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How to Prevent Third-Party Vendor Data Breaches

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Third-party data breaches can happen at any time to any organization. This type of breach occurs when a vendor (or some other business partner) holding your company’s data suffers a breach, and your data is exposed. According to the Verizon 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report, 62 percent of all data breaches happen via third-party vendors.

Even worse, IBM and the Ponemon Institute report that on average, a company takes 277 days to identify and contain a third-party data breach. Why so long? One reason is that threat actors have become much better at operating in stealth mode once they enter the computer system. Another, more troubling explanation is that some third-party contractors and vendors may attempt to hide a data breach from clients to avoid damaging the partnership. 

Regardless, the consequences and cost of recovering from a breach can be detrimental to your business and bottom line. The average cost of a data breach in the United States has been pegged at $9.48 million for 2023. Big targets include healthcare organizations, credit card companies, email service providers, and cloud service providers. 

This post will cover examples of common third-party breaches, as well as what to do when a third-party data breach strikes your organization.

Examples of Third-Party Security Breaches

Third-party suppliers, partners, and vendors are prime targets for cybercriminals. Here are a few instances of third-party violations from recent history:

  • Customers of Click Studios’ business password manager Passwordstate received a breach notification in 2021 after hackers used the app’s update mechanism to spread malware to users. It was unclear how many of the nearly 370,000 security and IT professionals who use Passwordstate at 29,000 organizations worldwide had been impacted by the incident. Click Studios instructed victimized customers to change every password in the Passwordstate database.
  • Toyota, a leading global auto manufacturing company, experienced a third-party data breach in 2022. As a result, the company had to close its manufacturing plant in Japan temporarily to safeguard its data. Additionally, the breach had implications on the operations of other Toyota subsidiaries.
  • The Cancer Centers of Southwest Oklahoma’s third-party cloud storage provider, Elekta, identified odd behavior on its network in 2021. It found that 8,000 cancer patients’ sensitive health information was accessed without authorization. As a result, names, Social Security numbers, locations, birthdates, and information about medical diagnoses and treatments were disclosed.
  • The Saudi Arabian oil company Saudi Aramco had 1 terabyte of data stolen, which included details about its employees, customers, sites, reports, and project papers. The cybercriminals gave Aramco an ultimatum: pay $50 million to have the data deleted, otherwise it would be offered for sale on the dark web for $5 million. Saudi Aramco claims that a flaw at a third party caused the intrusion.

Common Data Breaches Caused by Third-Party Vendors

Phishing and ransomware attacks have been spiking, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the number of employees working from home soared. Phishing and ransomware are standard cybercrime tools that may lead to the following types of data breaches:

  • Unauthorized access via a company email account. General Electric experienced a breach that exposed employees’ personal data such as marriage certificates, passports, driver’s licenses, and tax withholding forms.
  • Hacking of a telecommunications provider. Sensitive information of more than 50 million T-Mobile customers was exposed when an unprotected router was accessed.
  • Lack of encryption. A vendor for Health Share of Oregon, which coordinates care for Medicaid patients, had an unencrypted laptop stolen, exposing the personal information of more than 650,000 people.
  • Unsecure websites and improperly stored log-in information. A website bug allowed access to thousands of passwords and usernames for an Instagram account via the third-party Social Captain.

These breaches are bad enough on their own. Even worse, the sensitive information stolen by cybercriminals was already available for sale on the dark web when they were discovered. From there, even more scams are perpetrated on unsuspecting customers and clients whose phone numbers and addresses have been exposed.

Preventing Third-Party Vendor Data Breaches and Holding Vendors Accountable

Holding third-party vendors accountable can be difficult, especially if you don’t have a third-party security policy or program. Ideally, any third-party vendor should enforce the same strict standards and internal data security controls that your company follows.

So how do organizations best prevent third-party vendor data breaches? It begins with a robust and responsive vendor risk management policy, which can be divided into several action areas.

Consider information security during vendor selection

When selecting a vendor, you must consider how those vendors handle information security. Talk with your vendors early about their security processes; understand how they handle internal security along with your company’s. Only sign contracts with those vendors whose internal security processes align with your own security objectives. 

Audit third-party vendors for compliance

An audit is the only way to see what’s really happening with your vendor’s security, so perform those audits whenever necessary (say, with particularly high-risk data you’re entrusting to a vendor). An audit evaluates how the organization executes against its security compliance framework, as well as its performance in previous audits. Look for indicators of compromise and how well the vendor assesses cybersecurity risk.

