Why managing your Cybersecurity Compliance with spreadsheets is not an option anymore.
I know it, you know it. Cyber professionals in small/medium businesses have it tough.
How can they split their time managing compliance with Cybersecurity standards and regulations such as APRA CPS 234, ISO 27001 or the Essential 8, while at the same time working to mature the security profile of their organisations?
And to add to it, how can they efficiently keep track of cybersecurity compliance through multiple spreadsheets with different versions and contributors, especially when preparing for audits and reporting?
Sure, Cybersecurity software solutions exist, but many are expensive and demand a level of expertise, investment, and a learning curve that most of these businesses can’t afford.
With major breaches happening in Australia and globally on a daily basis, we know that cybersecurity maturity, governance and compliance has become a hot topic in board meetings and will only become more relevant in the future.
But there’s one problem: the “legacy” way of managing Cybersecurity compliance using spreadsheets no longer meets the needs of today’s cyber teams.
Let me explain why, and how Cybereen fixes that.
Why Spreadsheets Fall Short in managing Cybersecurity compliance: Time and Risk
At first glance, managing Cybersecurity with spreadsheets might seem like a practical, accessible, and intuitive solution.
However, regulated organisations face time-consuming, inconsistent, and risky processes when relying on them. These issues can include
- Scattered information in mailboxes, shared drives, and online collaboration tools. Relevant information and evidence necessary to identify security gaps and provide evidence of compliance are not centralised;
- Repeated evidence collection for each security assessment or audit. This can lead to Cyber teams asking similar questions over and over again, not to mention numerous stakeholder meetings and follow-ups to address the same issues;
- Time-consuming and error-prone manual report generation for board reporting and budgeting.
Putting a dollar value to spreadsheet-based Cybersecurity compliance
According to recent research by Seek the average annual salary for an Information Security Analyst role in Australia $110,000 AUD per year (or $56 per hour).
Let’s consider this: if a security professional spends ten hours per week managing compliance with spreadsheets (which includes updating the spreadsheet, chasing up stakeholders, attending meetings and gathering evidence), that’s over AUD $24,500 per year! And that doesn’t even account for the time spent by business and IT stakeholders, which would make this number significantly higher. Plus, that’s more than 400 hours that the security professional could better spend improving the security of your organisation.
Using spreadsheets also comes with risks, since they weren’t built to:
- Maintain a chain of evidence for maturity evaluations. Spreadsheets are single-user applications and, in most cases, don’t keep track of all people’s inputs. Therefore, you don’t know who did what, and how old the information therein is;
- Collaborate effectively with stakeholders to track accountability and responsibilities;
- Securely store data, prevent file loss, and manage multiple file versions.
So, how does Cybereen fill the gaps?
Cybereen offers a comprehensive approach to Cybersecurity management that goes beyond spreadsheets.
We believe that achieving a robust security profile shouldn’t depend on subjective perceptions or the experience of a security consultant. That’s why we developed our platform from the ground up to provide objective guidance that delivers real and comparable results.
Let me explain how it works:
Time
Time is a valuable asset, and Cybereen understands this by providing you with an intuitive, self-explanatory assessment that centralises information and streamlines collaboration.
To get started, you simply assign requirements and mandates (based on industry standards) to their respective stakeholders, who then rate the company’s current maturity levels based on standardised criteria provided by Cybereen. The platform enables them to attach evidence documents that validate your maturity levels.
Cybereen’s spider chart scorecards clearly highlight areas requiring attention, eliminating the need for manual data interpretation. With our platform, you can quickly and easily identify areas for improvement and take action to enhance your security posture and drive your budgeting.
And by mapping relevant industry standards, Cybereen takes the hassle out of compliance allowing you to answer once and comply with multiple cybersecurity compliance standards simultaneously. (e.g. ISO 27001 Annex A controls to NIST CSF or APRA CPS 234), so in case your organisation needs to demonstrate compliance across different standards, all responses and documentary evidence can be reused, so there’s no need to ask the same question again, and keep track of different documentary evidence.
Auditors can access read-only data, reducing reliance on internal resources. Additionally, Cybereen generates visual and detailed reports automatically, saving you time and effort.
Risk
With Cybereen, you can assign accountability and responsibility for each control. The platform’s audit trail documents changes, comments, and evidence upload. Your data is securely stored and independently pen-tested for added security.
Cybereen allows you to become more cyber-resilient and compliant in less time. Cybereen doesn’t just help you achieve compliance; it empowers security, risk, and compliance teams to improve company cybersecurity maturity and identify critical security weaknesses.
Even for no techie staff with limited cyber experience or resources, Cybereen provides guidance on what’s expected in each maturity level so you can better reflect your current status, and what needs to be done to move up the maturity ladder.
By using Cybereen, your team can significantly reduce time spent on audits, reporting, and Cybersecurity management, enabling them to focus on creating a more resilient organisation.
And best of all, Cybereen is available at a fraction of the cost of its competitors.
Don’t just take our word for it.
I invite you all to Book a demo and put Cybereen to the test!