Being data security compliant doesn't just boost a business's ability to stay safe from data breaches on the internet. It also offers other advantages.
Privacy and data protection are seen as fundamental rights throughout most of the world. Companies used to take the "it won’t happen to us" approach to data breaches. However, they started taking it much more seriously when large companies like T-Mobile, British Airways, Quora, Orbitz, and Capital One experienced data breaches that negatively impacted their business. Now many countries have laws that require all businesses to protect customers’ private information.
Companies have invested thousands of dollars to implement privacy and security programs ensure they are in compliance with local and federal laws and are finding that adopting and refining data protection compliance efforts can be beneficial for them as well as their customers for the following reasons.
Understanding the Importance of Compliance - 70,000+ Department of Defense contractors have to meet CMMC Compliance Requirements by 2021. If these contractors carefully analyze their obligations, the impacts of not abiding by these obligations (in terms of data security), and what professional risks they may face for breaching those obligations – they will become more productive.
Obligation to Review Past Policies – The need to comply with regulations makes it necessary for companies and contractors to formally review past data security policies. The data-protection compliance program needs to be clearly confirmable and easily accessible via accurate documentation and each document must be adjusted to address any changes in legislation.
Delegate Responsibilities – Maintaining confidentiality and protecting data are two complex tasks overseen by auditors, IT experts, operations managers, HR, and others who collaborate to attain data security compliance. Even the most elaborate data protection compliance effort will not be successful if each of these departments doesn't fulfill their specific duties. So, this means government-mandated requirements help companies build a culture of compliance because protecting user information becomes a part of every employee's job.
Many companies receive assistance from cybersecurity consultants while setting up their data security compliance programs because:
They help businesses avoid unnecessary fines. In 2020, Capital One was fined $80 million for failing to create efficient risk assessment processes while shifting company operations to public cloud environments. Mistakes like this would not happen under the guidance of cybersecurity and compliance consultants.
Maintaining data security compliance helps improve a business’s reputation and increases its chances of attracting partners and investors. Furthermore, businesses are never forced to notify customers that their private data was stolen.
Cybersecurity consultants do more than ensure their clients are data security compliant. They also train employees on best practices that make them better data managers. For instance, in Europe, companies are required to inform users of any private data they have stored on them.
To be truly compliant, businesses need to become good, responsible data managers, and that is how these cybersecurity consultants can help them.