Technology

How Big Data Analysis Helps Compliance & Business Leaders Make Better Decisions

ZenGRC Team · August 7, 2018 ·

All new technologies strive to ease the burden of complex business problems which is why you need to start looking at how big data analysis helps your compliance efforts. Increasingly, cyber security compliance requires companies to analyze the impact of diverse information inputs and streams. Thus, big data analytics provide important compliance insights that enable your organization to streamline it efforts and increase profitability.

Using Big Data to Drive Your Business & Compliance Program

What is Big Data?

All over the internet, technology professionals throw around the term “big data.” Big data means large sets of information that computers can analyze mathematically to show patterns, trends, and associations. However, this definition doesn’t address what big data really is.

Traditionally, big data incorporates the three V’s of volume, velocity, and variety. Volume means not just the amount of data but the number of places from which you collect data. For example, information comes from business transactions, social media, or sensors to help find patterns. Velocity incorporates the speed of collection to ensure timely review. For example, sensors and RFID tags allow you to collect information in real-time so you can see what’s happening as soon as possible. Finally, variety means the data’s format. Information can be numeric, text-based, visual, audio, structured, or unstructured.

What is the “variability” problem?

Variability means that data can change over the course of processing. While the term is related to variety, it’s also different. Variety incorporates the sources of data which provide different types of information such as images and text. Meanwhile, variability talks about inconsistencies in the data arising out of the disparate types and sources.

For example, the data point “ocean” can be:

Text:
- Atlantic
- saltwater
- waves
- Pacific
Image:

Collecting data about the ocean would bring text as well as images (and video, audio, and others). The text “wave” might mean moving a hand in greeting or it might mean the way water approaches a shore. When textual data is aggregated, the hand gesture will be an outlier even though it might be in the collected information.

Meanwhile, the images for “wave” would more likely be related to the same definition. However, the way in which they present are different, as in the above example,

These differences, or variabilities, often make aggregating the variety of data to find similarities difficult. The greater the variability, the greater the complexity. Since the images may represent “wave” in more ways than the text does, the images contain greater complexity.

The complexity that lives in the variability makes analysis of all these different data types difficult.

What are structured and unstructured data?

The primary computational problems with big data lie in the difference between structured and unstructured data.

Structured Data

Structured data incorporates information easily displayed in tables for easy ordering and processing. Think, in this case, of a spreadsheet. You can manipulate the columns to create a variety of views into the data.

Unstructured Data

Most information collected, however, is not in easily organizable tables. Unstructured data traditionally includes text, images, or binary programming that makes numerical organizing difficult.

Sometimes the data collected is a combination of both structured and unstructured. Emails, for example, have structured information that fit in “tables” such as the to, from, and subject lines. However, the text in the message is unstructured.

For example, you can turn the unstructured text data above and make it structured data:

However, the images above do not translate as easily into a structured table.

How do you analyze big data?

Protecting your data environment requires the volume, velocity, and variety that big data brings. More information stored in more locations using more vendors increases the number of attack vectors. The increase in landscape makes protecting it more difficult. Moreover, malicious attacker methodologies continuously evolve thus requiring you to have insights that match their speed. Big data collects the information. However, analytics give you the insights necessary to enable better business decisions.

Predictive Analytics

Predictive analytics uses modeling, machine learning, and data mining to use historical data to predict future events. These statistical modeling methodologies allow you to use the overwhelming real-time data collection effectively. For example, cutting-edge anti-virus protection uses machine learning and big data to predict the next ransomware attacks rather than only protecting against already known ransomware.

Prescriptive Analytics

Prescriptive analytics takes data and helps model best decisions. Rather than simply taking a guess at what might happen to your organization like predictive analytics, the prescriptive analytics model enables you to take actions that can protect your organizations. For example, big data can collect information about attempted intrusions and then the prescriptive analytics models can help you decide which ones to prioritize.

