Staying compliant with continuously evolving regulations like HIPAA, PCI DSS, and GDPR is a formidable challenge for most organizations. As cyber threats become more sophisticated, companies need automated solutions to implement and prove compliance.
Cybersecurity compliance software provides centralized platforms to streamline audits, risk management, policies, reporting, and more. The right tools can save tremendous time and effort compared to managing compliance manually.
This comprehensive guide examines the key criteria for evaluating compliance software and profiles 12 top solutions on the market today. It also provides best practices for successful implementation and a look at the future of these indispensable platforms.
Why Cybersecurity Compliance Matters
Cybersecurity compliance refers to adhering to laws, regulations, and industry standards designed to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive data. It touches nearly every aspect of IT security.
Some of the most common compliance frameworks include:
- HIPAA: Safeguards health data privacy
- PCI DSS: Protects payment card information
- GDPR: Governs data protection for EU citizens
- NIST: Provides cybersecurity guidance for US federal agencies
- ISO 27001: Establishes information security standards
Without adequate compliance measures in place, organizations face substantial financial penalties, reputational damage, and increased cyber-attack risks.
However, implementing sufficient controls is far from straightforward. Companies struggle with:
Complex, overlapping regulations: It‘s not unusual to be subject to 4-5+ different compliance frameworks that each require hundreds of controls.
Ever-changing rules: New threats and vulnerabilities necessitate frequent guideline revisions. Keeping up is extremely difficult without automation.
Lack of internal expertise: Many companies lack specialized compliance and legal knowledge. Outsourcing to consultants can be prohibitively expensive over the long-term.
This is where purpose-built cybersecurity compliance software becomes invaluable.
Key Capabilities of Compliance Software
Cybersecurity compliance platforms offer similar core functionalities but can differ significantly in areas like supported frameworks, customizability, and scalability.
Here are the most important criteria to evaluate when selecting solutions:
Regulation Coverage
Relevant tools should cover all compliance frameworks your organization needs to adhere to. Common regulations supported include HIPAA, PCI DSS, GDPR, ISO 27001, NIST 800-53, CCPA, SOC 2, and more.
Automation
Mundane, repetitive compliance processes like evidence gathering, policy distribution, and questionnaire delivery should be automated as much as possible. This increases efficiency and reduces human error.
Risk Management
Robust risk analysis tools that identify your greatest vulnerabilities are extremely useful for prioritizing remediation efforts. Dashboards offering visibility into residual risk levels are also beneficial.
Scalability
As your business grows, your platform must easily scale up compliance procedures across expanding teams, sites, and IT infrastructure.
Customization
While pre-configured templates help accelerate implementation, the ability to customize questionnaires, reports, alerts, workflows, and other elements is important.
Cloud Security Posture
If relying on cloud infrastructure, choose solutions that integrate with AWS, Azure, Google Cloud etc. to continuously assess security configuration risks.
Reporting
Compliance software must generate detailed reports covering security policies, control statuses, audit trails, risk metrics, and roadmaps to satisfy assessors and leadership stakeholders.
Now let‘s look at 12 of the industry‘s top cybersecurity compliance software tools available today based on the above criteria.
SecureFrame
SecureFrame simplifies achieving continuous compliance for frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and HIPAA. Core capabilities include:
- 130+ predefined controls covering all critical industry regulations
- Automated evidence collection from over 50 systems
- Custom assessments and questionnaires
- Granular role-based access control (RBAC)
- Real-time control dashboards across all users and systems
- Risk analysis and trending based on identified gaps and deficiencies
- Robust reporting for audits and executive leadership
- API integrations with existing GRC tools
Secureframe is ideal for fast-growing startups and SMBs seeking an integrated platform to implement and manage all their compliance processes.
Strike Graph
Strike Graph consolidates multiple cybersecurity standards into a centralized platform, covering regulations such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR.
It focuses on automating repetitive manual processes through capabilities like:
- Bulk policy and procedure updates
- Automated control-to-requirement mapping
- Single control editing across multiple frameworks
- Bulk import of evidence files from network drives and SharePoint
- Intuitive search across all frameworks and requirements
These features accelerate compliance while reducing effort and potential for human error. Strike Graph also provides detailed gap assessments and clear roadmaps.
