This ebook from AuditBoard, authored by Alan Gouveia, explores how modern IT compliance teams can transition from reactive, point-in-time assessments to a proactive continuous control testing (CCT) model.
As organizations navigate a landscape filled with proliferating cybersecurity controls and complex, multi-framework environments, the author argues that building efficiency through automation is no longer optional but a business necessity.
The paper provides a comprehensive seven-step roadmap to guide organizations through this shift, starting with a deep dive into the industry landscape to understand legal and regulatory requirements. Once the regulatory baseline is established, the process moves into understanding stakeholders and organizational culture, ensuring that compliance is integrated from the top down and supported by business process owners.
The middle stages of the lifecycle emphasize grounding the program in robust, industry-standard frameworks like NIST or ISO and conducting rigorous risk assessments to quantify potential exposure. A central theme of the paper is the critical role of technology, noting that evidence-based research shows forward-thinking teams are increasingly leveraging AI and GRC solutions to automate repetitive manual tasks such as user access reviews and evidence collection. This technological optimization leads into the final stages of the cycle: tracking specific success metrics—such as time to remediate issues and the total cost per risk—and continuously reassessing the program as business objectives and benchmarks evolve.
Ultimately, the paper concludes that by automating common cyber control tests, organizations can improve their risk posture while significantly reducing the strain on their limited human resources.
