission, vision, and values, and communicate them through a charter, a policy statement, or a code of conduct.

• A set of policies, standards, guidelines, and procedures that define the roles, responsibilities and accountabilities of information security functions and processes.

Thus, the organization establishes an information security policy framework that covers topics such as access control, data protection, and incident management.

• A mechanism to monitor, measure and report on the performance and effectiveness of information security controls and activities.
• A process to identify, assess and manage information security risks and incidents in a timely and consistent manner.

Thus, an organization should implement an incident response plan that defines the roles, procedures, and tools for handling information security incidents.

• A culture of awareness, education and training that fosters a shared understanding and commitment to information security among all employees and partners.

Organizations that conduct regular security awareness training and simulations to raise the level of security knowledge and behavior among staff and stakeholders reduce the risk and cost of a data security breach.

Protect Assets and Reputation; Increase Efficiency and Innovation

The benefits of information security governance extend beyond protecting information assets. Effective ISG enables organizations to:

• Protect information assets from unauthorized access, disclosure, modification, or destruction.

For example, effective ISG can prevent costly data breaches, cyberattacks, frauds and thefts that compromise confidential information and intellectual property.

• Enhance reputation and trust among customers, suppliers, regulators, and other stakeholders.
• Avoid lawsuits, investigations and sanctions that result from violating data protection laws, privacy regulations or contractual obligations.
• Improve operational efficiency and effectiveness by minimizing disruptions, errors, and losses.
• Achieve strategic goals and objectives by enabling innovation, collaboration, and agility.

Staff more readily leverage information assets to create new products, services or business models that enhance competitive advantage and customer satisfaction.

Information Security Governance Challenges

However, efforts to implement ISG often encounter challenges. For example, an organization may face difficulties in obtaining sufficient budget, resources, or authority for its information security initiatives if senior management does not prioritize their importance or value.

And an organization may encounter resistance or inconsistency in implementing its information security policies or controls. If different departments or teams have goals or interests not aligned or harmonized with the whole, it reduces their incentive to comply.

Additionally, some organizations may lack the necessary staff or tools to perform information security activities. If they don’t invest in recruiting, training, or outsourcing information security capabilities, they fall behind.

And organizations may face challenges in enforcing their information security rules or standards. This happens when employees or partners do not understand or appreciate the benefits or consequences.

Adopt a Holistic, Proactive, Continuous Approach

To overcome these challenges, organizations must adopt a holistic, proactive, and continuous approach to information security governance. They need to align their information security objectives with business goals and engage stakeholders in a collaborative dialogue.

Organizations must also allocate adequate resources and capabilities to their information governance and security functions.

Fostering a culture of awareness and accountability among employees and partners delivers long-term benefits. And adapting information security practices to the changing environment makes the process sustainable.

Information Security Governance Experts

Not a one-time project or a checklist item, the ISG journey requires constant vigilance, improvement, and alignment. By embracing ISG as a strategic imperative, organizations enhance their resilience, competitiveness, and success in the digital age. The eGovernance.com information security governance experts stand ready to assist.

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Compliance involves addressing both cyber security and data privacy. Data retention and destruction policies also play a key role. Consequently, compliance best practices involve improving data visibility through information governance and monitoring. They also include updating data policies and security practices and addressing the human component.

Use AI to Strengthen Information Governance

Because achieving compliance requires that organizations know what data they have, where it lives and who has access to it, information governance plays an important part. For instance, several privacy regulations include the “right to be forgotten.” This means that a company must be able to find and delete an individual’s personal data upon request.

Additionally, rules such as HIPAA and PCI DSS mandate the careful control of sensitive data such as protected health information (PHI) and financial data. These regulations require that organizations locate and tag all sensitive data wherever it lives or travels. With vast amounts of data on multiple platforms, finding and tagging that data represents a monumental task.

Fortunately, AI and machine learning can help. The average company manages hundreds of terabytes of data, with new data created every minute. Humans cannot feasibly find and classify all sensitive data manually. However, using pattern matching and machine learning, automated AI tools can find and classify sensitive data quickly and accurately.

