Compliance Data: Leverage Data from GRC

When we were young, we were all taught that sharing is caring. But it seems like somewhere along the way we forgot that message, otherwise there is no way to explain why some people still reserve their Compliance data for GRC tools alone. In this blog, we will discuss how, by integrating Compliance data with different security tools, organizations can leverage data to significantly reduce response times, lower the risk of security incidents and data breaches, and improve the overall security posture. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s understand how this works.

One Data Artifact, Two Stones

Organizations rely on various tools and systems to handle different tasks in their daily operations, such as HR management, helpdesk management, or inventory management. Companies can then use the raw data generated by these tools to streamline processes, determine organizational health, and inform their decision-making for the future. 

While many of these tools, and their data, are managed independently, in reality, they could easily help each other. Organizations can enjoy the benefits of data integration between these systems with disparate solutions working together while eliminating data silos and maintaining transparency with other teams, management, and stakeholders. Integrating systems enables teams to leverage data sets from one system to trigger actions within another system, thus complementing each other and providing an end-to-end solution. For example, suppose the inventory system determines that a specific product falls below a certain threshold. In that case, a task can be created for the Accounting team to generate a PO, and an alert can be triggered to the Purchasing team to re-order the product. 

Integration with Workflow Automation Systems: Make Compliance Data Actionable

GRC functions in mature companies have already embraced the idea that raw data can enhance their understanding of the organization’s Compliance posture. When automated evidence collection was introduced years ago, the GRC community largely jumped at the chance to eliminate a myriad of manual and time-consuming tasks involving Excel spreadsheets and screenshots. Dataset-based evidence allowed companies the flexibility to tailor the evidence to meet their specific Compliance requirements. But, the benefits of raw data are not limited to GRC. Raw Compliance data can be integrated into different security tools, such as workflow automation systems, to initiate remedial actions and address security gaps.

Workflow automation systems are built on the data utilization concept: raw data already collected for one purpose can be utilized for additional purposes. These tools allow leveraging data from one system to trigger an action in another, so organizations can benefit from taking automatic actions based on the existing Compliance data. 

What are the benefits of data integration? The idea is that if Compliance tools are already collecting organizational data for regulatory purposes, why not allow workflow automation tools to utilize that data to streamline staff workload and improve the organization’s security posture? 

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Case Study: Tines Partnership with Anecdotes

Hypergrowth organizations and enterprises should act now to prioritize integrations that enhance their Compliance data management. When considering a Compliance automation solution, it's essential for organizations to assess their toolset and identify areas where raw data integration can provide added benefits for their overall security needs. Choosing the right GRC solution that is compatible with their tech stack can streamline the workflow and make the entire detection to remediation process seamless.. They should ask, ‘Does this Compliance solution also supply data to leverage for other purposes?’

Tines, a leader in no-code automation, has partnered with Anecdotes to make it easier for organizations to achieve continuous Compliance. Tines customers can leverage data from The Anecdotes Compliance OS to trigger actions within Tines’ automatic workflows. For example, the partnership enables Tines customers to find and remediate public AWS S3 bucket access. They can query Anecdotes for AWS S3 bucket gaps and non-compliant security control evidence and create an enriched Jira ticket for each result returned. Then, they can remediate the issue based on the Jira ticket to make the bucket private or allow it to stay public through AWS. The partnership automates customized processes, reduces time to Compliance, and alleviates the burden for employees.