SARCASM WARNING!
What comes to your mind when you think about cybersecurity? High-stakes battles against shadowy hackers? On-the-edge episodes of staving off a real-time data breach? Maybe even the glamour of outsmarting the bad boys armed with their advanced tools and techniques? Get ready for this one, as all those exciting ideas come shattering down. Welcome to Governance, Risk, and Compliance, quite possibly the most boring cybersecurity section in the world. Now buckle up, and let’s jump into the exciting vacuum that is GRC.
What is GRC?
For the layperson, GRC stands for Governance, Risk, and Compliance—the holy trinity of paperwork, bureaucracy, and policy formulation. If you thought cybersecurity was all high-tech gadgets and adrenaline-pumping incidents, think again. GRC is here to remind you that, underpinning all the excitement of cyber battles, there is a mountain of regulation, risk assessment, and compliance checks that are done daily.
Governance: The Art of Policy Making
Governance Coming up first, governance. Imagine being locked away for hours and days as you write, revise, and comment on policy. Oh yes, policy. That would be the guidelines and rules, which must be adhered to absolutely by everyone within the organization. Exciting. Who doesn’t want to spend time arguing about proper data classification or password complexity requirements?
In the world of Governance, you have the privilege to interact with the crème de la crème of corporate life: auditors, legal advisors, and, if you’re fortunate, upper management. Your job? To ensure that all these stakeholders are happy with the rules and that these rules are documented in excruciating detail. Because nothing says “cybersecurity” like a 200-page policy document.
Risk: The Thrill of Predicting Doom
The next one in line is Risk Management. Well, that should be exciting because who does not love predicting a disaster and planning for it later? Just wait until you get down to the details. Risk management in GRC will have you identifying every possible risk to the organization, no matter how far-fetched they are. Then, you will get to assess these risks, rank them, and create mitigation plans.
Think about it. You’re spending your days considering: What if an employee accidentally clicks on a phishing email? How disastrous would it be if a server went down for 30 minutes? The excitement is palpable. You’ll create detailed risk matrices and conduct endless risk assessments. And don’t forget the joy of explaining to non-technical management why they need to invest in another security solution to mitigate a risk that probably won’t happen.
Compliance: The Joy of Following Rules
Finally, we get to Compliance. If you love being told what to do and ensuring everyone else follows suit, this is the field for you. Innumerable regulations, standards, and laws require compliance: PCI-DSS, GDPR, ISO, and NIST, among others. Each of these has its requirements—you need to ensure meticulous adherence and the handling of associated documentation.
Compliance ensures that everything at every step of the process, and every action of the organization is in line with these regulations. This involves regular audit checks and rechecking; countless hours—almost whole days—would be invested preparing for these audits, gathering evidence, and responding to questions from an auditor. Nothing can truly beat the race of checking off checkboxes, with every ‘T’ crossed and ‘I’ dotted.
The Glamour of GRC Tools
Of course, it would not be fair if there was a mention of GRC without discussing the tools employed. Put thoughts of advanced intrusion detection systems and robust threat intelligence platforms out of your head. GRC professionals work with spreadsheets, GRC software platforms, and documentation tools.
All the thrills of infinite Excel sheets, pivot tables, and reports that nobody’s ever going actually to read. Or, even better, utilizing one of the many specialized GRC software solutions to help track compliance status and risk levels. These tools are, after all, the backbone of GRC: to make tedious tasks at least slightly more manageable in nature but no less boring.
Why GRC is the best (Alert, contains sarcasm)
Now, that being said, why would anyone work in GRC? Obviously, it’s the best part of cybersecurity. Here’s why:
- Endless Meetings: If you love meetings, GRC is your paradise. You’ll spend hours in governance meetings, risk assessment workshops, and discussions around compliance. Who doesn’t like a good meeting?
- Paperwork Galore: If you are one of those persons who loves paperwork, then working in GRC will be your field of dreams. You will surely be able to write policies, fill up risk assessment forms, gather evidence of compliance, and so forth.
- Job Security: With new regulations sprouting by the day, GRC professionals are always in need. There is always a new compliance requirement to confront or a new risk to assess. Job security in GRC is matchless.
- Impress Your Friends: Imagine telling your friends that you spend your days making up governance policies and conducting compliance audits. They’ll be green with envy.
- The Thrill of Being Ignored: In GRC, you experience the joy of being the unsung hero. Your work is so integral to the organization that no one appreciates it until something goes wrong. The thrill of being constantly overlooked is exhilarating.
The Unseen Heroes
But all sarcasm aside, GRC professionals are the unsung heroes of cybersecurity. At first look, it is boring, but the work in GRC is highly fundamental. It provides the underpinning needed for organizations to operate under numerous regulations securely. This field ensures that risks are managed, policies are enforced, and compliance is maintained to enable the rest of the cybersecurity workforce to do their job. So the next time that you feel tempted to brush off GRC as the most boring field in cybersecurity. Hopefully, you will remember the critical role that it plays. And if ever you find yourself knee-deep in policy documents or risk assessments, just bask in the excitement of knowing that you’re holding the fort—one checkbox at a time.
