Organizations can develop strong cybersecurity programs by following compliance regulations. The development and maintenance information security programs must adhere to compliance. Over the years, different regulations have been developed to address security issues.

Cyber actors are constantly innovating new security threats, malware trojans and programs to compromise organizational security. Emerging technologies also present unprecedented security risks. Crypto-jacking attacks have increased due to the rise in virtual currencies such as Bitcoins, Monero and Ethereum. This has edging out attacks such as ransomware attacks which have been prevalent for many years.

Organizations must understand cybersecurity’s current and future trends and how to protect themselves against emerging threats. The establishment of local and international regulatory bodies has been a key response to the need to create security standards that will allow companies to improve their security postures.

One common characteristic of compliance is the influence that evolving cybersecurity environments have on regulations, standards, and legislations. It is a challenge for many organizations to maintain acceptable compliance.

Current Compliance Regulations

Organizations can use compliance regulations to provide guidance on how to protect their data and IT systems and address privacy and security concerns. Compliance regulations help companies meet their obligations to prevent accidental breaches or attacks due to negligence or insufficient security measures.

Organizations are required to implement a range of security measures, including firewalls and adequate risk assessments. Data encryption technologies is also recommended. Employees must be trained on how to protect sensitive information.

Some regulations can be voluntary while others must be followed. Organizations should show that they understand the regulations and then implement them and maintain them. They must show evidence that they comply at all times.

The Benefits of Compliance Regulations

1. Opportunities for business: Compliance regulations are designed to help companies secure their systems and follow best practices to protect data. Businesses that comply fully with all laws are more attractive to potential customers.
2. Lower risk: Companies can reduce cyber threats by following the guidelines and recommendations in compliance regulations. These guidelines have been tested and are accepted worldwide.
3. Avoiding penalties and fines Most compliance regulations are mandatory and non-compliance can result in severe penalties. Organizations could be fined millions of dollars under some regulations, like the GDPR. Compliance protects businesses from fines and is a benefit for their finances.
4. Compliance regulations are a way to ensure that all businesses follow the same rules. As enterprises adopt the same security measures, compliance levels the field and can be assured adequate security.
5. Increased efficiency, improved economies of scale Compliance regulations were created to give businesses cost-effective and effective security measures. A business can implement effective security solutions at a fraction of the cost of a Fortune 100 company and still enjoy the same level protection.

• HIPAA

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), is a regulation that protects health data within organizations of all sizes. Healthcare institutions often interact with patients’ data every day, so organizations may collect and store their employees’ health data. The confidentiality of health information is very important and cannot be disclosed to unauthorised parties. Protective measures must be taken to ensure that it is safe.

Each organization must fully understand the requirements of HIPAA compliance regulations. HIPAA requires that businesses implement security awareness and training programs for employees. Staff must be trained to understand their security responsibilities in accessing sensitive information systems.

HIPAA also requires that companies develop and maintain processes to detect and prevent security violations. An organization must conduct regular risk assessments and risk analyses to determine security vulnerabilities within their systems in order to comply with HIPAA.

To ensure that information systems and infrastructures do not pose a risk, you should take steps to manage and reduce identified risks. HIPAA requires that organizations create sanctions policies to deal with employees who are not in compliance.

• FISMA

Federal Information Systems Management Act (FISMA), was created to allow federal agencies to protect their information systems. This regulation applies to all contractors and partners who do business with federal agencies.

FISMA regulation aims to allow federal agencies to create awareness and security training programs. These training programs are designed to make sure that everyone who interacts with federal information systems is aware of security guidelines and practices. FISMA requires that personnel working in federal agencies and with them, i.e. contractors, business partners, must participate in training programs to learn the underlying security procedures and guidelines.

Accessing federal information systems or information about information must be verified that the personnel have successfully completed the training course. They must also be able to apply the best practices and put into practice the skills acquired to protect federal information.

• PCI-DSS

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is a regulation that applies to credit card companies. This compliance standard gives businesses security guidelines that they can use to protect financial information of customers.

Businesses that issue credit cards require their owners to enter sensitive information on online platforms like eCommerce websites. Cybercriminals could compromise these platforms and gain access to sensitive information. Organizations that are PCI-DSS-compliant must implement all security measures to protect client information.

The standard requires that firewalls be installed and configured to protect cardholder data. PCI-DSS provides guidance to organizations on how they can reset default security parameters and passwords for vendor-supplied systems. This is done to make sure that new passwords are difficult to crack and that security parameters are set to meet security requirements of the organization.