Require proof of the third-party vendor’s cybersecurity program

Proving the third-party vendor has an information security program is only half the battle over third-party breaches. The third-party vendor should be able to demonstrate that it takes risk management seriously and dedicates resources to its vulnerability management program.

Ask for the most recent results from internal risk assessments, penetration testing, and compliance frameworks. The third-party organization must have a robust risk management program, a supply chain risk mitigation strategy, and plans to remediate a potential data breach.

Ongoing third-party risk monitoring gives you continuous insights into the vendor’s cybersecurity program. Hold quarterly reviews to evaluate your vendor’s performance metrics and security posture.

Set clear policies and expectations for data storage and transfer

Collaboration with third-party vendors often involves sharing or transferring data. Data storage and transfer without a defined policy can expose companies to risks, including unauthorized access, data breaches, and failure to comply with data protection regulations. 

By establishing clear guidelines, companies can set boundaries and expectations regarding data storage and transfer. This assures that third-party vendors treat organizational data with the same importance and standards as their data. Defined data storage and transfer policies act as a protective layer, ensuring data integrity at all levels.

Adopt a least-privileged model for data access

Many third-party data breaches have one thing in common: the third party was given more access than necessary to complete its job. Holding third-party service providers to strict least-privileged access management standards will improve your network security significantly.

Least-privileged access is the cornerstone of managing vendor risk. A breach will only do minor damage when the third-party vendor’s access is restricted to the lowest possible access level.

Continuous monitoring for third-party vendors

Third-party vendors play an integral role in your organizational supply chain. They can also introduce multiple risks, including data breaches and compliance violations when not properly monitored. That means evaluating vendors only at the beginning of the business relationship is not enough; you need to monitor your vendors on an ongoing basis. 

Continuous monitoring assures that the organization remains informed of any changes in the risk profile of its third-party vendors. It also allows you to take new measures and adapt your compliance strategies accordingly. With ongoing monitoring, organizations can detect potential threats earlier and foster a culture of transparency and accountability with their vendors. That, in turn, strengthens the trust and reliability in the partnership, assuring both parties are aligned in maintaining the highest standards of security and compliance.

Measure fourth-party risk

In addition to third-party vendors, some organizations may also face fourth-party risk — that is, the risk from your vendors’ vendors. Many organizations overlook fourth-party risk essential, but assessing it is critical. Fourth-party relationships include any additional vendors, suppliers, and partners that your third-party vendors depend on. It covers the additional risks businesses are exposed to outside of those initial third-party partnerships. 

Organizations often have visibility into their third-party vendors, but not into entities further down the supply chain. To manage this effectively, companies should require transparency from their third-party vendors about the vendors’ own supply chains.

What Do You Do if You Have a Third-Party Data Breach?

Let’s say you just became aware of a data breach at your company. What to do next depends on whether hackers stole information or the information was unintentionally published on the company’s website.

What actions must be taken, and who needs to be contacted if personal information has been exposed?

Secure your operations

Immediately patch any vulnerabilities in your own systems that may have contributed to the incident. Data breaches quickly become worse when there are several of them. Do everything possible to prevent it from happening again.

Secure any locations connected to the incident. If necessary, lock them and change the access codes. Then ask law enforcement and forensics professionals whether it is OK to restart normal activities.

Immediately mobilize the breach response team to stop further data loss. The specific actions to take may vary depending on the type of breach and how your company is set up.

Take down information

Quickly remove any personal information from your website affected by the data breach. Be aware that search engines “cache” or retain information for a while. Get in touch with them to ensure they do not archive personal information that was exposed.

Search for the disclosed data online to check if other websites have saved a copy. If you find something, contact those websites and urge them to take it down.

Interview the individuals who found the breach. Also, talk to anyone else who might be familiar with it. Finally, tell customer care center employees where to send information about the incident.

Alert necessary parties

Notify law enforcement, police, other impacted organizations, and affected individuals if the company has a data breach.

Find out what the company’s legal requirements are. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands have laws mandating notice of security breaches involving personal information. Other countries have their own laws too.

Figuring out what to do in the heat of the moment can be overwhelming. Therefore, incident response plans are critical. Comprehensive response plans outline the roles, responsibilities, and activities that need to happen if there is a data leak or security breach.

Overcoming Resistance from Your Third-Party Vendor

Sometimes your third-party vendor may be reluctant to follow best practices, but that vendor is the only choice for the service you need. If that’s the case, vendor risk management comes down to how much risk your organization is willing to accept, and what cybersecurity measures you have in place to prevent the inadequate security of a third-party vendor from hurting your business.

