1. The Context
Security and compliance risk isn’t just an IT concern; it’s a business-critical issue that can make or break an enterprise. With evolving cyber threats and increasingly stringent regulatory requirements, organizations today must navigate a complex landscape of cybersecurity best practices, enterprise security compliance and the organization's business needs.
From protecting sensitive data to ensuring operational resilience, enterprises must adhere to regulations like NIS2, GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2. These regulations dictate how organizations should handle security risks, data privacy, and operational integrity.
This guide is tailored for CISOs, IT leaders, security teams, and compliance officers needing a strategic security and compliance risk management approach. We’ll cover key risks, compliance frameworks, risk mitigation strategies, and emerging trends shaping enterprise security in 2025 and beyond.
2. Security and Compliance Risk - What “Exactly” Are We Talking About
Before we dig in, let's just define a couple of key terms to make sure we’re all on the same page.
What is Security Risk?
Security risk refers to potential threats to an organization’s digital assets, operations, and reputation. These threats range from external cyberattacks to internal vulnerabilities, but in most cases, we are looking at:
- Data breaches: Unauthorized access to sensitive company or customer data
- Ransomware attacks: Cybercriminals encrypt critical data and demand a ransom
- Insider threats: Employees or contractors misusing access to steal or expose data
Real-World Impacts of Cyber Risk
When we say risk, it takes many forms: risk of data leakage, risk to business continuity, reputational risk and the list goes on. Here are two prominent examples to illustrate what we mean.
- Capital One Data Breach: In 2019, Capital One suffered a major data breach affecting over 100 million customers due to a misconfigured firewall, which allowed a disgruntled former AWS employee to exploit a vulnerability and access sensitive data. The breach exposed personal information, including names, addresses, and credit scores. As a result of the breach, Capital One faced reputational damage, lawsuits, and an $80 million fine from U.S. regulators.
- Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Attack: In 2021, a ransomware attack carried out by the hacker group DarkSide disrupted fuel supply chains across the Eastern U.S. and forced the Colonial Pipeline Company to shut down its pipeline operations. The attackers gained access through a compromised VPN password and demanded a ransom, which Colonial paid - nearly $4.4 million in Bitcoin, some of which was later recovered by the FBI. The incident exposed vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure, led to widespread fuel shortages and panic buying, and spurred federal efforts to strengthen cybersecurity in the energy sector.
What is Compliance Risk?
What is compliance, and how can it be a risk? Compliance risk arises when enterprises fail to meet legal, regulatory, or industry-specific security, privacy or other requirements. Failing to fulfill compliance obligations can lead to:
- Hefty fines (e.g., GDPR penalties reaching millions of euros)
- Legal consequences (e.g., lawsuits for data mishandling)
- Reputation damage (loss of customer trust)
The Cost of Compliance Failures - 2 Real-World Examples:
- British Airways GDPR Fine (€22 million, 2020): Poor data protection led to a cyberattack compromising huge volumes of customer data
- Anthem Inc. HIPAA Violation ($16 million fine, 2018): A massive data breach exposed 78.8 million patient records
3. What You Need to Know about Security & Compliance Frameworks
NIS2 Cybersecurity
What is NIS2? The Network and Information Security Directive 2 (NIS2) is the EU’s enhanced cybersecurity framework for essential and digital service providers.
Key NIS2 requirements:
- Mandatory risk assessments and security controls
- Stronger incident response protocols
- Reporting obligations for cybersecurity incidents
Data Protection and Privacy Compliance Frameworks
Here are a few of the regional and industry-specific data security and privacy standards you may need to comply with, depending on your region and industry sector.
Global & Regional Privacy Regulations:
- GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) – An EU law that governs how personal data is collected, processed, and stored, granting individuals sweeping rights over their data.
- CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) – A US state law giving California residents control over their personal data, including the right to know, delete, and opt out of data sales.
- LGPD (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados) – Brazil’s data protection law, similar to GDPR, regulates personal data collection, processing, and sharing.
- PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) – Canada’s privacy law governing how businesses handle personal information in commercial activities.
- PDPA (Personal Data Protection Act) – Privacy laws in countries like Singapore and Thailand that regulate data collection, use, and disclosure.
Industry-Specific Data Protection Standards
- HIPAA (US): Protects healthcare information and mandates secure electronic health records.
- EHDS (Europe) – While GDPR covers health data, the European Health Data Space aims to establish a secure cross-border health data exchange system.