How you can enable information security with big data and machine learning analytics

Once you collect all the data, you need to use the statistical methodologies to make that information useful. Bringing together predictive and prescriptive analytics, you can use the collected big data to protect your environment and monitor control effectiveness. For example, new technologies, like security ratings, continuously collect, aggregate and analyze publicly available data to enable insight into your control effectiveness and that of your vendors.

The machine learning algorithms used for threat detection take information from all across the internet and combine it together. While you may be monitoring your environment yourself, these big data analytics solutions compare millions upon millions of monitored environments against one another to determine normal versus abnormal network and system activities. By aggregating all of this information, these solutions show you attacks against other environments to help you prepare and protect against something that has not yet happened to you.

How big data and machine learning enable compliance and better business decisions

Starting with a strong security stance allows you to build a strong compliance program. With the idea of a “Security First” approach to compliance, you can focus your program to align across multiple frameworks. Determining your control effectiveness as part of your governance program allows you to ensure ongoing compliance. For example, a primary compliance directive across standards and regulations includes ensuring that you patch systems and networks with the most recent software updates. If your continuous monitoring analytics show a weakness in your software updates, then you can better prove compliance.

How ZenGRC Works Similar to Big Data Analytics

With ZenGRC’s System of Record, you can aggregate your compliance documentation and align it across multiple standards to enable better compliance insights.

Dashboards help you track the completion status of your InfoSec compliance programs, and prioritize your efforts when new requirements or frameworks are added. Just as big data collects information across the internet, ZenGRC collects information across your enterprise. In the way that big data predictive analytics can enable better macro insights, ZenGRC enables better organizational insights.

With ZenGRC you can easily leverage work across compliance initiatives, test controls once and use evidence multiple times. You can also run audits and automate routine compliance tasks using ZenGRC. The same way that big data collection finds patterns across information on the internet, ZenGRC enables pattern finding within your compliance program to make the process more efficient.

To schedule a demo, contact ZenGRC today.

Who’s Really Responsible for Third-Party Vendor Breaches

ZenGRC Team · June 21, 2018 ·

Third-party vendors, suppliers, and partners pose more risks to your reputation and bottom line than ever before. Recent surveys indicate as many as 63 percent of breaches stem from third-party access. Some of the most devastating cyberattacks in recent years, in fact, have occurred not to big companies, but to their vendors.

The sheer number of third-party contractors may be a factor. Enterprises are turning increasingly to contractors to not only save on the costs of hiring full-time employees, but also to fill a temporary need or a very specific niche such as IT or data analysis. As your own circle of trust widens, how will you ensure that your enterprise’s data, that of your clients and customers, will remain safe and secure?

The 2015 hack of the credit-processing agency Experian, among other high-profile vendor breaches, indicates the damage that could happen to your business if just one of your vendors, suppliers, or partners drops the ball on security. Cybercriminals breached Experian’s database, but it was T-Mobile’s data they stole-confiscating personal data on 15 million T-Mobile cellular service customers.

T-Mobile’s CEO said he was “incredibly angry” about the breach, and rightly so: Experian had neglected to install security patches. But whose job was it to safeguard that data? Several class-action lawsuits are pending against both organizations, holding T-Mobile equally responsible.

Regulators seem to agree, The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) puts the onus on enterprises to secure and keep track of the personal data they collect, process, store, and share. Furthermore, the regulation stipulates that organizations must notify the European Supervisory Authority and customers promptly in the event of a breach.

Financial regulators have increasingly held banks accountable for third-party issues. In New York, 23NYCRR 500 became effective March 1, 2017, now state regulators are now requiring financial firms to verify that their vendors’ cybersecurity measures are adequate.

Trust and Verify

Even with the vendors you know and trust, a handshake is no longer enough; nor is a contract. Today, you must verify the trustworthiness of your third-party contractors and document that you have done so. How?