It suits mature enterprises with complex existing security policies seeking greater efficiency and oversight.
Sprinto
Sprinto is an audit-oriented Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) solution built to shepherd companies through major compliance initiatives like SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and GDPR.
It focuses heavily on automating assessment processes through features like:
- AI-powered smart nudges to assigned staff
- Automated evidence requests from identified systems
- Bulk uploading of compliance data
- Auto-generated risk heat maps
- Pre-built audit-ready reports
Sprinto also provides extensive consulting support. It‘s best suited to enterprise organizations undergoing initial implementation of major information security frameworks.
Totem
Totem excels at CMMC, NIST 800-171, and other cybersecurity regulations mandated by the US Department of Defense (DoD) for government contractors.
It consolidates necessary compliance processes like:
- CUI inventory management
- DFARS self-assessments
- System security plan building
- POA&M risk remediation
- Custom policy and procedure development
Totem offers fixed-fee packages tailored to individual contractor needs. Their compliance experts guide customers through interpreting complex DoD requirements and passing audits.
Hyperproof
Hyperproof takes an innovative approach to compliance by transforming manual efforts into trackable service tickets. Users create tasks like:
- Upload PCI DSS evidence
- Generate SOC2 report
- Review ISO 27001 access controls
This standardized system provides clarity around ownership, status, and priority across all compliance activities enterprise-wide.
Additional capabilities include:
- Unlimited custom frameworks
- 350+ pre-built controls
- Integrations with Jira, Quest, and more
- Flexible GRC workflows out of the box
- Powerful risk assessment functionality
With over 5,000 customers, Hyperproof is trusted by organizations spanning highly regulated industries like finance, healthcare, retail and technology.
ControlMap
ControlMap simplifies audit preparation by automatically pulling compliance evidence from connected systems. It ingests data like HR records, AWS security configurations, access logs, and more to generate reports mapping coverage to requirements for standards like SOC 2 and ISO 27001.
Benefits include:
- 30+ pre-configured integrations eliminating manual evidence collection
- Continuous validation of control compliance with dashboards to view gaps
- Bulk upload of external documentation from network drives and third-parties
- Multiple pre-defined assessment templates covering all major regulations
Used by enterprises like Exterro and RFPIO, ControlMap reduces audit effort by weeks through process automation.
Apptega
Apptega excels at PCI DSS compliance by consolidating relevant technical controls and assessment processes into one cloud-based platform.
It continuously monitors requirements like:
- Firewall, AV, and encryption configurations
- Access controls and password policies
- Data retention practices
- Privileged access
- Vulnerability scanning
Apptega generates real-time compliance reports mapped to PCI DSS standards and mandates. It also recommends security best practices tailored to your business.
With both SMB and enterprise plans available, Apptega is one of the most adopted PCI compliance tools.
CyberSaint
CyberSaint automates every phase of cyber risk management including assessment, mitigation, and reporting. It covers NIST, ISO 27001, PCI DSS plus over 20 other major regulations.
Core features include:
- Continuous controls validation across on-prem and cloud environments
- Custom risk registers and mitigation plans
- Multi-framework compliance mapping with gap identification
- Automated policy and procedure approval workflows
- Robust executive and board-level reporting
CyberSaint uses an innovative risk scoring methodology combining CVSS, FAIR, and DREAD frameworks. With over 50 out-of-the-box integrations, it‘s trusted by leading healthcare, defense, tech, and finance companies.
SecurityScorecard
SecurityScorecard helps enterprises monitor the cyber risk posture of 500+ types of third-party partners and vendors. It performs external black box assessments covering areas like:
- Malware infections
- Patch cadence
- Leakage of credentials
- Hacking database exposures
- Domain spoofing
The platform assigns an overall A-F risk grade per organization. Suites tailored to compliance teams also track adherence across frameworks like SOC2, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS.
Over 20,000 businesses rely on SecurityScorecard for continuous monitoring of supplier and ecosystem risk.
Clearwater
Clearwater delivers focused cybersecurity and compliance solutions exclusively for the healthcare sector. It holds deep expertise around regulations like HIPAA and HITECH.
