A Guide to an Integrated Governance, Risk, and Compliance Framework

The elevation of cybersecurity to a Board- and CEO-level issue has caused enterprise governance risk and compliance (GRC) processes and technologies to evolve. As we’ve covered before, Gartner marked the next iteration in security, risk, and privacy management - dubbing it integrated risk management. While the integrated risk management approach deviates from the conventional checkbox compliance activities that most teams have built their organizations with, that is not to say that cybersecurity governance risk and compliance activities have no place there. Rather, governance risk and compliance as three functions are the foundational aspects of an integrated risk management approach to cybersecurity and risk management.

More is expected from information security teams in the form of visibility into their organization, reporting to business-side leaders, as well as more reliance as enterprises embrace more technology, and with that, teams need tools that automate much of the governance risk and compliance frameworks that they’ve used for years. An approach that integrates governance, risk management, and compliance activities supports these three new requirements for information security teams.

In this guide, we will be examining how integrating GRC programs through the processes of governance, the frameworks of risk management, and the standards of compliance can lead an organization toward a more integrated view of risk and compliance. We’ll explore how GRC system automation and integrated risk management practices can streamline and support the new regulatory compliance requirements for cybersecurity leaders. How “integrated risk management vs GRC” is a false dichotomy when the proper solutions can work together.

• The Processes of Good Governance

•  
• We’ll examine how tools that automate GRC capabilities can facilitate the transition to an integrated risk management approach - through automated reporting and effective real-time dashboards that translate security, risk, and privacy management programs into business objectives and support business growth.
•  

• The Frameworks of Risk Management

•  
• Managing cyber risk is the core mandate of information security teams in today’s business climate. Frameworks are the foundation of the risk management activities that every organization practices. We’ll dive into gold-standard frameworks and best practices to reduce risk. Using integrated frameworks based on outcomes drives all aspects of a cyber program and supports business growth.
•  

• The Standards of Compliance

• 
  Compliance management was the driver for many information security organizations and is still an absolute necessity today. As more standard and compliance requirements are released, knowing how to construct a strategy that can absorb these new requirements is critical. We’ll examine how integrated governance risk and compliance management solutions support this patchwork of compliance standards we’re seeing emerge and how integrated GRC software solutions and IRM can help teams save time and supplement with AI and machine learning.

Integrating Governance, Risk, and Compliance

The expectation that those at the Board and CEO level have of CISOs, and their information security program has evolved rapidly. As data breaches and security events continue to make headlines almost daily, security leaders are faced with the need to update their programs to support this new role. A siloed security program that leaves each of the activities under GRC to disparate teams with no integrated GRC framework will leave these teams and leaders spread thin trying to navigate this new role. Breaking down and re-integrating the activities behind governance, risk, and compliance is the key to an integrated risk and compliance vision.