A compliance journey: A step-by-step guide to navigating from risk assessment to breach identification 

Data privacy regulations have hit an inflection point

Over the past year, there has been a significant shift in the landscape of data privacy regulations. While there were already a significant number of privacy regulations in place before the beginning of 2022, the year 2023 is poised to bring even stricter regulations for companies that collect, store, and use personal data. Specifically, five new state regulations are set to be enforced, which will make data privacy requirements even more stringent than before. 

This tightening of data privacy regulations has come about as a result of increasing concerns about data breaches and online privacy. With data breaches becoming more frequent and sophisticated, it has become increasingly imperative to ensure that sensitive data is protected from unauthorized access or misuse. The new regulations aim to provide consumers with greater control over their personal information and how it is shared, as well as impose stricter penalties on companies that fail to comply with these regulations. Companies that operate in multiple states may find it challenging to navigate the patchwork of state-specific data privacy regulations, which can vary considerably in terms of scope and requirements. As such, it is crucial for companies to stay up-to-date with the latest regulations and implement appropriate measures to ensure that they remain compliant.

With that in mind, Qohash created a toolset to ensure compliance readiness for your organization! 

Data privacy strategy foundational elements

A robust data privacy strategy must have two essential elements in place: the creation of a sensitive data inventory and the ability to view risk profiles for employees. These two foundational elements serve as the backbone of an organization’s data protection policies, enabling the enforcement of sensitive data policies with real-time alerts.

By creating a comprehensive inventory of sensitive data, an organization can easily track and monitor the flow of this information throughout the company. This is critical to ensure that the data is handled in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. Additionally, by monitoring employee risk profiling, an organization can identify any potential threats or vulnerabilities that could compromise sensitive data.

By having a strong data privacy strategy that includes these two foundational elements, organizations can provide a high level of assurance to customers and stakeholders that sensitive data is being protected. This can help to build trust with customers and improve the organization’s reputation. 

Drive compliance with Qohash

Sensitive data inventory

One of its key features is the sensitive data inventory, which allows businesses to track and monitor the flow of sensitive data throughout their organization. This is critical to ensure that data is being handled in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, and it is foundational to compliance.

Risk evolution report

Qohash’s sensitive data inventory is unique in that it looks across on-premises locations such as workstations and M365 cloud apps, making the process fast and easy. By having a clear map of all sensitive data and insight into data lineage, organizations can produce audit-ready reports quickly and easily, as required by regulations. 

24/7 employee risk profiling

Another key feature of Qohash is the ability to view risk profiles for employees and create a “watch list” of high-risk individuals. This feature is essential to identify any potential threats or vulnerabilities that could compromise sensitive data. The Qostodian platform monitors and cross-references two fundamental risk elements to an organization: employees and sensitive data elements. This goes beyond file-level tracking to track individual sensitive data elements, such as credit card and bank account numbers, allowing for a more comprehensive approach to data protection.

Policy enforcement 

In addition to its monitoring capabilities, Qohash also provides policy alert workflows that generate real-time alerts whenever users have risky interactions with sensitive data. This is essential for enforcing policies for protecting the confidentiality, security, and integrity of customer information, as required by regulations. By providing proof of enforcement of these policies, Qohash helps organizations drive compliance and avoid costly penalties and fines.

Incident investigation

In order to comply with regulations, companies must be able to quickly identify and report any breach of protected data, such as personally identifiable information (PII), to government agencies within a specified timeframe. This usually requires reporting within 24 to 72 hours of the incident. In the event of a breach, Qohash’s powerful reverse keyword search feature can be used to track the full data lineage of a specific data element. This includes identifying the exact location where the data was breached, as well as every touchpoint it encountered along the way. By having this level of visibility into data flow, organizations can quickly determine the extent of the breach and take appropriate action to minimize damage and prevent future incidents.