You can convince your vendors about the importance of security standards through education. A third-party vendor may welcome a well-developed risk management plan in addition to security basics such as protecting against malware, ransomware, and phishing. Share information security training webinars and other materials to grow their interest.

No matter how you broach the topic, think “security first” when pursuing a third-party vendor relationship. It will ultimately lead to fewer third-party data breaches.

Improve Your Cybersecurity with ZenGRC

Cybercriminals will continue to attack and exploit businesses and consumers alike. It is important to keep track of the new cyberattacks and risks that pop up daily. ZenGRC is an intuitive, easy-to-use platform that monitors new compliance issues and regulations while you focus on your business.

Managing third-party providers and the risk they bring to your company can be challenging. A third-party risk management program like ZenGRC can streamline the onboarding and vendor risk assessment processes. Additionally, it uses inherent risk analysis to evaluate appropriate supplier controls and conduct supplier due diligence.

Managing third-party risk is essential regardless of the size of your business or the sector you are in. Take action before it’s too late and adopt a risk and compliance system that scales as your business grows, automatically analyzes risks, and identifies potential hazards.

Schedule a demo today and get the advantage of ZenGRC.

How to Avoid the Common Risks of Implementing New Software

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The first computer software program was released and executed in 1948 at the University of Manchester: a math program that computed the greatest divisor of 2 to the 18th power. It took 52 minutes to calculate the answer.

Software has come a long way since then. It powers the digital economy; organizations in every industry use software to solve business challenges, drive innovation, and deliver stakeholder value.

Along the way, however, those organizations face multiple implementation challenges and risks. If those risks aren’t identified and addressed early, the implementation of new software can go awry and create serious problems.

Implementation challenges can disrupt workflows, hamper business processes, and curtail employees’ productivity and efficiency. Ultimately, they can derail the company’s IT budget and tank the ROI of technology investments.

So what are the most common software implementation challenges? And how can your organization avoid them? This guide answers that question.

5 Key Risks of Implementing New Software

In project management, planning is critical – and yet, too many companies fail to create comprehensive plans, and then the application doesn’t deliver its expected outcomes. For a successful implementation process and high ROI, a clearly defined and detailed plan is essential.

The plan must clarify the goals you expect to achieve from the software. It should help guide execution, prepare the system implementation and testing team, and include essential metrics to measure the project’s success.

Thorough planning can help you avoid these five critical risks of implementing new software systems.

1) Unrealistic Expectations


What it means: You expect something from the software, but it doesn’t deliver.

Before implementing software, you will have some expectations from it, such as:

Strategies to Reduce the Risk of Unrealistic Expectations

To avoid these problems, vendor communication is critical. Before the rollout, ask the software vendor pointed questions such as:

  • What are the software’s unique or new features?
  • What can it do?
  • Equally important, what can’t it do?
  • Can it help us meet “X” goal? How?

Define the implementation timeline and critical milestones to keep the project on track. Finally, identify the must-have deliverables that the vendor must provide to assure that stakeholder expectations will be met.


2) Adopting Off-the-Shelf Software

What it means: A ready-to-use software without modifications may seem attractive – until it’s not.Many organizations use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software for a wide range of applications, business challenges, and use cases. COTS can be beneficial if:

  • You want to buy a ready-made, pre-tested, and trusted software.
  • You don’t need to customize it.
  • You don’t have a development team to build a bespoke solution.
  • You want to save money and avoid expensive greenfield software projects.

End-users can use a COTS in an almost “plug and play” manner. All that said, COTS can also create risks that harm the organization later. For example, the vendor may stop supporting the software with little or no notice. This can be especially problematic if the COTS has security vulnerabilities that can jeopardize your software supply chain security and increase the risk of cyberattacks and data breaches.

The vendor may also provide only generic support that’s inadequate for your specific business needs. Many COTS don’t offer a simple upgrade path from one version to another. Finally, the software may lack a feature request process and product enhancements such as plugins or add-ons to extend its functionality for your specific use cases.

Strategies to Reduce the Risk of Commercial Off-the-Shelf Software

Before investing in COTS, confirm that the vendor will support the product for the entire period you plan to use it. Inquire about premium support or support per your specific service level agreements (SLAs).

If you reuse any components, your team should have the right skills and access to the source code for a successful implementation. Team members should have control over the application’s performance and functionality and be able to add plugins or add-ons per business need.

It’s also crucial to find and fix security issues and errors before they open the door to cyber-attacks. One 2021 report found that the average time to fix critical cybersecurity vulnerabilities had increased to 205 days.