Assessments and audits are the most common methods of vendor verification. For many enterprises, an assessment will suffice – but not just any assessment. To get the most out of yours, I suggest you keep it simple.
Too often, organizations throw everything including the kitchen sink into their questionnaire, muddying their view of what is really going on. But in most instances the right questions are not being asked. Craft a meaningful assessment by asking yourself some questions first:

What does this vendor do for my enterprise?
Do they collect, process, or store customer or employee personal data on our behalf?
What kind of access does it have to our data, systems, and networks?
What are my chief security concerns with this particular vendor?
How can I know if the vendor is protecting data to our standards?
What happens to the data I share with this vendor?
Can the vendor provide certifications to prove compliance with important frameworks and regulations?
Which third parties does the vendor work with? What access do these have to your data?
How does the vendor ensure security and compliance with its third-parties or subcontractors? A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

Each set of questions will be unique not only to your organization, but also to each vendor you’re assessing, taking into consideration the nature of your relationship and what you think is important.

Quality, not Quantity

Create your survey carefully and take a risk based approach. Remember that a human will be analyzing the results, and distractions could cause them to miss something critical. The more concise your questionnaire, with an emphasis on understanding how the vendor is using your data, the more readily you will be able to identify risks.

In some cases, you will want to audit a vendor. Vendor audits are a growing trend, although they can be a hassle. To make the task easier, find out if your vendor has SOC-2 or other relevant certification. If so, you can lay to rest many broad-based concerns you might have, and focus on what matters most to your company.

But if the data you’re sharing is particularly sensitive, or if you spot red flags in the survey phase, you may opt to conduct an audit. If you do, again, keep the process focused and specific. Don’t adopt a list-based approach but a risk-based one, considering your enterprise’s threats and concerns first, and looking to see how the vendor protects you or doesn’t.

Third-party vendors are no longer the exception, but the rule. As they proliferate, so will cybercriminals’ efforts to hack their databases, hoping that their systems are less secure than yours. Don’t let that be the case and most certainly don’t take a chance they your third-party vendors are secure and compliant…. Trust but verify!
Data is the new gold. Getting yours breached, no matter where it occurs, could cause staggering fines, penalties, and reputational damage. That is why, when it comes to protecting your data, the buck stops not with your third-party vendor-but with you.

Here’s what GDPR means for your business

ZenGRC Team · March 19, 2018 ·

The term “business as usual” takes on a whole new meaning May 25, when the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) goes into effect. This complex, game-changing law will mandate new ways of doing business in virtually every area of operations, from human resources to marketing, to technology and cybersecurity.

In fact, according to a PwC survey, 92 percent of U.S. companies consider preparing for GDPR compliance a top priority.
Is your enterprise ready?

The first-ever global privacy and security law, GDPR outlines new rules—99 of them– for protecting EU citizen data. These provisions:

Broaden the scope of the term “personal data”;
Grant EU citizens absolute rights over their personal data, including the “right to be forgotten”;
Set stringent requirements for how entities process, store, and share citizen data;
Establish rules for securing EU citizen data, including privacy protections;
Set timelines and guidelines for responding to and reporting data breaches;
Restrict the collection and processing of specific types of data, including that of minors;
Require accountability for security breaches and data theft;
Require that privacy protections be designed into business operations, and
Impose strict penalties for noncompliance, including up to €20 million or 4% of the company’s global annual revenues.

Why is GDPR needed?
In the information age, data defines us—increasingly so as the world becomes ever more connected. The European Commission adopted the GDPR in 2016 to address growing concerns about citizens’ control of their data, to protect Europeans from the potentially devastating consequences of data and identity theft, and to harmonize the various directives and laws across the EU’s 28 member states.

In this way, GDPR is intended to make it easier for enterprises to do business with EU companies and individuals.

Under the 95/46/EC EU Data Protection Directive, businesses struggled to comply with different sets of requirements for clients and customers in different EU member states. The GDPR, however, provides a single, overarching regulatory framework that, once met for a single EU entity, will apply to all.