Gain Visibility Through Compliance Monitoring

To identify compliance gaps, organizations should conduct regular compliance and security audits. In addition, continuous compliance monitoring allows data administrators to proactively address any potential compliance issues. Here again, automation plays a critical role.

Much of a company’s most sensitive information hides in unstructured data such as emails, PDF files and instant messages. This data can prove difficult to manage. But automated tools, powered by AI, monitor both structured and unstructured data for compliance violations.

These monitoring systems deliver automated alerts to appropriate personnel while taking precautionary action. For example, if a user attempts to improperly share PHI, the system will block the action and alert compliance officers. In addition to keeping sensitive data safe, monitoring allows the organization to demonstrate compliance in the event of an audit.

Regularly Review Data Policies

Data policies play an essential role in compliance. For instance, policies mandate who can access data and how long data should be retained. They also govern how users can share data and with whom. And they may cover certain security actions, such as the encryption of sensitive data.

An effective electronic communications policy includes not just the written policy, but also the technology to enforce that policy. For example, tools such as Microsoft 365 allow organizations to automatically prohibit sharing or destruction of sensitive data. Data policies require regular review and updates as the regulatory landscape changes and as the company adopts new tools.

Implement Essential Cyber Security Practices

Because compliance requires keeping data safe and secure from unauthorized access, data compliance best practices necessarily include security measures. At a minimum, organizations should use firewalls, keep software up to date, change default passwords and implement both multi-factor authentication and encryption.

In addition, security teams should regularly review access rights and permissions. Apply the principle of least privilege to ensure that users have the minimum amount of access they need. And make sure to remove user accounts and access when no longer needed. Tools such as Microsoft Entra help to automate access and identity management.

Provide Compliance and Security Awareness Training

Regardless of the technology involved, no compliance or security effort will prove successful if it ignores the human component. Take time to engage employees at all levels through regular privacy and security awareness training. Complement the training with phishing simulations and internal events such as privacy awareness month.

Compliance Technology Powers Data Compliance Best Practices

With a rapidly evolving regulatory environment, compliance experts suggest taking a big picture approach to achieving compliance. That is, look for privacy solutions that apply to most privacy laws, rather than applying different rules to different locations in compliance with individual states.

Technology will prove essential to a successful compliance strategy. For instance, intelligent compliance solutions from eGovernance provide insight into all indexed data through a single portal. Automatic reports alert auditors whenever an issue arises, allowing for immediate remediation. Proactive intervention saves time and money while delivering peace of mind.

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No matter how skilled, humans alone cannot effectively track, manage, and analyze massive stores of data to achieve compliance. Fortunately, continually evolving compliance technology fills the gap.

These intelligent compliance technologies deliver key benefits by automating processes, helping companies stay updated with regulatory changes and providing continuous monitoring. Powerful risk assessment tools can also identify and prioritize potential risks early, proactively applying necessary remediation measures.

Compliance Challenges Can Prove Costly

Organizations in highly regulated industries, such as healthcare, need to know where sensitive data lives and who has access to it. However, finding that data can prove difficult when it is stored across multiple platforms and storage locations. For instance, most organizations use a mix of on-premises and cloud environments, with potentially thousands of connected devices.

To successfully monitor sensitive information in this complex environment, data stewards need to classify the data. With huge amounts of data being created each day, manually locating and tagging sensitive data presents an insurmountable challenge. Organizations need a way to simplify the process and reduce the chance for human error.

Despite the challenges involved, non-compliance can result in significant consequences, including stiff fines and lost customers. Thus, compliance teams must have early notification of potential compliance issues. They also require the ability to clearly demonstrate compliance in case of an audit.

Automate Processes with AI

Because artificial intelligence (AI) can rapidly process massive amounts of data, it has become a critical component of compliance technology. AI tools save time, reduce errors, and enable early response by automating routine processes and analyzing data to highlight trends.

For instance, automating processes such as data classification and managing retention policies frees up resources and limits errors. Using pattern matching technology, AI tools can automatically recognize and tag sensitive data such as credit card information. Machine learning even allows tools to learn to identify certain types of information based on provided examples.

AI can also take the guesswork out of incorporating regulatory changes by helping organizations discover and interpret new regulations and updates. And AI tools can suggest necessary changes to policies and workflows.

