How can you ensure compliance and safety for yourself and your customers?
In an ever-changing landscape, managed service providers (MSPs) face the dual challenge of ensuring their own compliance while helping their customers meet stringent security standards.
The stakes are high: failing to comply with regulations such as RGPD, HIPAA, PCI-DSS or Europe’s NIS 2 directive can result in hefty fines, significant legal repercussions and a loss of customer trust.
This article explores how MSPs can leverage advanced security solutions, such as Privileged Access Management (PAM), digital safes and identity and access governance, to stay compliant and secure.
The crucial importance of regulatory compliance for MSPs
Understanding the regulatory landscape
Regulatory compliance is not just a box to tick, but an essential aspect of operational integrity and customer confidence. For MSPs, complying with regulations means implementing robust security measures that protect sensitive data and ensure traceability of access and actions within their IT environments, but also those of their customers. Frameworks such as ISO 27xxx and regulations such as Europe’s NIS 2 directive set the bar for cybersecurity, requiring comprehensive identity management, strong authentication and secure access measures.
The main regulations affecting MSPs
RGPD (General Data Protection Regulation): Affects any MSP processing EU citizens’ data. Requires strict data protection and breach notification processes.
NIS 2 Directive: Focuses on the security of networks and information systems across the EU. Compared with its predecessor, this new directive extends requirements to a wider range of sectors defined as highly critical or critical, including digital service providers.
Artificial Intelligence Act: implies robust security measures for AI systems, ensuring their resilience against errors, faults and unauthorized access attempts, and protecting interactions between AI systems, humans and other systems.
HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act): regulates health information security, essential for MSPs managing medical data.
PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard): Ensures secure management of credit card information, relevant for MSPs with B-to-C offers or targeting B-to-C customers.
IEC-62443: Deals with the security of industrial automation and control systems, emphasizing the need for secure access management to protect production environments.
The good news is that most of these requirements cut across all regulations, meaning that implementing comprehensive security measures can help MSPs comply with multiple regulatory frameworks simultaneously.
Privileged access management, secure remote access, safes, identity and access governance: how to leverage these solutions to increase your compliance
To meet these regulatory requirements, MSPs need to adopt advanced security solutions that encompass privilege access management, identity information vaults and identity and access governance. These tools not only ensure compliance, but also improve the overall security posture of MSPs and their customers.
Privileged Access Management (PAM)
Privileged Access Management (PAM) is essential for controlling and monitoring access to critical systems by users with elevated permissions. Mismanagement of these accounts can lead to significant security breaches. It can be combined with a Privilege Elevation and Delegation Management (PEDM) solution, which complements the PAM solution by allowing users to temporarily and securely elevate their permissions, thus ensuring that privileged access is granted only when necessary and under strict controls.
Key features of PAM and PEDM:- Session monitoring: Tracks the activities of privileged users in real time.
– Access controls: Ensures that only authorized users can access critical systems.
– Audit trails: Keeps detailed logs of all activities of accounts with privileged access for analysis and compliance purposes.
– Temporary elevation of privileges (PEDM): Enables secure, time-limited elevation of privileges, minimizing the risks associated with rights that are no longer legitimate.
Benefits of PAM and PEDM :
– Enhanced security: Protects against internal threats and external attacks, and ensures that privileged access is granted only when needed.
– Compliance: Helps meet regulatory requirements by providing detailed audit trails and controlling elevation of access.
– Operational efficiency: Reduces the risk of security incidents, while enabling critical tasks to be carried out efficiently with controlled access.
Secure remote access for greater compliance
For managed service providers (MSPs), securing remote access is not just a question of protecting data, but also of complying with the strict regulatory standards governing data security and confidentiality. As remote working becomes the norm, unsecured remote connections can expose critical systems to significant risks. Implementing secure remote access solutions is essential to enable MSPs to meet regulatory requirements while protecting their own networks and those of their customers.
Key features of secure remote access :
– End-to-end encryption: By encrypting all data in transit, this solution ensures that sensitive information remains protected from unauthorized interception, a crucial requirement for compliance with regulations such as RGPD and HIPAA.
– Multi-factor authentication (MFA): multi-factor authentication adds a mandatory layer of security by requiring multiple forms of verification before granting access. This is not only good practice, but also a regulatory requirement in many standards, ensuring that only “verified” users can access an organization’s critical systems.
– Session logging: The ability to record and store all remote sessions provides traceability of activities, a key compliance requirement that ensures accountability and transparency. This feature supports compliance with regulations requiring rigorous monitoring and notification of access to sensitive data.
– Granular access controls: Customizing access permissions according to user roles is essential for regulatory compliance. These controls ensure that individuals only access the data and systems required for their specific roles at any given time.
Benefits of secure remote access :
– Enhanced security and compliance: By preventing unauthorized access and protecting sensitive data, secure remote access helps MSPs comply with regulations requiring robust data protection measures.