Does GDPR apply to me?
Most every organization and individual doing business with citizens of the EU, even if they have no presence inside the EU, must show compliance with the GDPR by May 25th. If your business collects, processes, or stores personal information about EU citizens living in the EU, the GDPR almost certainly applies to you.

Organizations who employ or contract with EU citizens must meet GDPR requirements, as well.

If you collect, process, store, or share EU citizen personal data—defined as any information that can be used to identify someone, including, now, “pseudonymous” data processed under a false name—the GDPR applies to you.
“Personal data,” according to the regulation, includes a person’s name, address, date of birth, address, identification numbers, email address, and phone number.

Certain types of personal data—“special categories,” under the framework–have even more restrictions. The GDPR expanded the definition of personal data to include genetic, biometric, health, and criminal data as well as information about race, gender, religious beliefs, union membership, sexual orientation and political affiliation.

“Anonymized” data, or that which is permanently encrypted or made anonymous so that its owner cannot be identified, is not governed by the GDPR.
Because the GDPR’s primary objective is protecting people and their privacy, everyone who uses EU citizen data for any business purpose is subject to its requirements—and its severe penalties for non-compliance or a breach. This includes personal information collected, processed and stored manually—written by hand and kept in a filing cabinet, for instance—as long as you organize it in an intentional way, such as in alphabetical order.

Power to the people
Once you’ve taken possession of EU citizen’s data, you will want to handle it with the utmost care. Under GDPR, EU citizens have individual rights related to the use of their personal information that could make compliance difficult unless you are processing, tagging, and tracking it properly.

Citizens’ rights begin with your asking for their name. Before collecting any information about them, you must tell them exactly how you will use it, and why. They must “opt in” and grant consent; otherwise, you can’t collect, process, or store any data they provide.

Your business issues a privacy notice to customers, you say? Chances are, it isn’t good enough. The GDPR requires that privacy notices be clear, concise, simple to read and understand. If you’re offering the long, jargon-filled document so commonly presented today—which most people notoriously do not read—you’ll have to revise it to comply.

The framework also calls on businesses to be diligent and vigilant: always on your game, where data is concerned.

For instance, if you come up with a new use for any EU citizen data you have, or you want to share it with anyone else, you must notify the individuals associated with that data and gain their consent. Under the GDPR, individuals own their data, always; businesses merely borrow it, and must handle it with care and return it whenever asked.
It is the EU citizen’s prerogative to change their mind, always. Even after they have consented to your using, storing, or sharing their data, they can revoke their permission.
The “data portability” provision lets them ask for their data to be returned to them.
The “right to erasure” provision states that, if they ask you to erase their information from your databases, you must do so “without undue delay.”
This provision, also known as the “right to be forgotten,” could pose problems for those who lack a data tracking system.
How can you erase data if you don’t know where it is? How can you tell those you’ve shared it with to remove it from their database if you haven’t recorded where it has gone?
Simply not knowing the answers to these questions could put you at risk of noncompliance.

The GDPR requires data “controllers,” or those collecting and using the information, and processors to know where EU citizen personal data is located, who can access, and the purpose that it is being used.
When asked, you must be able to prove that you comply, and if you are processing large amounts of data you will need to have a designated Data Protection Officer (DPO) overseeing compliance. Ideally, you want someone that has a good understanding of the operational components of your business, data protection, compliance, infrastructure, and security.
Can you do this now?

Keeping it safe
Information security goes hand-in-hand with privacy, and the GDPR has very specific requirements for securing EU citizen data and what your enterprise must do in case of a breach.