That’s 205 days a hacker has access to your systems and data because of a vulnerability in the software’s code. To protect your organization, ask the vendor about its security patching and version upgrade schedule.


3) Inadequate Resources for Implementation and Testing


What it means: Implementing new software without a dedicated team to manage implementation and testing can affect its ability to meet your needs in a real-world environment.

One reason for software implementation failure is that organizations depend on the vendor for end-to-end implementation and testing. While the vendor’s job is to implement the software and customize it to your specifications, only you know your business best, and you must have the right resources in place to manage its implementation, testing, and go-live.


Strategies to Reduce the Risk of Inadequate Resources

Identify dedicated resources to work with the vendor on implementation and pre-deployment testing within the project timeframe. Involve the relevant stakeholders and process owners throughout the implementation lifecycle to assure you get the solution you expect and need.

4) Poor Change Management


What it means: A failure to prepare users for the change to new software can limit adoption and result in failure to achieve expected goals.
Humans are creatures of habit, so any new change may cause resistance. When implementing new software, people will push back, delaying implementation or creating adoption challenges after implementation. Poor change management may also lead to a decline in productivity and a demotivated or burned-out workforce.

Strategies to Reduce the Risk of Poor Change Management

For successful software implementation that delivers on its goals, you must manage the people-side of the change. Prepare staff with proper training, onboarding, and guidance to help them adapt to the new system and modify their behavior accordingly.

If possible, identify a few testers and “evangelists” from the end-user group to test the product and drive its adoption after deployment. This will also help the team identify administrative or business process changes that will be necessary to facilitate the success of the new software.

Senior leadership should set and drive the communication strategy to show staff the advantages of the new software. Make sure to clarify how it can benefit their day-to-day work and improve the organization’s efficiency and quality.


5) Poor Data Migration and Tech Integration


What it means: If the new software cannot integrate with other systems or maintain data integrity, that will affect your data architecture and business outcomes.

Does the new ERP software or CRM platform require data to be migrated from an old system? If yes, the new system should maintain data integrity to assure you don’t lose any valuable intelligence that informs your organization’s decision-making.

The data migration should happen seamlessly, without affecting existing processes or business continuity. Also, the two applications should operate in tandem until you have completed the migration and implementation.

The new software should also flawlessly integrate with your existing tech stack and offer interoperability with other software. If it doesn’t, that might cause usability problems after deployment.

Strategies to Reduce the Risk of Poor Data Migration and Tech Integration

During implementation, your project team must continually verify data integrity as it moves between the old and new applications. They should also assure its security so that nothing falls through the cracks concerning privacy, security, and compliance.

It’s also important to check that the software aligns with the organization’s IT architecture and is fully interoperable with other systems and applications.


Strengthen Risk Management with ZenGRC

A robust plan with a detailed risk management component can help you avoid these common software implementation challenges and the consequent problems such as cost overruns, project scope creep, and missing functionalities.

Visibility into the risk landscape is vital for effective risk management before, during, and after software implementation. Here’s where a platform like ZenGRC comes in.

Mitigate risk and stay ahead of threats with actionable insights in the context of your business. Conduct effective cybersecurity risk assessments with ease, monitor ongoing threats, and free your teams from time-consuming manual work.

Through one comprehensive platform, you can evaluate, manage, monitor, and mitigate risks throughout your technology stack. Schedule a demo today!

Top Risks Faced by Oil and Gas Companies

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Risk management programs must be tailored to a company’s specific risks, and often those risks correlate to whatever industry that company is in.

Oil & gas companies are particularly challenged because they are a critical infrastructure sector with little room for error and they operate in complex environments, which means plenty of risks that demand attention. Let’s take a look at what those risks are, and how oil & gas companies can begin to tame them.

Biggest Risks Facing Oil & Gas Companies

Cyber Risks

Oil and gas companies are rapidly digitizing systems and implementing new technologies to increase productivity and profitability. This exposes the companies to cyber attacks trying to disrupt operations, steal intellectual property, swipe personal data of employees, commit extortion, and the like.

The energy industry must develop cybersecurity risk management strategies to protect from cyber threats.

Financial Risks

Oil and gas are commodity products, with pricing much more volatile than other markets. Natural resource pricing is heavily influenced by the underlying costs of collecting and refining them, in addition to the actual price of the raw materials.

Oil & gas companies therefore need to hedge their risks by investing in options, futures, puts, and other financial instruments to reduce the threat that price volatility could leave the business operating at a loss for long periods.