- HDS (France) – A certification for cloud and IT providers handling sensitive health data in France, ensuring GDPR-level security.
- PCI DSS (Global) – A standard ensuring secure handling of credit card data to prevent fraud and breaches.
- BSI C5 (Germany) – A cloud security framework used in Germany’s finance and insurance sectors.
- FERPA (US) - Law that protects the privacy of student education records.
- SOX (US) – A financial regulation requiring companies to secure financial data and prevent fraud.
4. How to Mitigate Security & Compliance Risks for Enterprise Collaboration Platforms
Now that we’re clear on what we’re talking about, let’s get into the specifics of mitigating security and compliance risks for collaboration platforms.
Carry Out Security & Compliance Audit
A robust audit framework is essential to detect vulnerabilities. Key steps include:
- Carry out risk assessments to identify threats
- Engage in third-party audits & penetration testing to evaluate security posture.
- Conduct a gap analysis to ensure compliance readiness
Best Practices for Collaboration Security and Compliance
Your teams collaborate, communicate, and share with partners and clients daily. That puts your collaboration platforms at the very center of any strategy to manage communication, sharing and collaboration risks. Here are four factors to put at the top of your risk mitigation checklist.
- Develop and implement a data governance and compliance framework (taking into account regional regulation, industry-specific standards and organization priorities.
- Provide up-to-date training and awareness programs for users.
- Select and deploy secure collaboration tools featuring:
- Zero-trust architecture to minimize inherent risks
- Encryption & Secure Communication: Implement MLS (Messaging Layer Security) and E2EE (End-to-End Encryption) to protect sensitive communications
- Identity & Access Management (IAM): To ensure that your system is only accessible to approved users
- Develop and implement a robust and compliant incident response and business continuity strategy
Continuous Improvement
Schedule regular security and compliance audit reviews to ensure continuous improvement and stay current with any new regulatory requirements.
5. What to Look Out for In 2025 - Emerging Trends in Security & Compliance
Data security and compliance is a fast-evolving field with high stakes and risks to those left behind. Here are a few trends to keep an eye on in 2025.
AI & Automation in Compliance Risk Management
AI-driven security tools are transforming compliance automation, helping organizations:
- Detect threats faster
- Automate compliance audits
- Predict vulnerabilities before they escalate
Post-Quantum Encryption
As quantum computing advances, post-quantum encryption is fast becoming essential to protect against future decryption threats.
New EU & US Regulations in 2025-2026
New standards like the EU Cyber Resilience Act, expected in 2026, the European Cybersecurity Certification Scheme for Cloud Services (EUCS), and US revision to the FedRAMP program will put new requirements to the table, including:
- Stronger penalties for data breaches
- More stringent cloud security mandates
- Expanded requirements for AI governance in cybersecurity
6. Conclusion & Next Steps
Security and compliance risk isn’t just a regulatory burden—it’s a strategic priority that ensures business continuity and customer trust.
Key Takeaways:
- Regular security audits and compliance assessments are non-negotiable.
- Encryption and zero-trust security models enhance compliance readiness.
- AI-driven cybersecurity tools streamline risk management.
- Secure collaboration platforms (like Wire) are crucial to minimize compliance risks.
Secure Collaboration: Next Steps for CISOs & IT Leaders
Here’s a quick and practical roadmap to make sure your collaboration software and your processes are aligned to strengthen your security and compliance posture in 2025:
- Run a Security & Compliance Audit: Evaluate your organization’s current risk exposure. Identify gaps using frameworks like NIS2
- Review Your Collaboration Tools: Audit whether your current tools support end-to-end encryption, zero-trust architecture, and compliance reporting
- Update Training & Awareness Programs: Employees are your first line of defense. Make sure they’re aware of best practices and phishing attack risks
- Prepare for 2025 Regulatory Shifts: Stay ahead of new EU/US regulations like the EU Cyber Resilience Act and upcoming FedRAMP revisions
- Book a Secure Collaboration Demo: See how Wire can help meet your compliance requirements while securing enterprise communications
Secure Your Collaboration With Wire
By integrating Wire as a pillar of your secure communications strategy, government, public sector organizations, and enterprises in highly regulated sectors can effectively mitigate risks associated with both infrastructure breaches and vulnerabilities in consumer-grade applications, ensuring that their data remains secure against emerging cyber threats.