Paying a hefty fine may be one of them. If your database is hacked, EU citizen data may be compromised. There are harsh penalties for data breaches that could lead to additional fines for non-compliance.
Under GDPR security and privacy design are required. They must be embedded into operational processes and your technology systems so that it occurs automatically.
It starts with protecting EU citizen’s Personal Identifiable Information (PII) whenever it is collected, processed or stored. Furthermore, data controllers and processors can pseudonymise and encrypt personal data as a means of protection. However, both controllers and processors must have a process in place to verify the identities of those who access that data.
In addition, enterprises must:

Continually ensure that all systems used to process EU citizen data are secure and resilient, and readily accessible in case of a breach;
Train their employees on privacy, security awareness;
Regularly test and evaluate information security measures;
Work to help third-party contractors secure their data, and
Be able to demonstrate that they comply.

If your enterprise is breached and unprotected data is exposed, the GDPR requires you to alert authorities and notify all affected consumers within 72 hours. If you have done your due diligence and securely encrypted your data, you may escape this obligation.

The ‘Zen’ mind of readiness
Clearly, for many organizations implementing GDPR will require a significant amount of time, effort, and resources. However, to continue doing business with EU citizens and to avoid steep fines; regardless to whether you have a EU presence or not, you will have to demonstrate that you comply with this lengthy, complex regulation by May 25th.

For many, meeting this deadline is an intimidating prospect.

According to one report, two-thirds of businesses expect they will need to change their global business strategies to comply with the GDPR.
More than half say they expect to incur fines for non-compliance.

Your business doesn’t have to be among them. ZenGRC governance, risk, and compliance software can evaluate your systems and networks to pinpoint gaps in your GDPR compliance, freeing you from uncertainty, stress, and spreadsheets.

Our powerful tool can generate user-friendly dashboards and checklists to help you meet all 99 GDPR provisions with clarity and calm serenity.
If you act now ZenGRC’s simple, fast deployment can help you get there before May 25th. Isn’t it time you entered the Zen ‘mind of readiness’ for the GDPR? Schedule a demo today.

Tracy Z. Maleeff: Wednesday’s Women in Infosec

ZenGRC Team · February 14, 2018 ·

Tracy Z. Maleeff is a Cyber Analyst in a Security Operations Center for a global company. Tracy holds a Master of Library & Information Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh, and holds undergraduate degrees from both Temple University (magna cum laude) and the Pennsylvania State University. She brought her skills from being a law firm librarian into the Information Security industry about two years ago. Tracy has presented at several Security BSides cons as well as at DEF CON’s Recon Village in 2017. She is active online as your guide up a mountain of information on Twitter as @InfoSecSherpa and through her Nuzzel newsletter.

ZenGRC: If you had to choose one event that led you to work in information security, what would it be and why?

Tracy Z. Maleeff: I read an article entitled, “Futureproofing Your Career.” It lead me to reignite a love of tech inside me that I never pursued and going down that path led me to information security. My overused joke is that I realized that my natural paranoia and distrust of things was a career path.

ZenGRC: Why do you like working in the information security environment?

Tracy Z. Maleeff: I like problem-solving and helping people — creating teachable moments to help them better understand security to better protect themselves or at least be a bit wiser online.

ZenGRC: If a n00b to the infosec world asked you for a piece of advice, what would it be?

Tracy Z. Maleeff: Be a sponge. Talk to people, read a lot, be curious, and take it all in. Attend every meetup and conference you are able. Immerse yourself in it in order to learn and make connections with people.

ZenGRC: What is the most important issue facing professionals in the information security landscape today? Why?

Tracy Z. Maleeff: Burnout and stress. Information Security is the Centralia, Pennsylvania mine fire of professional industries. That underground fire began in 1962 and is still burning today. The fire and cybersecurity incidents, never stop. That constant barrage, coupled with unreasonable demands and expectations from executive and management can make Info Sec professionals feel overwhelmed and can easily become spirit and soul crushing. There are ways to manage those feelings so that it doesn’t have to descend into personal darkness.

ZenGRC: What is the most important issue facing consumers in the information security landscape today? Why?

