Cybersecurity Compliance and Security: The Necessity of Both in Manufacturing

[Ahmet Ö.]

## Compliance and Security in Cybersecurity: The Necessity of Both in Manufacturing

While compliance and security in cybersecurity are interconnected, they require different strategies. Ensuring both in the manufacturing sector can enhance operational resilience.

### The Difference Between Compliance and Security

Compliance refers to a company's adherence to industry, government, or contractual standards. For example, standards such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), System and Organization Controls (SOC), and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) are examples of compliance. However, beyond ensuring reliability and legal requirements, compliance does not directly guarantee strong cybersecurity.

On the other hand, security encompasses the comprehensive plan and measures an enterprise implements to protect itself against cyber threats. This includes components such as access controls, network monitoring, firewalls, and incident response.

### Where Compliance Falls Short in Security

Compliance helps organizations approach strong security but does not fully guarantee it. Compliance audits are typically conducted annually, and may be more frequent depending on company policies. While standards may be met during these audits, gaps can emerge during other periods of the year.

Furthermore, compliance regulations may not be industry or business-specific. Consequently, a company that adheres to standards may still fall victim to a cyber attack due to regulations that are not tailored to its threat environment or risk profile.

Compliance ensures the implementation of certain controls but does not continuously evaluate the effectiveness of these controls. This can create a porous security net in the company's cybersecurity.

### Strategies to Ensure Both

Ensuring security and compliance together is an approach that goes beyond merely meeting compliance standards.

- Implement Real-Time Monitoring: Compliance standards are control-based and audited once or twice a year. However, real-time monitoring ensures these standards operate at full capacity at all times. Relying solely on humans for this task can lead to "alert fatigue," so using AI-powered explainable models is beneficial.

- Ensure External Parties Adhere to Protocols: Employees and third parties are also critical lines of defense. Continuous training of personnel and auditing the security practices of third parties are of paramount importance.

- Develop Real-Time Interventions: While compliance reflects a specific moment, security is continuous. Human and digital tools must enable immediate intervention in breaches and monitoring of threats. Tools such as firewalls, identity and access management, and network and cloud monitoring should be utilized.

### Ensuring Both Compliance and Security in Cybersecurity

Compliance and security are interconnected concepts that require different strategies. While ensuring compliance is necessary, broader and continuous measures must be taken to be truly secure. This approach enhances the cyber resilience of manufacturing processes.