Streamline Audits and Remediation

Compliance technology and AI play a key role in risk management. By automating compliance and security monitoring and analyzing patterns, advanced tools identify risks early. They then automatically send customized alerts to the right people.

For example, intelligent compliance tools deliver critical visibility into data across platforms. Once the system identifies sensitive data in unacceptable locations, it can easily remove or quarantine the information. Customizable reports demonstrate compliance and ensure that auditors and compliance officers receive the information they need daily.

eGovernance Delivers the Benefits of Compliance Technology

Tools like eGovernance provide organizations with the ability to view and manage sensitive data either manually or automatically from a single web portal. This includes streamlined data classification, automatic reports, and the ability to easily review and adjust access rights.

In addition, organizations can conduct internal investigations using powerful search capabilities. Because they can search all sources simultaneously, these digital compliance solutions allow auditors to drill down into specific compliance issues with no outsourcing.

Contact the information governance experts at eGovernance to achieve lower costs and reduced risk. They’ll help your compliance team simplify the process of achieving and maintaining regulatory compliance.

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Address the Risks of Unstructured Data

The bulk of the information generated by the average organization consists of unstructured data. Unlike structured data, which lives in tables or databases, unstructured data comes in a wide variety for formats.

For instance, it includes documents stored in file repositories such as SharePoint or OneDrive. It also includes emails, instant messages, videos and more. And because this unstructured data can live on multiple devices and in the cloud, it presents a significant challenge to security and regulatory compliance.

Consider healthcare organizations that must maintain strict adherence to HIPAA. Patients may email their care providers. Additionally, providers dictate notes from patient encounters, and doctors communicate in various methods as they collaborate to provide care. Strict regulations govern how that data is stored, transferred, and shared.

Reduce Risk of Privacy Law Violations

Data compliance monitoring helps organizations address potential privacy law violations early, reducing or eliminating legal issues. With the right tools, companies gain visibility into all data storage locations, both on-premises and in the cloud.

Using both automated and manual data classification, organizations tag sensitive data such as financial data or protected health information (PHI). They then set customized alerts so that compliance personnel receive immediate email notification of possible compliance issues. Companies can also automate certain remediation actions.

For instance, in the healthcare organization mentioned above, the system can be set to automatically tag PHI as sensitive data. If a user attempts to share PHI outside the organization, the system can be set to block the action and immediately alert compliance personnel.

Demonstrate Regulatory Compliance

Privacy regulations such as PCI DSS, HIPAA and GDPR dominate our data environment. Organizations must be able to demonstrate to auditors that they take all the proper steps to ensure that no unauthorized persons can access sensitive information. Additionally, customers demand assurance that companies treat their personal and financial information carefully.

Many regulatory agencies mandate monitoring as part of the criteria for achieving compliance. Monitoring demonstrates that the organization has implemented proper procedures and regularly enforces them. Additionally, if an issue does slip through, monitoring can help in reducing the negative repercussions.

Identify Security Vulnerabilities

In addition to achieving and demonstrating compliance, monitoring provides essential visibility into how data moves within and outside the organization. This allows security personnel and data stewards to pinpoint vulnerabilities and adjust information governance strategies accordingly.

Harness the Power of Automated Data Compliance Monitoring

Organizations manage huge caches of data in numerous formats on hundreds of devices. Such a complex data environment makes manual monitoring all but impossible. Fortunately, advancements in automated monitoring technology can help.

Not only can automation process large amounts of data rapidly, but with AI and machine learning the systems learn to identify risks and alert the right people. In many cases, the monitoring systems can automatically initiate necessary remediation, such as blocking a user from sharing sensitive data.

Automation also helps companies stay on top of the regulatory landscape. Laws and industry regulations continue to evolve, and it can prove challenging for organizations to keep abreast of all the applicable standards. Automated monitoring systems can scan for regulatory changes.

Partner with Data Compliance Monitoring Technology Experts

eGovernance solutions provide organizations with the tools they need to monitor data for compliance with regulations and with internal policies. Compliance personnel can track sensitive data and initiate steps to reduce or eliminate potential threats.

Along with compliance monitoring, customers gain access to consultants with deep expertise in information governance, archiving and eDiscovery.

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