For many organizations, compliance with data security standards doesn’t seem to be getting easier. First of all, IT security compliance efforts are forever competing for attention and funding with information-security projects, operational vulnerabilities and daily business risks. As compliance projects aren’t nearly as attractive as security breaches are scary, they often lose out in the battle for resources.
However, in any industry where compliance is an issue, organizations will find that they no longer can afford to ignore compliance issues. Sooner or later, these organizations are going to be required to demonstrate that they have the appropriate internal controls in place to minimize the risk of fraud or data breach.
To get ahead of the game, you need to understand and define control objectives and select solutions that ensure consistency of foundational processes, such as managing user identities, roles, group memberships and attestation reviews. Effectively managing user identities and entitlements will go a long way in satisfying multiple control objectives, which in turn will enable you to achieve and demonstrate compliance as well as automate compliance-related tasks.
For the many healthcare-related organizations struggling to meet Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements, this white paper will give you a great overview of IT security compliance from an auditor’s perspective. Although the HIPAA Security Rule represents only a portion of the data security compliance obligations faced by most organizations, it is one of the most significant. This is especially true today in light of recent, well-publicized breaches that have plagued many of today’s large healthcare organizations.
