Mastering regulatory compliance with incident.io

The origin of incident.io goes back to our days building Monzo, a UK-based bank, where Stephen, Pete, and I first crossed paths. As a bank, compliance with numerous regulations was, unsurprisingly, a top priority.

When it came to incident management—something we were very involved in—this meant that every aspect of reporting, policy adherence, and root cause analysis (or "contributing factors," as we called it) had to be managed consistently and meticulously.

With this firsthand understanding of the challenges involved, we designed incident.io not only to be a powerful and delightful tool for engineers and technical leaders, but also to simplify the many aspects of compliance, making the process smoother and more efficient.

So, whether you're preparing for your first SOC2 audit, improving your GDPR incident reporting, or tackling the SEC Cyber Security Reporting guidelines, this post is for you.

Regulatory compliance in a nutshell

Whether it’s reduced downtime, enhanced resilience, or building customer trust, there are many reasons why organizations strive for excellence in incident management.

But beyond these often touted business benefits, there are also critical reasons why organizations must prioritize incident management—chief among them is regulatory compliance.

Broadly speaking, regulatory compliance can be described as the process of ensuring that you're adhering to the set of laws, regulations, and guidelines that are relevant to your industry.

And regulatory compliance is no laughing matter. The consequences of failing to comply can be severe, ranging from hefty financial penalties and fines for the organization to legal action taken against accountable executives.

This may all sound serious—and it is. Properly managing cybersecurity and availability incidents is essential for protecting both your business, the individuals that work there, and your customers too.

But whilst compliance is serious business, it doesn’t have to be overly complicated or burdensome—and incident.io can make the process far simpler.

The lowdown on incident-related regulatory compliance

There are hundreds of regulations, security standards, and other frameworks that make effective incident management more than just a “nice-to-have”—it’s a necessity. Here are a few key regulations you may have already encountered or need to tackle:

• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
  This requires organizations to implement policies and procedures to address security incidents, including identifying and responding to incidents, mitigating harmful effects, and documenting incidents and their outcomes.
• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)
  This mandates that organizations have an incident response plan, which includes processes for responding to incidents, reporting, and documenting the actions taken.
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
  Although a European regulation, GDPR impacts US companies processing EU residents' data. It requires organizations to report personal data breaches within 72 hours and document all incidents.
• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Regulations
  The SEC regulations mandate that publicly traded companies disclose “material cybersecurity” incidents, detailing the nature, scope, and impact of such incidents on their operations and financial condition
• The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA)
  One of the newer players, DORA focuses on ensuring that financial institutions can withstand, respond to, and recover from all types of ICT related disruptions and threats. You can read our overview of DORA here.

Suffice to say, there’s plenty more where these came from. The not-so-good news is that many organizations are subject to not just one, but many of these in parallel. This can mean a myriad of overlapping requirements to navigate, processes to operationalise and evidence to keep track of.

The good news is that a well-defined incident management programme can tick many of these boxes at once, meaning minimal effort to adhere to many standards with ease.

The commonalities in regulatory compliance requirements

When you look across the regulatory landscape, you’ll notice a lot of commonality. This makes intuitive sense, as these standards have broadly similar aims: to protect sensitive information, ensure business continuity, and mitigate risk for both organizations and the individuals they serve.

At the core, regulatory compliance frameworks are designed to ensure organizations are prepared for incidents, can respond swiftly and appropriately, and can continuously improve their processes based on past learnings. These shared goals result in overlapping requirements across different regulations.

To outline a few of these:

• The need for incident detection, identification, and reporting
  Most regulations require organizations to have mechanisms in place to detect security incidents early, identify their scope, and report them in a timely manner both internally and to relevant authorities.
  
• The need to have documented policies and procedures
  Every regulatory framework emphasizes the importance of documented procedures, not just for compliance but also for ensuring that responses to incidents are repeatable and systematic, rather than ad hoc.
  
• An ability to classify and handle incidents proportionately
  It’s essential to have a clear process for classifying incidents based on their severity, so organizations can allocate resources appropriately and respond proportionately depending on the level of risk involved.
  
• A need to track actions both during and after the incident
  Compliance standards often demand that organizations keep a detailed record of all actions taken during and after an incident, ensuring transparency and accountability throughout the incident lifecycle.
  
• External notifications
  Many regulations, like GDPR and SEC guidelines, require that certain types of incidents, particularly those involving personal data or significant operational impact, be reported to external bodies or affected individuals within specific timeframes.
  
• The need to evidence root cause analysis and document lessons learned
  Beyond resolving the immediate incident, compliance frameworks usually mandate that organizations conduct thorough root cause analyses and implement documented improvements to prevent future occurrences.
  
• Employee training and evidencing of preparation
  Organizations are also typically required to provide regular training to employees on how to identify and handle incidents, as well as maintain evidence of this training to show auditors they are continuously preparing their workforce for potential threats.

Making regulatory compliance easier with incident.io

Now comes the part where I tell you how we help—and I don’t feel bad about it, because we really do. Incident.io isn’t just software that makes regulatory compliance easier; it’s a platform people love using, and teams find immense value in. The fact that it helps you tick all the compliance boxes is just a bonus.

We’re not going to cover everything, but here’s a few ways in which incident.io can directly help in compliance.

Streamlining documentation and reporting

• Automated incident logging
  incident.io automatically logs all incident-related activities—from the moment an incident is declared, every action, communication, and decision is recorded in real-time. This ensures that no critical detail is missed, and you have a comprehensive record to show what happened, how it was handled, and what steps were taken to resolve it. Whether it’s happening in Slack, Microsoft Teams or on a Zoom call, we’re keeping a record of it all.
• Comprehensive reporting
  The platform generates detailed incident reports that can be accessed and shared at any time, making it easy to pull up relevant information during audits or reviews. These reports include timelines, actions taken, root cause analysis, and post-incident follow-ups, giving you everything you need to demonstrate compliance with regulations like GDPR, DORA, and PCI DSS.

Enhancing communication and collaboration

• Real-time notifications
  incident.io enables real-time notifications to keep all stakeholders—internal teams and external regulators alike—informed of an incident’s status. Whether it's a compliance officer needing an update or an external authority requiring notification, the platform ensures everyone receives timely updates in line with regulatory requirements.
• Collaboration in Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom and more
  incident.io’s collaborative platform brings together engineers, compliance teams, and other stakeholders into a single workspace, ensuring that everyone has visibility and can contribute to the resolution process. This not only speeds up incident resolution but also ensures that all required documentation, comments, and actions are recorded centrally for future reference.

Flexibility to meet different regulatory standards

• Customizable templates
  incident.io provides customizable incident management templates that can be tailored to fit the specific requirements of various regulatory frameworks. Whether you need to adhere to HIPAA, SOC2, or DORA, these templates ensure that your incident response process is structured according to relevant guidelines.
• Audit trails
  The platform maintains an audit trail of every action taken during an incident, from detection through to resolution. This complete history ensures you can easily verify compliance during regulatory inspections, with a clear chain of evidence showing that your organization has followed the required processes.

In short, we’re helping organizations meet stringent regulatory requirements without burdening teams with manual, repetitive tasks—saving time, reducing errors, and ensuring peace of mind when it comes to compliance.

Regulatory compliance can be a complex and daunting task, especially when dealing with overlapping requirements across multiple frameworks like GDPR, SOC2, DORA, and more. But as we've explored, the right product solution can make all the difference.

Ready to take the complexity out of regulatory compliance? Explore incident.io and see how it can transform your compliance processes. Sign up for a demo or start a free trial today to see it for yourself.