Tracy Z. Maleeff: Paralysis by analysis, in a way. Consumers are overwhelmed by Information Security news and don’t know what to do. Info Sec is very fast moving and the average consumer who isn’t very tech savvy may be still trying to come to grips with what a phishing email is, when now they have to learn how to understand Multifactor Authentication. They have so many terms, concepts, and advice being thrown at them that they often just mentally shut down and wind up doing nothing, to their detriment.

ZenGRC: What are your three “guilty pleasures” that have nothing to do with information security?

Tracy Z. Maleeff: Knitting, cooking/baking, and cheering on my favorite sports teams.

ZenGRC: What’s your favorite book-to-movie adaptation and why?

Tracy Z. Maleeff: “The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri. I thought the acting and cinematography really brought the story off the pages well. I like seeing images of India and film really cemented the culture clash between generations.

Internal Controls: What Are They & Why You Should Care

ZenGRC Team · February 6, 2018 ·

Internal controls act as the protective armor for an organization. Much the way that Tony Stark’s Iron Man suits protect him from the dangers inherent in battling supervillains, internal controls protect your business from the risks that can compromise an information technology environment.

Understanding the Importance of Internal Controls & What They Are

What is a system of internal controls?

A system of internal controls protects your organization from financial, strategic, and reputational risks. In auditing and accounting terms, internal controls assure that your business basics remain operationally effective and efficient.

These processes protect your organization by providing the reliable financial reporting required by various regulations and industry standards that track investment, capital, and credit risks. For example, section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), intended to protect investors, requires annual proof that companies accurately report their financials, prove that their procedures effectively prevent fraud, and show that they have addressed any uncertainty such as stocks.

Why are objectives the first step to creating internal controls?

The first step to establishing protective armor lies in defining the risks you are guarding against. Until your company understands how it wants to position itself, it will remain unable to set appropriate objectives and mitigate the inherent risks.

For example, if Iron Man fights Dr. Strange, he needs something to stand up to his powerful magic. However, when fighting against Hulk, his armor needs to withstand the green rage monster’s strength.

Determining business objectives drives the risks your organization faces the same way. If you want to enter the healthcare services space, you need to think about the risks to electronic personal health information (ePHI). An organization that wants to engage in the healthcare arena must explore the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).
If the organization wants to enter the financial industry, then management needs to look at the standards and regulations that govern banks to ensure they provide the appropriate controls.

Once your organization knows its objectives, it can move forward to defining the risks.

How does risk management depend on internal controls?

Once your company defines its objectives and goals, it can begin to identify the risks tied to those strategic decisions.
The core values of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) focus on addressing risks so that your organization can comply with standards or regulations, while continuously monitoring to ensure the processes work. Controls are the specific measures put in place within those processes. For example, physical access risks differ from system intrusion risks. Both require controls, but physical access risk controls limit people with system access, while system intrusion controls include measures like firewalls and encryption.

Effective corporate risk management requires a structure to support the procedures that protect resources and assets.

What are the five internal controls?

When creating a system of internal controls, organizations should utilize available guidance. The COSO Framework identifies five types of internal control and offers definitions to help companies.

The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) convened expert auditor and accountant organizations to develop resources that would deter fraud. In 2013, the commission updated the COSO Framework and its five interrelated components.

Control Environment

Internal audit and enterprise risk management professionals define this as the standards, infrastructure, and processes that form the basis of the internal control system. These foundational structures establish the expectations for and importance of integrity within the company’s corporate culture. Management and Directors evidence their values through operating styles and organizational structure.

For example, formalizing segregation of duties shows that management not only acts appropriately but holds itself accountable.

Risk Assessment

Assessing risks means not only identifying them but also creating appropriate preventative strategies to mitigate them. To appropriately define risks, an organization must look both internally and externally. If your organization outsourced work to vendors, then you need to be protecting against the threats they pose. When an organization limits its exposure and creates an inventory that addresses risk and any exemptions made, it develops a strategy to manage threats to the achievement of objectives.

