Regulatory Compliance
Build Compliance in Parallel with IT and Security
You don’t want to discover when your auditors arrive that your IT systems and processes need major projects to become compliant with critical regulatory standards.
With proper planning, you can build compliance into your IT and security systems as you go, instead of as an afterthought. IT leaders with experience in the full life-cycle of emerging life sciences know what’s coming and help you prepare in parallel.
Each industry has its own unique set of rules and regulations overseen by government agencies or industry governing bodies. They’re always evolving, impacting what companies must and cannot do. And they all depend heavily on IT, given the central importance of data privacy and integrity. KalioTek designs our managed services and project work with compliance in mind. Some of the compliance certifications and standards we have helped our customers prepare for:
- HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
- PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard)
- ISO 27K (International Standards Organization Information Security Management System)
- GLBA (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act)
- SOC2 (System and Organization Controls defined by the AICPA)
While there are many different approaches, they all have many fundamental requirements in common: establishing your policies, training your employees and securing your data.
Most compliance regimens don’t tell you what to do or how to do it. For example, HIPAA specifies that you must undergo a security risk assessment and create a remediation plan. It doesn’t give you a strategy or framework to accomplish that. It can be tempting to adopt a checklist mentality and make best case assumptions. This leaves you at risk in the event of a breach or audit.
KalioTek helps our customers build frameworks for many different security and compliance standards by first implementing the policies, procedures and technologies common to them all. We find this covers 80% of requirements you may face. Then we’ll help you build an ongoing security and compliance program tailored to your business that will give you confidence you are meeting this challenge responsibly.
Customers, business partners and investors, not to mention auditors and regulators, increasingly require assurances of compliance. When they do, you’ll be prepared and we’ll be there to assist you with their questions.
SOC2 compliance is more than writing policies and checking off boxes on a form. You’ll need specific IT/security systems and processes to be in place before an auditor arrives. You can read a lot about it and still not know exactly what to do. As a SOC2-compliant MSP, KalioTek’s team understands the goals of SOC2 and how to implement systems to get there quickly, while establishing a solid foundation for your company’s growth. We’re tuned to the needs of companies like yours.
SOC2 Type 1
A Type 1 certification is an audit of your compliance at a moment in time, your first milestone. In this phase, you’ll establish the required systems, policies, and processes. Systems typically needed for compliance include: compliance tracking, security awareness training, endpoint security, endpoint management, an IT request portal, ticketing, onboarding and offboarding automation, password management, IT asset tracking, and IT vendor management.
Your auditor will have many detailed IT questions. KalioTek will work with the auditor to provide all the necessary information and adjust systems and processes as required. We’ll review the audit report from an IT perspective. To prove you are compliant over time, which is your customers primary interest, you’ll need to go on to Type 2.
SOC2 Type 2
Your first Type 2 certification typically takes place a few months after you achieve Type 1, then annually. In this audit you are required to provide evidence that the policies and processes you established are being followed, and that you’ve updated them to address any changes in the business. The auditor will ask to see specific records demonstrating your compliance, such as a record of how a random new employee’s IT was set up, how a terminated employee’s access was disabled, or show evidence of successful backups and vulnerability tests. Records must be kept of the production change control process and any security incidents.
KalioTek supports your ongoing compliance by managing the IT-related systems and processes for you, while updating them continuously to reflect your evolving business. We’ll then assist you in preparing for audits, answering any IT-related questions, providing technical evidence, and making any modifications as required.