• Discuss the importance of collaboration and policy compliance across business areas
• How can penetration testing be used to help ensure compliance? Explain
• Define the vulnerability window and information security gap. Explain

 

1.). Collaboration is the act of working together with somebody else or organizations to accomplish a specific objective or task.

One of the significant factors contributing to any business's success is whether or not employees can work together as a team to achieve the set organization's goals. Collaboration among employees in the work area motivates creativity in the office, resulting in improved productivity and fostering strong employee relationships. 

Employees are quicker and more effective in completing projects or tasks when they work in a team rather than working alone. Collaborating also enhances responsibility amongst the employees, which goes a long way to increasing their motivation levels. Team members are able to come together on the same platform and work towards accomplishing a common objective by brainstorming, thinking, and providing different perspectives to deliver solutions that are beneficial to the business. Through effective collaboration, the company can develop effective policies that support compliance with the required laws and regulations, which is essential to business operations.

Policy compliance refers to a business's set goal to motivate and accomplish conformity to a rule by its employees or members regarding the company's policies.

One of the major importance of policy compliance is that it minimizes business risks to penalties, fines, lawsuits, business shutdowns. Failure to comply with set rules and regulations can expose the business to serious law enforcement issues. Policy compliance ensures that the business meets its legal obligations. It offers improved operations and safety since adhering to some rules and regulations prevent injuries, harassment, and discrimination, leading to more productivity amongst the employees by creating a better working environment. It also establishes customer trust and brand loyalty to the business, helps define an organization, reduces unforced errors, and enhances consistency.

2.). Penetration testing refers to an authorized simulated attack on a system or network to discover vulnerabilities or threats in those systems which a malicious attacker may find and exploit, leading to data theft or damage.

Penetration testing is very valuable to a business's compliance with certain regulations. Through penetration testing, a business can detect weaknesses in the systems, identify gaps within the business, and verify system configurations' security. Therefore, it will ensure these security gaps are addressed and that all the systems have robust controls to prevent any attacks. It supports and ensures that compliance is met by supporting compliance with data privacy and security regulations such as HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and GDPR. Furthermore, some businesses are required to carry out periodic penetration testing so that they can monitor and resolve vulnerabilities detected in their systems.

3.). A vulnerability window refers to a time frame within which defensive measures are decreased or unavailable, creating an opportunity for malicious attackers to initiate an attack. It can also be defined as the time between an exploits discovery and its reinforcement or patch. The success of any exploit attack depends on the vulnerability window.

An information security gap refers to differences or barriers within an organization's current information security to the industry best practices or standards. Therefore, an organization must carry out a security gap analysis in order to check whether the company's security measures, policies, and procedures meet compliance requirements and industry standards.