Supply and Demand Risks

Supply and demand shocks are a risk for oil and gas companies, especially since operations in the energy industry require a lot of capital and time to bring to full capacity. The use of technology and artificial intelligence (AI) tools enable companies to increase their business effectiveness.

It’s also challenging to manage operations with a cycle of rising and falling prices. Other economic factors also play a role, as financial crises can drain capital regardless of the usual price risks.

Environmental Risks

Energy industry operations directly affect the environment, including greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, oil spills, and solid and hazardous waste.

For this reason, oil companies are under heavy pressure to protect the natural environment as much as possible. Energy companies need to seek ways to minimize harm to the environment, communities, and people generated by the processes that sustain our way of life.

Safety Risks

Oil & gas extraction can be dangerous. It requires long hours, difficult working conditions, and complex machinery that can break down and cause serious injury to nearby people. So the companies must implement robust safety management and monitoring processes.
What Risks Do Operational Technologies Pose?

The oil and gas industry has embraced advanced operational technologies (OT) such as robotics, digitization, and the internet of things (IoT). The technologies can exist as either hardware or software – but they are expensive and deeply integrated into a company’s operations; and carry their own class of risks to address.

Industrial controllers, such as programmable logic controllers (PLC), distributed control systems (DCS), and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, come with a long lifecycle: 15 to 20 years, compared to three or five years typical of other enterprise IT.

This means oil & gas companies must be sure that new IT risks don’t overwhelm long-lived industrial control systems. They need to assess how emerging risks might affect their controllers, and assure that any new threats can be patched even with legacy software running the controller systems.

Risks from the Internet of Things

More companies within the oil and gas industry rely on the internet of things (IoT) to gather data to monitor OT. These sensors, cameras, and embedded analytics systems connect the OT environment with the IT environment.

For example, a natural gas company may need to monitor the pressure in the OT environment. First, the IoT monitors the SCADA system’s ability to control the pressure. Then the IoT informs business leadership or external parties who need to provide oversight.

Enterprise IT networks that interact with OT networks, however, can lead to cyber risk. Most companies struggle with securing their data environments, and those in the oil and gas industry are no different. Anywhere the IT networks interact with the OT network can be a significant security issue.

Risks From Employees

While all industries suffer from employee cyber awareness issues, oil and gas companies must be particularly attuned to the threat because they are critical infrastructure; even one careless act by one employee could cause widespread disruption in the physical world.

For instance, an employee may idly click to a website in a phishing email and enable access to his user ID and password. With this information, a cybercriminal can gain access to all networks, including segregated or secured ones that manage industrial control systems.

Risks From Lack of Cybersecurity Staff

All industries face a shortage of information security professionals. Oil & gas, however, have particular needs due to the overlap between OT and IT systems. Cybersecurity professionals with critical infrastructure experience are a niche within a niche in an already limited hiring pool. As a result, when oil and gas firms do find someone to handle their specific risks, they have to figure out how to make the most of that employee’s time.

Incorporating Cyber-Risk Oversight

Quite naturally, oil & gas businesses tend to people their boards of directors with executives who have experience in the energy sector. That’s fine, but to ensure sufficient attention to cybersecurity, oil & gas companies should also look for board directors who understand cybersecurity and how to apply it to the unique, complex systems this sector entails.

Mitigating Cybersecurity Risks in the Oil and Gas Industry

Mitigating cybersecurity risk in the oil and gas industry begins the same way other risk management programs start: with conversations.

These cross-departmental discussions must identify the physical and data assets that are in danger. For example, software, network architecture, and devices essential for company operations are usually the focus of enterprise risk mitigation.

Additionally, the oil and gas industry adds a second layer of network infrastructure to assist OT monitoring. As a result, detecting all points of network danger becomes increasingly tricky. In many cases, the oil and gas companies need to segregate their OT networks and keep the IT infrastructure data from migrating to the OT infrastructure.

Finally, as critical infrastructure, companies also must align controls with increasingly burdensome regulatory requirements and industry standards.

ZenGRC Helps You Manage Risk in the Oil and Gas Industry

The ZenGRC is an intuitive, simple-to-use platform that keeps track of your processes and also identifies high-risk areas before they become severe issues.

Our risk management software generates heat maps to illustrate your organization’s high, low, and medium risk regions in a user-friendly, color-coded dashboard. These tools allow you to take action quickly and to share the results with your C-suite and board of directors.

Companies in the energy industry struggle to maintain appropriate risk management programs. They need an effective workflow tool to coordinate communication and task management among internal and external stakeholders. A cybersecurity specialist in the oil and gas industry may assign roles and tasks to the responsible employees using our workflow tagging, allowing for a more thorough examination of the activities involved in cyber risk management.