Control Activities

Internal policies, procedures, and mechanisms are examples of control activities. These actions are the manifestations of the organization’s risk management strategies. They can work to identify, prevent, or monitor risks; control activities must be embedded throughout a program’s life cycle.
Not only does an organization need to act, but it also must document its control activities to demonstrate its management of risks.

Information and Communication

Communication underpins the entire GRC program. Management and the Board of Directors communicate expectations to an organization’s employees. Staff must share information upward, so that reviews of risks and policy formulation processes inform corporate decision-making. During the monitoring phase, internally-generated reports provide timely information to external auditors and other stakeholders. As information is gathered and disseminated, it must flow up, down, and across the organization.

Monitoring

Monitoring internal controls ensures that control activities have been embedded within normal operations. Ongoing measurement, evaluation, and audits are necessary to regularly update the Board of Directors by providing reports and reviews. Controlling risk is an iterative process, and to continuously improve controls, an organization must evaluate control effectiveness and learn from its own implementation efforts.

How do you design internal controls?

When designing controls, your company needs to determine how business processes relate to the integration of financial reporting and your information systems.

Organizations need to establish procedures regarding the initiation, recording, processing, correcting, transferring, and reporting of electronic and cash transactions. Then, these processes should be coordinated with your financial statements’ information.

Moreover, control design needs to explain how your information systems record events and conditions outside the financial statement realm. For example, a breach impacts your financial performance because the losses affect your income and reserves. Thus, you need controls that document your breach responses.

Finally, when designing internal controls, your company needs to review the financial reporting process and the way you record non-standard transactions. While the internal control design process focuses on financial reporting and financial controls, organizations need to remember that modern-day solutions involve both software and hardware. Unlike the days of hand-written ledgers, modern businesses use digital tools to track their general ledger information, which is how internal control design connects to your IT environment.

What does an internal control audit require?

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) defines the standard of review for internal controls in Auditing Standard No. 5 (AS5) An Audit of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting That is Integrated with An Audit of Financial Statements. Since your auditor is likely a certified public accountant (CPA), understanding the terms and concepts within AS5 can help you be prepared.
The Section 404 audit will require you to provide documentation proving the coordination of internal control audit with your current financial statement audit. Auditors want proof of the evaluation process. Gathering this documentation in advance can ease the process during the audit itself. Moreover, you can streamline the audit process by communicating early and often with your external auditor. The documentation needed to demonstrate to an auditor reasonable assurance of compliance sometimes feels overwhelming.

How does automation ease the pain of internal control development and monitoring?

Between risk assessments, procedures, reporting, and communication, paperwork is the one thing that all internal control designs share. Small companies may begin working with spreadsheets to try to track their controls, but as they scale their business, their internal and external stakeholders increase in number. Thus, budgeting for a sleeker solution can save time and money long term.

More people interacting with the controls leads to potential errors when you use the confined authorization of shared documents. SaaS solutions like ZenGRC offer individual access controls, which means that your administrator can set appropriate authorizations for reviewing and editing to keep your information protected.

Additionally, with ZenGRC, you can create easy-to-read reports that give your Board of Directors the insights they need to monitor the control environment appropriately. Managing reports in one place makes your audit committee’s job easier and contributes to a better outcome when the external auditor interviews your Board.

Finally, by using a SaaS platform like ZenGRC, you can quickly gather your documentation to provide your internal and external auditors the information needed to review your control systems. With all the information housed in a single cloud-based repository, you can manage your audit requests more efficiently and cost-effectively. When your IT department spends less time gathering audit trail documents, they spend more time protecting you from threats.

Organizations need controls to protect them from threats, but they also need the supplementary systems to help them prove that they correctly assembled their armor. For more information about how ZenGRC can help your organization be Iron Man, schedule a demo today.