Shaun McConnon on Compliance & Security Risk
On November 20th, Bitsight CEO Shaun McConnon was published by the Risk Management Monitor. His article, "Looking Beyond Compliance When Assessing Security" explores how risk managers can take a more comprehensive approach to mitigating security risk by augmenting traditional audits, questionnaires, tests and assessments with a continuous evaluation of security effectiveness.
Here's a brief excerpt from the article:
For a long time now, security evangelists have railed against the dangers of relying only on checkbox compliance. They warn that if you focus too much on the list of requirements, you’re bound to miss risks that may not actually be covered in rules and regulations. That’s why organizations need to start evaluating effectiveness alongside these audits, in order to get a more holistic view into the systems they are assessing.
“Organizations are so focused on meeting the letter of the regulations and mandates that they lose sight of the risks that the individual controls in the mandates are intended to mitigate,”explained security consultant Brian Musthaler in a recent blog post.
It’s a theme revisited in a ComputerWorld article, which cited a survey showing that just 17% of organizations have what they consider a mature risk management program—i.e., one that goes beyond ticking off items on an audit list. The maturation to risk-based security, the article emphasizes, is “about a not so insignificant shift in objectives—from compliance to making systems more resilient to attack.”
Read the full article at Risk Management Monitor and learn how Shaun suggests organizations move towards a risk-based model for security.