Worry-free risk management is the ZenGRC way! For more information on how ZenGRC can streamline your risk management process, contact us for a demo.

How to Leverage AI to Streamline GRC Compliance: The Future of Automated Auditing 

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In the ever-evolving landscape of Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC), staying ahead of the curve is no longer just an advantage—it’s a necessity. As organizations grapple with an increasingly complex regulatory environment, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into GRC processes is emerging as a game-changing solution. This blog post explores how AI can revolutionize compliance management, particularly in automating and streamlining audit processes across various frameworks such as HIPAA, ISO, SOC, NIST, and FedRAMP. 

The Shifting Paradigm: Continuous Monitoring and Auditing 

A significant trend reshaping the GRC landscape is the shift towards continuous monitoring and auditing. This approach is rapidly replacing traditional periodic, point-in-time audits, which are becoming obsolete in today’s fast-paced, digital-first business environment. 

Continuous Monitoring and Auditing offers several key advantages: 

  1. Real-Time Visibility: Provides up-to-the-minute insights into an organization’s compliance posture. 
  1. Proactive Risk Management: Allows for immediate detection and addressing of compliance gaps or potential risks. 
  1. Improved Accuracy: Reduces human error and offers a more comprehensive view of compliance over time. 
  1. Efficiency and Cost Savings: Ultimately leads to significant time and cost savings by reducing the need for resource-intensive periodic audits. 
  1. Adaptability to Regulatory Changes: Enables quick adaptation to evolving compliance requirements. 
     

However, implementing continuous monitoring and auditing presents challenges, requiring sophisticated technological infrastructure and robust data management practices. 

This is where Artificial Intelligence becomes crucial. AI technologies are uniquely suited to handle the volume, velocity, and variety of data required for effective continuous monitoring. By leveraging machine learning algorithms, natural language processing, and advanced analytics, AI can automate much of the continuous monitoring process, making compliance feasible and efficient for organizations of all sizes. 

As we explore AI’s role in GRC compliance throughout this article, we’ll see how these technologies enable and enhance the continuous monitoring and auditing paradigm, setting the stage for a more robust, efficient, and effective approach to GRC management. 

AI-Powered Compliance: Transforming Audit Processes 

Let’s explore how AI can be leveraged to streamline compliance with various frameworks: 

1. Automated Data Collection and Analysis 
AI algorithms can continuously collect and analyze vast amounts of data from diverse sources across an organization. This capability is particularly valuable for frameworks like HIPAA, which requires constant vigilance over protected health information (PHI). 

For instance, AI can monitor access logs, identify unusual patterns, and flag potential breaches in real-time. This proactive approach not only ensures ongoing compliance but also significantly reduces the manual effort required during audits. 

2. Intelligent Control Mapping 
One of the most time-consuming aspects of managing multiple compliance frameworks is mapping controls across different standards. AI can automate this process by understanding the requirements of various frameworks (e.g., NIST 800-53, ISO 27001, SOC 2) and intelligently mapping overlapping controls. 

This not only saves time but also ensures a more comprehensive and accurate mapping, reducing the risk of overlooking critical compliance areas. 

3. Predictive Risk Assessment 
AI’s predictive capabilities can revolutionize risk assessment processes. By analyzing historical data and current trends, AI can forecast potential compliance issues before they occur. For instance, in the context of FedRAMP compliance, AI could predict potential security vulnerabilities based on system changes or user behavior patterns. 

This foresight allows organizations to take preemptive measures, maintaining continuous compliance rather than scrambling to address issues during audits. 

4. Natural Language Processing for Policy Management 
Keeping policies up-to-date with changing regulations is a constant challenge. AI-powered Natural Language Processing (NLP) can analyze regulatory updates, compare them with existing policies, and suggest necessary modifications. 

This is particularly useful for frameworks like ISO, which undergo periodic revisions. AI can help ensure that organizational policies remain aligned with the latest standards without requiring constant manual review. 

5. Automated Evidence Collection and Submission 
AI can significantly streamline the evidence collection process for audits. By understanding the requirements of different frameworks, AI systems can automatically collect, categorize, and even format evidence for submission. 

For SOC audits, which require extensive evidence collection, this automation can dramatically reduce the time and resources typically invested in audit preparation. 

6. Continuous Control Testing 
Instead of periodic control testing, AI can enable continuous assessment of control effectiveness. For frameworks like NIST, which emphasize the importance of ongoing security assessments, AI can continuously test controls, simulate attacks, and verify the efficacy of security measures. 