Capabilities include:
- Medical device penetration testing
- PHI risk analysis
- HIPAA-specific policy and plan development
- Ongoing vulnerability monitoring
- Compliance program management
Clearwater also offers extensive consulting services to support healthcare providers with audit preparation, remediation, and training.
Databrackets
Databrackets excels at streamlining compliance for SMBs not yet subject to major regulations like HIPAA or PCI DSS but still needing to implement sound data practices.
It provides tools to:
- Build security policies and procedures
- Perform risk assessments
- Manage third-party vendors
- Develop incident response plans
- Deliver security awareness training
Databrackets focuses on affordability for budget-constrained small businesses. It also prepares them for future growth into enterprises requiring more stringent compliance.
Best Practices for Compliance Software Success
While the above platforms greatly simplify regulatory compliance, truly optimizing them requires adjustments to processes and culture:
Integrate into daily workflows: Embed compliance tasks like control validation into regular employee duties. Relying on separate audit prep sprints often fails.
Configure for your system landscape: Take time to accurately map approved enterprise software into the tools to feed key data sources automatically.
Prioritize risk-based remediation: Let dashboards guide which gaps represent the biggest vulnerabilities rather than tackling compliance checkboxes arbitrarily.
Provide adequate training: Invest in educating staff to ensure maximum adoption across the platforms. Without consistency in use, visibility will remain limited.
Perform ongoing audits: Conduct truncated quarterly audits mimicking true assessments rather than waiting for a single stressful year-end exam.
Successfully leveraging compliance software also requires asking for help when needed.
The Importance of Expert Guidance
Specialized compliance consulting firms and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) offer valuable services like:
Cloud configuration analysis: Inspector tools determine if your cloud resources (Office 365, G Suite, AWS, etc.) are configured according to best practices.
Gap assessments: Experts examine your controls and policies to identify shortcomings and risks across major industry regulations.
Compliance program design: Consulting on structuring holistic governance, risk, and compliance programs customized to your exact regulatory requirements.
Incident response retainers: Pre-negotiated fees ensuring swift legally approved data breach investigation and notification support in crisis scenarios.
Employee training: Interactive workshops strengthening internal compliance and security knowledge.
While leveraging software brings efficiency, human oversight ensures optimal baseline protections tailored to unique business needs.
The Future of Cybersecurity Compliance Software
Compliance software will continue evolving at a rapid pace to match both industry innovation and emerging cybercriminal threats:
Increased automation and AI capabilities will allow more continuous control monitoring and policy enforcement with less manual oversight.
More predictive data analytics will help companies better understand and model their regulatory risk levels based on advanced metrics.
Tighter platform integrations will enable real-time data sharing across traditionally siloed solutions for improved visibility.
Specialization for niche sectors will create tools fine-tuned to the unique risks and requirements facing industries like maritime, telecom, construction, and more.
Cohesive cyber risk quantification will become standardized asmlinking financial impact to security metrics and control failures.
The scope of disruption will mimic the profound affects CRM and business intelligence tools have had on digital transformation.
Conclusion
Implementing adequate cybersecurity controls across myriad IT systems and locations while staying compliant with multiple overlapping regulations is extremely challenging.
Purpose-built cybersecurity compliance software has become mission-critical to consolidating GRC policies, automating audits, managing risks, creating reports, and continually validating controls.
By leveraging these solutions, organizations can implement comprehensive world-class security programs previously only accessible to enterprises with massive budgets devoted to compliance staff.
Choosing solutions wisely based on key criteria like regulatory coverage, flexibility, and automation will ensure a maximum return on investment and significantly reduced audit stress.
Expert guidance also remains essential to customize platforms to unique business needs, identify unseen gaps not caught by any single tool, and provide tested incident response and communication procedures.
Cyber threats will never relent but combining skilled staff, trusted partners, and modern compliance software means outbreaks don‘t need to result in utter catastrophe.
There will always remain inherent risks in doing business but new innovations offer a clearer path to defensible security than ever before. Staying abreast of these developments is key to sustaining operations in our increasingly treacherous digital landscape.