Organizations are also required to implement security measures for protecting card information transmitted over insecure and public networks under the PCI-DSS regulations. A number of other requirements are to adopt access control strategies to limit unauthorized access to card data and to regularly test the security of systems, processes and systems.

• GDPR

Since its implementation in 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), has been immensely popular. This regulation requires that organizations implement adequate security protocols to protect personally identifiable information of individuals living in European Union countries.

The GDPR provision applies worldwide to any organization that processes data of EU citizens. Non-compliance can result in heavy fines. Many organizations have been forced to comply with the regulation. Insufficient security measures can lead to data breaches that result in the disclosure or loss of personal identifiable information. Companies could also be fined. Google was fined EUR44 Million for using user data to promote ad campaigns. ^[1]

GDPR mandates companies to inform data owners about any intention to use their data for any purpose. Or risk heavy fines, an organization must get the consent of the data owner. GDPR also encourages companies to establish and maintain security mechanisms for personal data. These include access control, encryption, password protection and access control. Other requirements are included in the regulation to improve data security.

• NIST 800-53

NIST publication 800-53 (National Institute of Standards and Technology), provides guidelines to federal agencies for protecting their information systems. The same guidelines are used by private companies to strengthen their cyber defenses. NIST 800-53 provides guidelines for federal agencies and contractors to follow in order to comply with FISMA compliance regulations.

These guidelines include a variety of controls that can be used to help develop secure information systems that are resilient against cyber-attacks. The proposed measures include technical, operational, and management safeguards that, when applied, can protect the confidentiality and integrity of information.

NIST 800-53 also provides security guidelines that are based on security control baseline concepts. This concept is used to identify controls that meet an organization’s security needs. These baselines are used by federal agencies and private organisations to identify controls that meet the security needs of an organization. They also take into account common threats to information systems and organizational functions.

NIST regulations also provide a process that an organization can use for identifying security controls that meet their information system’s requirements. The compliance regulation recommends security controls such as access control, awareness, training, audit, accountability, configuration management and contingency planning.

Balancing Compliance Regulations, and Cybersecurity

Security is a key component of compliance regulations. Many businesses, however, have spent too much time and resources on complying with regulations like the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). This has led to many companies not focusing on security guidelines. Worse, regulations tend to become obsolete quickly. Organizations will continue to struggle with compliance with new regulations and standards.

Important to remember that cybercriminals can access the regulations. Cybercriminals will find a way around the regulations to undermine the security guidelines. Companies spend too much time and money on compliance regulations that have inherent vulnerabilities, rather than focusing on cyber defenses that are foolproof.

What can be done about compliance issues? Businesses have to invest in the most recent defensive trends to combat new threats and attacks. Businesses can make it difficult to comply with multiple regulations without taking care of cybersecurity defense. Companies should invest in technologies that are capable of balancing security and regulations.

Artificial intelligence is a great example of a solution that could be used to address this problem. Artificial intelligence systems can often be used to comprehend large amounts of information, such as those found in numerous regulatory compliances. This technology can be used to ensure compliance with new and existing regulations, depending on the company’s security requirements. AI can also be used to develop cybersecurity tools such as anti virus solutions, intelligent firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems. AI allows companies to kill two birds with the same stone. It also offers solutions to other problems. This includes reducing labor costs and ensuring strong cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity’s Future

Recent cyberattacks caused widespread destruction and large-scale damage. WannaCry was one of the most severe ransomware attacks ever. It affected many countries across the globe in 2017. The attack shut down major UK healthcare facilities for nearly a week, causing severe damage to the National Health. The NotPetya ransomware attacks followed during the same time. This incident caused huge losses and damages to power and energy companies in Ukraine as well as oil companies in Russia.

These attacks are a reason why governments and researchers continue to work towards developing better defense strategies in order to stay ahead. Although there are many working mitigations for rampant cybercrimes, the cyber threats environment will continue to change as new technologies emerge. These technologies will be used to combat cybercrimes as well as in the development of more sophisticated attacking patterns.

5G Network

Many countries are preparing to launch 5G network connectivity. The United States, South Korea and China are the top three. Huawei already has smart TVs available in China that are 5G-enabled. Although the network has many advantages, the majority of which depend on its superfast speed, 5G networks will pose the greatest cybersecurity challenges. 5G networks offer faster internet speeds and are designed to connect billions more devices each year into the future.

These devices will use the internet to run critical infrastructure applications and will have internet speeds at least 1000x faster than current internet speeds. The cyber threat landscape will be significantly altered by 5G networks. Most attacks today are financial motivated, but they don’t cause any real or physical damage to infrastructures.