This ensures that controls are not just in place but are also functioning effectively. 
 

7. Intelligent Reporting and Dashboards 
AI can transform raw compliance data into actionable insights through intelligent reporting and dynamic dashboards. These tools can provide real-time compliance status across multiple frameworks, highlighting areas of concern and tracking progress over time. 

For executives and auditors alike, this offers a clear, up-to-date view of the organization’s compliance posture across all relevant frameworks. 

The Human Element: AI as an Enabler, Not a Replacement 

While AI offers tremendous potential in automating GRC processes, it’s crucial to emphasize that it’s not about replacing human expertise. Rather, AI serves as a powerful tool that enhances human decision-making and allows GRC professionals to focus on strategic, high-value activities. 

The role of GRC professionals evolves to interpreting AI-generated insights, making nuanced decisions, and providing the context that AI might miss. This human-AI collaboration leads to more robust, efficient, and effective compliance management. 

Implementing AI in Your GRC Strategy: Best Practices 

1. Start with Clear Objectives: Define what you want to achieve with AI in your GRC processes. 

2. Ensure Data Quality: AI’s effectiveness depends on the quality of data it processes. 

3. Integrate Across Systems: Ensure your AI solution can pull data from various sources across your organization. 

4. Maintain Transparency: Be able to explain how AI arrives at its conclusions, especially for audit purposes. 

5. Continuously Train and Update: As regulations and your organization change, ensure your AI models are updated accordingly. 

Leveraging Tools for AI-Powered GRC 

As organizations embark on integrating AI into their GRC efforts, it’s crucial to have robust tools that can govern and monitor AI use effectively. These solutions are essential in ensuring that AI integration aligns with compliance requirements and organizational policies. 

ZenGRC: Empowering AI-Driven Compliance 

Among the tools available in the market, ZenGRC stands out as a leader in facilitating AI-powered GRC management. ZenGRC offers a comprehensive platform that not only supports the integration of AI into GRC processes but also provides the necessary oversight and control. 

ZenGRC’s capabilities extend beyond just enabling AI use; it offers features that align perfectly with the trends of continuous monitoring and interconnected GRC processes. The platform provides real-time insights, automated workflows, and integrated risk management, making it an ideal choice for organizations looking to leverage AI in their GRC strategy. 

Enhancing Efficiency: ZenGRC and Schellman Integration 

In an exciting development, ZenGRC has partnered with Schellman to offer an integration that further streamlines the audit process. This integration allows users to automatically: 

1. Link ZenGRC audits directly to existing Schellman projects 

2. Create data requests in ZenGRC for each Schellman data request 

3. Send evidence from ZenGRC to Schellman when requests are submitted 

For organizations looking to optimize their GRC program, this integration is ideal. It combines ZenGRC’s robust compliance management platform with Schellman’s industry-leading audit services, creating a synergy that addresses the full spectrum of GRC needs. 

This partnership streamlines the entire audit lifecycle, from preparation to evidence submission. It ensures perfect alignment between internal compliance efforts and external audit requirements, saves time, and reduces the risk of miscommunication or oversight. 

 ZenGRC and Schellman’s integration helps organizations embrace a more efficient, accurate, and proactive approach to GRC management, representing a significant step forward in the evolution of GRC technology. 

Conclusion: Embracing the AI-Driven Future of GRC 

As the regulatory landscape continues to evolve and expand, leveraging AI in GRC processes is no longer just an option—it’s becoming a necessity. By automating data collection, enabling continuous monitoring, and providing predictive insights, AI empowers organizations to maintain robust compliance across multiple frameworks efficiently. 

However, the key to success lies in choosing the right tools and approaches. Solutions like ZenGRC, with its comprehensive features and innovative integrations, are paving the way for a more efficient, effective, and proactive approach to GRC management. 

Ready to explore how AI-powered GRC solutions can transform your compliance processes? Book a demo with ZenGRC today and discover how our platform can streamline your GRC efforts, enhance your compliance posture, and prepare your organization for the future of GRC. 

What is Cybersecurity Automation?

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AI Automation

Conventional cybersecurity management solutions are becoming outdated, unable to handle the exponential growth of sophisticated security threats. Plus, financial and talent constraints impede the ability of security teams to expand. 

Given those difficult circumstances, how can security teams improve their capacity to minimize data breaches even amid today’s increasingly complex attack surfaces? Enter cybersecurity automation.

In this article you’ll learn why cybersecurity automation is important, different types of security automation tools, and how you can keep your information secure with ZenGRC.

