Many security and compliance professionals hear the term “continuous monitoring” as part of their information security process, and have a good grasp of the term’s meaning – but “continuous auditing” may feel redundant or confusing. That’s unfortunate. Understanding how continuous auditing fits into a security-first approach to cybersecurity helps both to protect the integrity of your data and to prove the strength of your controls work.

Regular, comprehensive audits keep organizations on track. Audits come in all shapes and sizes, too: internal and external audits; audits of finance, audits of data, audits of operations. As a business owner, whether for a large enterprise or a small business, you want to assure that your stakeholders can trust your business operations and that your finances are in order. Internal audits are a great way to reinforce that trust and credibility.

To manage cybersecurity risks effectively and maintain a strong defense posture, organizations need a clear understanding of their security program and the ability to measure their progress toward key objectives. Enter key performance indicators (KPIs), a mechanism that allows organizations to gauge and track their cybersecurity effectiveness.

Effective communication is at the heart of any successful organization. It ensures that information is clearly conveyed, understood and acted on. But sometimes, despite our best intentions, there can be a gap between what we say and what the other person hears. The result? Confusion, misunderstandings and missed opportunities. When it comes to talking about cyber risk, you can bridge this communication gap by translating technical, information security data into the language of business impact.

“Market risks” are risks specifically related to investments. These risks are defined by the behavior of the market overall, and can be caused by factors unrelated to your line of business. Really, any market fluctuations in any area might potentially affect your company’s investments. Market risk also refers to risks that are inherent to investments, in the sense that some amount of uncertainty will always be at play.

Many of you have probably heard about the record $1.3 billion GDPR fine the European Union (EU) issued against Facebook’s parent company, Meta, for unlawful data transfers of EU citizens.1 In reading the coverage and ruling, I kept thinking about how high-stakes data privacy has become today and how data has surpassed oil as the world’s most valuable resource.

Effective corporate compliance is an increasingly urgent issue for businesses. More regulations continue to proliferate across the landscape, and compliance obligations are becoming more complex. The need for an effective compliance management tool to help CISOs and senior management meet those ever-expanding compliance requirements has never been greater. A manual approach to tracking and monitoring compliance activities drives up costs and is more prone to error.

A disruption to your company’s information technology (IT) systems can disrupt your business operations as well, costing you time and money while employees wait for repairs. An audit of your IT systems can identify and fix those potential disruptions before they happen – and an IT audit checklist can assure that your IT department has the necessary resources in place to keep your systems safe.

A company’s employees, shareholders, senior management, and board of directors expect that company to conduct its business reliably, efficiently, and securely – especially its financial transactions. Internal controls are the mechanisms a company uses to assure that its business processes meet those expectations. And to keep that system of internal controls running smoothly year after year, you must identify the internal control weaknesses in those systems.

Technological innovations have unlocked a world of possibilities in the 21st century, and now, many common and tedious tasks can be quickly done online. Whether you’re collaborating on business processes, renewing your license or ordering groceries – the internet provides a streamlined avenue for consumers and organizations. An interesting side-effect is the reduced tolerance for manual, complicated or inefficient processes. Sadly, one of those tedious processes is conducting risk assessments.

Risk mitigation – that is, taking steps to reduce the exposure your organization has to risks you’ve identified – is crucial to any organization. The question is how to mitigate your risks, because organizations can employ any number of strategies to do so. Some of those strategies might be excellent fits with your business model; others, less so. This article will explore 10 proven risk mitigation strategies to help organizations effectively manage and minimize risk exposure.

ISO 9000 and ISO 9001 are terms that are often used interchangeably when discussing quality management at an organization, but they actually refer to separate things. While both are related to quality assurance and ISO certification, they have distinct differences in their fundamentals and approach.