UNDERSTANDING GRC

The Hackers Meetup
4 min readSep 11, 2024

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What is GRC?

G- Governance
R- Risk Management
C- Compliance

Governance, risk and compliance (GRC) is an organizational strategy to manage governance and risks while maintaining compliance with industry and government policies.

GRC refers to a framework that provides a structured approach to aligning IT with business objectives. It is used by companies and organizations to ensure that they are operating in a legal, ethical, and efficient manner. It involves identifying threats and mitigating risks, complying with rules and regulations, and establishing policies or procedures to guide decision-making behavior.

Components of GRC in detail:

  • GOVERNANCE: Basically, Governance is the set of rules, policies, and standards that ensure a corporate organization’s activities are aligned to support business goals. It comprises of ethics, resource management, accountability, and management controls. It also provides controls over facilities and infrastructure.
  • RISK MANAGEMENT: It is the process of identifying, mitigating and controlling legal, strategic, financial as well security risks and threats of an organization. It helps in monitor, minimize, and control the negative impacts of an event while maximising the positive events. It also deals with IT threats like software vulnerabilities, data safety etc.
  • COMPLIANCE: It deals with sticking to the rules, policies and standards of a corporate company. Non-compliance may cost an organization in ways like poor performance, fines, penalties and lawsuits. It can help organization in maintaining transparency, and integrity of the corporate to its stakeholders.

Now, governance, risk management, and compliance are three related but very distinct concepts. Let’s see the differences:

  1. Governance:
  • It focuses on the overall direction and negligence of an organization.
  • It involves setting policies, procedures, and standards for the mission, vision and morals of the businesses.
  • It is concerned with strategic decision-making and leadership.

2. Risk Management:

  • It helps in identifying and mitigating potential risks that could impact the organization.
  • Focuses on minimizing threats and maximizing opportunities.
  • Involves risk assessment, mitigation strategies, and monitoring along with securing the organization’s assets and reputation.

3. Compliance:

  • Ensures that the organization is adhering to relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards.
  • Focuses on avoiding legal or regulatory sanctions.
  • Involves monitoring, reporting, and auditing to maintain ethical behavior and transparency.

Exemplary understanding of compliance:

There are so many government and non-government standardization companies, leading companies include ISO, NIST, HIPPA etc.

ISO:

ISO stands for International Organization for Standardization. It is an organization that develops standards for businesses and consumers. ISO standards cover a wide range of topics, including quality management, environmental management, health and safety, and more.

Things to know about ISO compliance:

  • Compliance vs. certification: ISO compliance is the practice of following ISO standards, while ISO certification is the formal verification of compliance through an audit.
  • Benefits: ISO compliance can help organizations improve operations, enhance quality, and demonstrate commitment to international best practices.
  • How to become ISO compliant: To become ISO compliant, organizations can develop a management system, implement the system, verify its effectiveness, and then register it.
  • ISO standards: Some examples of ISO standards include ISO 9001 for quality management, ISO 27001 for information security, ISO 14001 for environmental management, and ISO 22301 for business continuity

NIST:

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a US government agency that develops technology, metrics, and standards for the technology and science industries.

NIST compliance is important for a number of reasons, including:

  • Protecting data and people: NIST compliance helps protect sensitive information and systems.
  • Meeting federal standards: NIST compliance can help organizations conform to standards within the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA).
  • Managing security risks: NIST compliance is a key strategy for managing security risks.
  • Winning government contracts: Contractors who work with the federal government and have a history of NIST non-compliance may be excluded from future government contracts.

One step that organizations can take to become NIST compliant is to create a system inventory. This involves documenting all current information systems, including hardware, software, and network resources.

Implementing GRC strategies:

GRC implementation needs smooth coordination of planning, processing and technology. The important steps include:

  • Establish clear goals and build a GRC framework
  • Identify current operational shortfalls.
  • Get buy-in at the top.
  • Get buy-in across the organization.
  • Set clear roles and responsibilities.
  • Use GRC software.
  • GRC framework testing.

Written By: NANDNI JOSHI

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The Hackers Meetup
The Hackers Meetup

Written by The Hackers Meetup

Initiative of @viralparmarhack to provide a proper platform for cyber security researchers & like-minded people to establish a community.

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