Cybersecurity automation explained

Cybersecurity automation is a concept used to describe advanced systems powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and it involves exactly what the name implies: automating cybersecurity processes so they run faster and more efficiently. 

With cybersecurity automation, organizations deal with (and disarm) cyber threats before those threats can disrupt your operations. Automation can also help you fight even the highly sophisticated technologies that cybercriminals now use to infiltrate networks and systems. 

Cybersecurity automation takes human-driven and repeatable tasks that could be handled by the devices without human interaction, and automates that work. Put another way, cybersecurity automation streamlines manual and time-consuming tasks into automated workflows, making network security processes more efficient and less prone to human error. With enhanced efficiency, faster decisions can be made, which also can improve an organization’s entire security posture.

Can cybersecurity be automated?

Sure it can. For example, automation can monitor and scan networks for security loopholes and potential vulnerabilities. This can be done by using software tools such as network scanners and vulnerability management platforms, which are designed to detect and report security issues automatically. Once a vulnerability is found, the tool generates a report that security teams can use to assess the severity of the issue and determine a solution to mitigate it.

Automated compliance monitoring is another use case. This involves automation to monitor systems and networks for compliance with industry regulations and standards. Automated compliance monitoring makes it easy for organizations to identify and handle potential compliance problems, and reduce the risk of fines and penalties.

You can also automate the process for responding to security incidents. Automated incident response systems use pre-planned and custom rules to respond to an incident, all without human intervention. This can help organizations respond to incidents more quickly and reduce the overall impact of a security incident. Other benefits of automated incident response are optimized threat intelligence, streamlined operations, and automated reporting and metrics capabilities.

Why is cybersecurity automation important?

Effective protection against cyberattacks requires the implementation of automated systems that can analyze data in real-time and provide a comprehensive view of all activity happening within an organization’s network. The advantages of using automated cybersecurity systems include:

Increased efficiency. Cybersecurity automation allows for the rapid detection and response to potential threats, reducing the time it takes to mitigate them.

Improved accuracy. Automated systems can process massive amounts of data and uncover patterns that may be difficult for humans to discover, leading to fewer false positives or negatives.

24/7 monitoring. Automated systems can monitor networks and systems continuously for potential threats, providing round-the-clock protection.

Scalability. Automation can be used to scale security operations to satisfy the requirements of organizations of all sizes, allowing for more effective security management while keeping costs as low as possible (certainly lower than hiring more staff).

What are security automation tools?

There are different types of security automation tools.

Security information and event management (SIEM) tools

Organizations invest in SIEM solutions to streamline visibility across their organization’s environments, investigate log data for incident response to cyberattacks and data breaches, and adhere to local and federal compliance mandates.

SIEM solutions work by aggregating log and event data produced from applications, devices, networks, infrastructure, and systems to make an analysis and provide a comprehensive view of an organization’s IT environment.

Security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) tools

Security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) refers to a set of software solutions that enable organizations to streamline security operations in three major areas: threat management, security incident response, and security operations automation.

Large organizations use SOAR tools extensively since the organizations tend to have a great number of security systems and recurring events that need to be taken. These security tools typically run automatically and offer the ability to automate incident response processes through the use of standardized playbooks.

Vulnerability management tools

Vulnerability management tools can automatically scan IT resources for vulnerabilities, helping organizations to identify such weaknesses, classify them, prioritize the risks, and suggest remediation activities.

Vulnerability management solutions handle security in a different way compared to firewalls, antivirus, and anti-malware software, as they are built to combat cyberattacks on the network as they occur.

Endpoint protection tools

An endpoint security solution tracks, monitors, and manages an organization’s “endpoints,” including network connections, PCs, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, cloud-based applications, and services, to keep them safe from ransomware, malware attacks, and other cybersecurity threats.

Some of the main categories of endpoint protection tools include anti-malware solutions, mobile device management software (MDM), endpoint detection and response (EDR) software, and data loss prevention (DLP) software.

Keep your information secure with ZenGRC

ZenGRC offers a comprehensive solution for assuring the security of your sensitive data. With its user-friendly interface, ZenGRC simplifies the complexity of managing governance, risk, and compliance, allowing you to focus on your core business activities. It provides robust tools for monitoring and auditing your information security posture, ensuring adherence to industry standards and regulatory requirements. 

ZenGRC’s real-time reporting and analytics give you a clear view of your risk landscape, enabling proactive risk management and decision-making. By leveraging ZenGRC, businesses can enhance their information security strategies, keeping their data secure and their operations compliant.

Schedule a demo today to see how ZenGRC can help you achieve “Zen-mode” compliance!