Starting a new business is like a rollercoaster ride - it's thrilling, exciting and sometimes a little scary. But one thing you don't want to overlook is security compliance. Just like a seatbelt keeps you safe on a rollercoaster, security compliance keeps your business and your customers safe from potential security risks (e.g. data leakage, unauthorized access to your assets). 

In this blog, we'll present a few initial and basic steps to get started with security compliance, based on our experience and journey in the Security department, and especially the GRC team, here at monday.com. This can, of course, vary depending on your type of industry, size of business, location etc.

Yalla, let’s get started 🙂

Identify the relevant security regulations and standards

Different industries have different security regulations and standards that they need to follow. Regulations are legally binding rules that are set by government agencies or other regulatory bodies (these rules are mandatory and enforceable by law). Standards, on the other hand, are voluntary guidelines that are developed by industry groups or other organizations. While they are not legally binding, they are widely recognized as best practices for a particular industry or area of focus.

For example, if you're in the healthcare industry and operate in the US, you'll need to follow HIPAA regulations, and will probably want to acquire a SOC 2 Type II Report. 

Bottom line: Do some research to find out which regulations and standards apply to your business. You don't want to be caught off guard when it comes to security regulations and standards. 

Conduct a risk assessment and implement security controls in accordance

Yes, we know, risk assessments sound like a snooze fest. But think of it like a check-up for your business’ health - you get to uncover potential security risks to your business. Once you've identified potential risks, you can start to figure out how to protect against them and plan your steps in accordance. Security controls are specific measures you can take to protect your business, and can include things like using strong passwords, encrypting sensitive data and limiting access to confidential information.

Let’s take for example, the onboarding process at your business. Do new employees go through basic security training? Do they Know how they are supposed to act and what to avoid in order to minimize security risks? 

Bottom line: Start sitting with people from different teams in the company, like HR, IT, R&D, on key processes in order to detect security risks. Assist in industry standard metrics and join forces in order to come up with solutions or mitigation plans. There are many different security controls you can use, so it's important to choose the ones that make the most sense for your business.

Train employees on security awareness

Your employees are often the first line of defense against security risks. That's why it's important to train them on how to recognize and respond to potential security threats. 

For example, how to identify phishing emails, not clicking on suspicious links, how to set secure passwords, what is the meaning of a data breach.

Bottom line: The training doesn’t need to be fancy or extravagant, it needs to be simple, straight-forward and contain few basic guidelines that will help your employees navigate securely in their day-to-day work.    

Few final words for conclusion 

Security compliance isn't a one-time-thing - it's an ongoing process. That's why it's important to regularly monitor and review your security compliance. This could include things like regular security audits or reviewing your security controls and plan on constant intervals to make sure it's up to date.

Having said that, neither Rome or monday.com was built in a day 🙂 Start with a few basic steps, and expand gradually as time, budget, maturity level and other factors will enable you.   

We hope that in this short post we have demonstrated that keeping your business safe and secure doesn't have to be a drag. By following these steps, you can turn security compliance into a fun and exciting adventure. Now go out there and save the day!