– Regulatory compliance: Solution features such as session logging and dual authentication (MFA) are designed to meet specific regulatory requirements, making it easier for MSPs to comply with data security standards.
Identity safes
A corporate safe securely stores and manages sensitive identity information, ensuring that it is only accessible to authorized users. This secure storage is essential to comply with regulations imposing strict data protection measures.
Key features of enterprise safes :
– Secure storage: Protect sensitive identity-related data with robust encryption.
– Access management: Control who can view or modify stored data.
– Data retention policies: Ensures that identity-related data is retained for the required length of time, and deleted when no longer needed.
Benefits of enterprise safes :
– Data protection: Ensures that sensitive identity-related information is protected from unauthorized access.
– Regulatory compliance: Helps meet data storage and protection requirements.
– Audit readiness: Facilitates data recovery for compliance audits.
Identity as a Service (IDaaS)
Identity as a Service (IDaaS) provides a cloud-based solution for managing user identities and access rights. It guarantees them secure, transparent access to all the applications and services they need to do their jobs. This solutino is particularly beneficial for MSPs managing a diverse range of customers and environments.
Key features of IDaaS :
• Single Sign-On (SSO) : Allows users to access multiple applications with a single login and password.
– Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Adds an extra layer of security by requiring additional verification steps.
– User provisioning and deprovisioning: Automates the process of adding and removing users, ensuring timely and secure access.
– Federated identity management: Enables integration with other identity providers, guaranteeing secure access across organizational boundaries.
IDaaS benefits :
– Enhanced security: Reduces the risk of unauthorized access through strong authentication methods.
– Operational efficiency: Simplifies identity management, reducing the administrative burden on IT teams.
– Scalability: adapts to the growing needs of MSPs and their customers, supporting a wide range of applications and services.
Identity and access governance
Identity and access governance ensures that the right people have access to the right resources within an organization. It is essential for managing and mitigating the risks associated with access to sensitive information and systems.
Key identity and access governance features :
– Policy management: establish and enforce comprehensive access policies.
– Access certification: Regularly reviews and certifies access rights to ensure compliance with the organization’s security policies.
– User lifecycle management: Manages user identities from on-boarding to off-boarding, adjusting access rights as user roles change within the organization.
– Risk management: Identifies and mitigates risks associated with inappropriate access controls and potential security breaches.
– Audit and reporting: Provides detailed logs and reports on network activities and application access, ensuring transparency and accountability.
Identity and access governance benefits :
– Improved compliance: Ensures that access policies comply with regulatory requirements, reducing the risk of sanctions.
– Enhanced security: Reduces the risk of unauthorized access by regularly reviewing and certifying access rights.
– Operational efficiency: Automates access management processes, freeing up resources and reducing the administrative burden on IT or OT teams.
Helping customers achieve the right level of compliance
MSPs have a unique opportunity not only to ensure their own compliance, but also to help their customers accelerate theirs. By integrating advanced security solutions into their service portfolio, MSPs can offer comprehensive compliance support to their customers, giving them peace of mind and a competitive edge.
Why is compliance important for your customers?
- Avoid fines and legal repercussions: Non-compliance can lead to significant fines and legal consequences, which can be financially devastating for businesses.
- Build trust: Demonstrating a commitment to safety through compliance builds trust with customers and partners, improving business relationships.
- Stay competitive: In a market where adherence to regulations is paramount, being compliant can be a significant differentiating factor.
Conclusion: Partnership for compliance and safety
Partnering with WALLIX for improved compliance, enhanced security and adiditional revenues.
As MSPs navigate the complexities of regulatory compliance, leveraging advanced security solutions such as privilege access management, identity information vaults and identity and access governance is essential. These tools not only help MSPs meet their own compliance requirements, but also enable them to offer advanced security services to their customers.
WALLIX’s potential as a strategic partner lies in its ability to deploy secure architectures capable of withstanding not only cyber threats, but also unforeseen events, ensuring the resilience of critical systems. With its extensive portfolio, WALLIX covers almost all essential security aspects required by numerous standards, guaranteeing the protection and reliability of critical systems. In addition, WALLIX is ready to help managed service operators meet future compliance requirements, such as the forthcoming AI Act, by offering tailored solutions and consulting expertise.
The WALLIX solution suite, including Privileged Access Management (PAM), Identity as a Service (IDaaS), and Privilege Elevation and Delegation Management (PEDM), provides a unified security strategy aligned with regulatory standards for access control, incident management and system integrity. What’s more, with its expertise in consulting and professional services, WALLIX can help MSPs conduct audits and prepare for future regulatory requirements.
For managed service operators looking to strengthen their security posture and ensure compliance, partnering with a trusted provider like WALLIX can give them a competitive edge. WALLIX, with its comprehensive access management portfolio for all employees and privileged accounts, as well as its access governance solutions, is well positioned to support MSPs throughout their security journey, with deployment adapted to their own pace.