Cyber-attacks could cause serious physical damage that could destabilize an economy or cause untold deaths. Even worse, cyber-attacks will occur at the same 5G speeds that are almost impossible to detect or prevent.

Cyber adversaries will be able to exploit vulnerabilities in 5G networks to launch attacks immediately. Although this is similar to current techniques, the key difference is that the entire enterprise, critical infrastructures, such as roads networks for autonomous and self driving vehicles, and all other infrastructures required to run smart cities will be connected. If successful, you can only imagine the destruction these attacks will cause. These attacks are happening right now.

In 2016, the Department of Homeland Security broke into the systems of a Boeing 787 passenger plane. The hacker used remote access to the plane, which was located in Atlantic City. A ransomware attack on the City of Baltimore also locked out more than 10000 employees. These attacks may not have caused any damage to the victims. However, if they had prevented 10000 self-driving vehicles from accessing critical infrastructure, that would not have been the case. They wouldn’t be able to communicate with one another and access navigational systems. This would result in massive accidents or traffic jams.

Future 5G networks will enable smart cities and infrastructure development. These networks will lead to the emergence of new interconnected critical systems on a large scale. This includes automated waste systems, driverless vehicles that are dependent on intelligent transport systems and automated emergency services. All of them will be interdependent.

These 5G-enabled solutions will be extremely connected but also highly vulnerable. Ransomware spread quickly during the WannaCry 2017 attack. It took many days to spread around the world. These networks can spread at the speed of light thanks to 5G networks. 5G networks will not only revolutionize the world, but could also drive cybercrimes into real-world situations.

Artificial Intelligence

It is imperative to develop real-time detection tools and preventive measures. This is especially true with 5G networks. The world needs to have a global cybersecurity and immunity system. Artificial intelligence technology is a critical component. Already, artificial intelligence is being used to develop and innovate cybersecurity solutions that are scalable and can be deployed at a speed that will ensure digital prosperity. AI-powered security solutions can be used to detect and respond to cyber-attacks. They also provide instant situational awareness and real-time mitigation measures.

Many reports today show that cybercriminals are exploiting new artificial intelligence security solutions. This presents new challenges for the development of effective solutions to global cyber threats. Artificial intelligence may be used by cyber criminals to carry out different crimes. This could allow them to bypass technical controls that have been in place for decades. Criminals could soon be able to create intelligent malware programs that can capture and exploit voice synthesis solutions in the financial sector. This will enable criminals to mimic human behavior stored in biometric data, allowing them to bypass existing authentication procedures for protecting individual bank accounts.

Artificial intelligence will likely result in new cyber-attacks and attack cycle types. These attacks will be targeted by malicious actors who will use means that are not expected to be used in industries across the division. Artificially intelligent attacks could be used by biotech companies to manipulate or steal DNA codes. They could also be used in the destabilization of unmanned vehicles and in healthcare systems. Smart ransomware programs are timed to run when the systems are most vulnerable. This will cause the greatest impact.

Biometric Security

Biometrics will be a key strategy for security in the fight against emerging cybersecurity trends. Biometrics play a key role in protecting devices such as smartphones and tablets, and for physical security, where fingerprint and iris scans can be used to protect classified and sensitive areas.

In the future, biometrics will be used to create next-generation authentication systems. These measures will require the acquisition of huge amounts of data about individuals and their activities. Voice recognition security, fingerprint and iris scans are not sufficient. Biometrics will also include details like body movements and walking styles. Cybercriminals will be able to target biometrics data of a new generation, however. Instead of focusing on data such as personal identifiable information (such as contact details or official names), attacks will be focused on acquiring biometrics security data.

What’s next? New Measures and Compliance Regulations

The main question now is: What’s the future for cybersecurity? It is important to remember that cybercriminals are executing low-risk, high-reward attacks with minimal or no attribution. Organizations have resorted to traditional solutions as they provide practical solutions. The cyber threat landscape will be significantly altered by emerging and transformative technologies in the next years.

To be able to protect yourself against cyber-attacks and threats of the future, we must first understand how cyber landscapes change and transform. This critical and urgent analysis is only possible through continuous research that yields evidence-backed results. It will take the combined expertise of security professionals, academic giants and policy makers to develop exceptional measures to curb future cybercrime.

As a result, new compliance regulations will be necessary in order to keep up with the evolving cybersecurity landscape. The new laws and regulations, as well as public demand and opinions from users and the public will all increase the responsibility to comply. The new requirements will continue to be a challenge for organizations, which will include communications, employees, tools and infrastructure.