Security and Compliance in IT: What’s the Difference Between Them?

Did you know that nearly 30,000 websites are being hacked in a single day? Certainly, you don’t want yours to be one of them. However, you may find yourself struggling to understand what separates security compliance in IT from standard IT security measures. We’re here to help make it easier. In this blog, we’ll tell you the major differences between IT security and compliance. Then, we’ll help you create a security strategy that protects both your business and your customers—and follows industry regulations.

Understanding IT Security

First, let’s take a look at what IT security actually means. As a business, it’s no secret that your clients trust you with important—and often personal—sensitive data. This can include their home addresses and contact information, ages, and even their credit card numbers. You want to do everything that you can to ensure that the private data of your customers is kept safe. After all, hacking isn’t just a potentially embarrassing or dangerous situation for your clients. It’s also a huge threat to your business as a whole. It might shock you to learn that well over half of smaller businesses that suffer from some sort of cyber attack go out of business within a year. No one, like industry regulators or government compliance officers, is “looking over your shoulder” when it comes to IT security. It’s not a legal requirement, it’s simply something you do because you want to protect your business and clients. You want to avoid a potential lawsuit, bad press, and lost productivity and other issues that can happen because of a hack. There are no real set IT security compliance standards that your business is required to follow. You control the level and types of security you have in place in order to protect private information. In short, you’re doing your “due diligence” as a business when you develop an IT security strategy. This security could be physical, digital, or administrative in nature. It could be as simple as implementing a company-wide password policy, or as complicated as encrypting data and using third-party IT services. You set the rules when it comes to security, not a governing body or a larger organisation outside of your office. Now, let’s take a look at compliance vs. security.

Understanding IT Compliance

Things become a bit more complicated and difficult when we move to a discussion of IT compliance. In this case, you’ll be responsible for following rules that have been set in place by a third party. That might be the government, it might be the company that owns your business, or it could be regulated by healthcare or financial industries.

heavy penalties ARE associated with failing to conform to  IT compliance regulations. In short: they are far from optional.

You’ll need to make certain that you understand what is expected of you when it comes to IT compliance. In many cases, your company will undergo both random and scheduled IT compliance inspections. These are designed to ensure that you follow the rules, as well as to make it clear you take It security seriously. In some cases, compliance standards may even be set by an individual client. No matter what kind of outside party creates these rules, you’ll need to keep tweaking and changing your IT security until they are completely satisfied. If you fail to do so, you could certainly face a lawsuit. Or, the client could void any contracts they have with you, and decide to take their business elsewhere. In extreme cases, you may even lose your license or your business may be closed down. You absolutely must take IT security compliance as seriously as possible.

So, Which One Should Your Company Choose?

In some cases, of course, you might not have much of a choice about choosing to implement IT compliance policies. If you refuse to do so, you’ll be penalised, forced to pay a fine, and potentially even pushed out of business. However, many companies wrongly think that, as long as they have IT security compliance standards set in place by a larger body or parent company, they’re in good shape. Unfortunately, the truth is that many compliance standards can have gaps in them. Plus, while they deal with larger potential threats and help to protect sensitive information in a specific way? Often, smaller threats can go undetected. If you choose to focus only on compliance and regulations, in a sense, you’re only doing the bare minimum to keep information safe. It’s not just about ticking off boxes—it’s about covering all of your bases, even the ones corporate hasn’t thought of. For example, your regulatory agency may not require you to back up your files or your website throughout the day. But when your computer system crashes without warning, and you lose all of your data? You’re certainly going to wish you had backed them up. Additionally, your more freeform IT security plan may not take into consideration the importance of multiple levels and layers of security. You may overlook things like two-factor authentication, just because you weren’t aware they existed. Having standards set by a body that’s more knowledgeable about IT security than you are is certainly helpful. The best thing to do is work to have a combination of both security and compliance when it comes to your IT strategy.

What to Look for in IT Security and Compliance Professionals 

It’s no secret that meeting the standards set by compliance can be a serious challenge. And if you fail to meet industry compliance standards? You could land in some hot water—and even face legal action. The same goes for your standard IT security measures. You aren’t exactly sure how to back up your hard drive, install anti-virus software, encrypt your data, or even recognise phishing scams. In either case, you realise that working with a professional could seriously benefit you and your business. Of course, you need to be certain that you know exactly what to look for in a security professional. First of all, ensure that they have all of the necessary technical training and experience. Especially when it comes to IT, you don’t exactly want your company to be someone’s learning curve. Ask about which tools they use, how much uptime they can guarantee your website, and which threats they perceive to be as the largest to your company. Also, ensure that they have a strong knowledge of cloud-based security and data storage. How will they protect data stored in the cloud, and how frequently will they run backups of it? Make sure that you also talk to a candidate about the kind of penetration testing they plan to conduct. You need to know that they’ll have no trouble identifying and addressing any potential weaknesses in your system. Of course, there are also certain soft skills that you should look for in a candidate. They need to have excellent communication skills, so they can clearly explain their ideas to you. They also must be able to make sure that every member of your team is on the same page in regards to IT security and regulation. You should also look for candidates with attention to detail and excellent organisational skills. Above all, look for someone with a good amount of enthusiasm and passion for what they do.

Need Professional Help with IT Security and Compliance?

We hope that this post has helped you to better understand the difference between IT security and compliance. Remember that the best bet is to combine regulated and enforced security measures, as well as to come up with a security strategy of your own. In some cases, it will likely benefit you to work with a third-party IT agency. This will help you to identify new threats, act quickly in case of an attack, and ensure that you’re meeting compliance standards when it comes to IT. Looking for advice about where you can find the top IT professionals in your area? We can help you with that. Learn more about how we can make sure you connect with the right cybersecurity professionals for your business on our site. Contact us when you’re ready to recruit the best IT security experts out there.