Cybersecurity compliance is the process of evaluating and meeting applicable security standards and frameworks to protect sensitive data and demonstrate that an organization’s security controls are working as intended.
Key takeaways
- Cybersecurity compliance means meeting the requirements of a specific framework or standard—like SOC 2 or ISO 27001—to demonstrate your security controls are in place and functioning.
- The framework an organization chooses may depend on industry, customer base, and the type of data involved—and many organizations choose to comply with more than one standard or framework.
- Compliance is a moving target: what satisfies an auditor today may need to be revisited next year.
Regardless of the security framework or standard chosen by an organization, the goal is the same: demonstrate that security controls are real, documented, and working.
Major cybersecurity compliance frameworks
Many organizations choose to meet requirements from more than one framework. Here’s a quick reference for the ones that come up most often:
| Framework | Who it applies to | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Any company storing or processing customer data | Security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy | |
| Organizations of any size, globally | Information security management systems (ISMS) | |
|
NIST CSF |
US organizations (broadly adopted across sectors) | Identify, protect, detect, respond, recover |
| Contractors handling Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) in non-federal systems | 110 security requirements across 14 families | |
| Any organization accepting, processing, or storing credit card data | Cardholder data environment protection |
Not every organization needs every framework. An organization’s compliance program can depend on industry, the types of data handled, the customers served, and the relevant geographies. Many mid-market companies end up managing at least two or three chosen standards or frameworks simultaneously.
Frequently asked questions
What is cybersecurity compliance?
Cybersecurity compliance is the process of evaluating and meeting applicable security standards and frameworks to protect sensitive data and demonstrate that an organization’s security controls are working as intended.
How does Expel approach compliance?
Expel has been assessed or certified across nine major frameworks— ISO 27001:2022 with ISO 27701:2019 Extension, SOC 2 Type 2, GDPR Type 1 and NIST 800-171 Revision 2. Our SOC provides 24×7 coverage with response metrics that may map directly to the continuous monitoring requirements found in most major frameworks.
Can MDR help with cybersecurity compliance?
Yes. Managed detection and response (MDR) provides the continuous monitoring requirements that typically appear across frameworks like NIST CSF, SOC 2, and ISO 27001. An MDR provider also generates the response data—detection timestamps, containment actions, remediation timelines—that auditors typically request as evidence of control effectiveness.