Compliance and Regulation

No matter the size or the industry, every organization must follow certain laws and regulations. Regulatory compliance describes an organization's actions to comply with those rules and policies as part of its operations.

When it comes to data, there are rules for handling sensitive information. To be in regulatory compliance, organizations set up internal processes to keep data safe and secure. Otherwise, they can be fined, sued, or even face criminal prosecution.

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)

Protects the privacy and personal data of EU citizens

Actions:

1. Implement data encryption in transit and at rest using a strong algorithm.
2. Establish data access control based on the principle of least privilege
3. Implement secure data deletion procedures.
4. Ensure you obtain explicit consent before collecting and processing personal data.

HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)

Protects health information and ensures the confidentiality and integrity of patient data.

Actions:

1. Encrypt patient health information both in transit and at rest.
2. Implement multi-factor authentication for accessing patient records.
3. Regularly update and patch healthcare systems to address vulnerabilities.
4. Implement audit logging to track access to patient data. [ who try to access the data? What did he do with that data? ]
5. Implement data retention policies to delete patient records when they are no longer needed.

OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project)

Highlights the most critical web application security risks.

Actions

1. Injection Attacks (SQL Injection)
2. XSS
3. Authentication and Session management
4. Insecure Deserialisation
5. Security Misconfiguration
6. Sensitive Data Exposure
7. XML External Entity (XXE)
8. Broken Access Control
9. Security Headers are not set
10. CSRF