Key Takeaways from Season 5 of The Tea on Cybersecurity

[00:00:00] Jara Rowe: The consensus from our experts was clear: we must move from a static audit centric view and become more holistic, more proactive, and create a really sound risk-aware strategy. ​ 

[00:00:37] Jara Rowe: We are at the end of season five of the Tea on Cybersecurity. And on this season we focused on really diving into and spilling the tea on different myths and misconceptions in cybersecurity and compliance. And I brought the experts along to give us those receipts. So on this episode, I’m gonna give you the ultimate takeaway that I got from the experts on this season.

[00:01:01] Jara Rowe: I have this broken down into the three main sections. One, we’re gonna break down the misconceptions of compliance. Two, we’re really going to get into how things need to continue to be continuous. And three, we are going to future proof our security.

[00:01:22] Jara Rowe: So first up, let’s break down some of these compliance myths. A question I’ve really been coming across a lot is, can I get SOC two certified in two months? And Marie broke it down for us and really laid it out plain and simple, that that is more than likely just a sales pitch. 

[00:01:42] Jara Rowe: There are a lot of moving factors when it comes to this. Are we talking about SOC two type one or SOC two? Type two. When it, we think about two months. It’s possible with SOC two type one because it’s really a snap in time. SOC two type two looks at your controls and everything over a much longer timeframe, 

[00:02:05] Jara Rowe: When it comes down to it though, the real tea here is that if you wanna be strategic and as stress free as possible, you need to budget about six months to a year to really get your SOC two certification.

[00:02:21] Jara Rowe: Okay, so let’s continue to break down some of these compliance myths. So we talked a bit about, the use of compliance automation tools or GRC tools. And 

[00:02:32] Jara Rowe: Kaitlin did let me know that when it comes to these automation tools, they do a great job at collecting your evidence, but they may not know all of the nuances of your business or how to really. Pass the information along to like an auditor. And so that’s where an expert can come in. So the T here is automation tools really need that human expertise.

[00:02:58] Jara Rowe: It will help with scoping your environment, making sure you are writing tailored policies, and most importantly, defend and explain your evidence during actual audit. Compliance tools are our friends, but for most companies, especially those small businesses, it’s not the end all be all.

[00:03:19] Jara Rowe: So let’s get into the next section, which is all about keeping things continuous.

[00:03:25] Jara Rowe: The major takeaway that I got from here is that once you’re certified, you’re not done. It is a major accomplishment and it should be celebrated because it takes a lot of time and effort to get these compliance frameworks and certifications down pat However, it is a continuous commitment and it’s not a one-time event.

[00:03:46] Jara Rowe: this continuous work is essential because frameworks and regulations are constantly changing. Just because something was set a certain way, once you were audited previously, they may have changed some things.

[00:03:59] Jara Rowe: So you have to tweak your controls and policies and things like that. So if you’re only treating this as like a once-a-year Commitment, you may end up coming into some issues when it’s time for that audit. So if you think about these things continuously and make those tweaks and changes as your own environments change, this will definitely keep you on track.

[00:04:26] Jara Rowe: So you may be thinking, Jara, I hear you, but how am I going to get this accomplished? We’re a small team and we have different priorities. To answer that, this is where experts come in and where you can outsource things like compliance. There are different services like managed compliance or also known as compliance as a service, which is something that the Trava team offers.

[00:04:52] Jara Rowe: Experts come in and act as your third party advisor. They manage the evidence collection for the compliance automation tools I talked about previously. They’re able to monitor your changes and handle the communication with your auditors. When you think about the ROI of this, it is huge. You get your time back to focus on your business while the experts take on your security, and you get that peace of mind knowing that your security program is in great hands.

[00:05:22] Jara Rowe: and to the final section of this ultimate receipt. 

[00:05:31] Jara Rowe: It’s important that we start future-proofing our security postures. The consensus from our experts was clear we must move from a static audit centric view and become more holistic, more proactive, and create a really sound risk aware strategy again. How do we do that?

[00:05:49] Jara Rowe: So on talked to me a lot about CTEM Which is our favorite thing in cybersecurity and acronym, which stands for Continuous Threat Exposure Management

[00:06:02] Jara Rowe: on believes that CT EM is truly a game-changing framework for a lot of smaller companies to adapt. CTEM forces your security team to stop chasing every vulnerability, and instead focus on weaknesses that are exploitable today. Impose the greatest risk to your business.

[00:06:24] Jara Rowe: This shift in continuous work is even more important as like our attack surfaces expand. A lot of teams work remote. We all use tons of SaaS apps and threats are only getting faster fueled by the bad guys that like to use ai. So it is important for us to be proactive. And speaking of being proactive, I also ask the team.

[00:06:56] Jara Rowe: What should people be focusing on in 2026 when it comes to cybersecurity and compliance? And they did give us things, but I also want all of us to know that these apply after 2026 as well. But I’m just gonna share with you some of the notable ones that really stuck out to me. First, it’s important that you know your data.

[00:07:18] Jara Rowe: Do you know where it is, where it’s being stored, how much you have? Do you know where the customer’s data is being stored and who has access to that? Second, 

[00:07:29] Jara Rowe: Another thing to implement, which is honestly something that we can take away from the entire Tea on Cybersecurity podcast is the. Importance of implementing MFA or multi-factor authentication. All of the experts say it’s one of the single most things you can do to prevent any sort of like account compromise.

[00:07:50] Jara Rowe: And the last major thing I took that is like an actionable thing for everyone to implement is creating an AI acceptable use policy and then train your team on that. It’s important to prevent sensitive company data from accidentally getting into like a public AI tool. We don’t wanna just be spreading all of our information about right.

[00:08:14] Jara Rowe: All right, so we definitely covered a lot in season five and I gained a lot of clarity on different compliance and cybersecurity topics, and I truly hope that you all did as well. So this wraps up our season five recap. That was a lot of information and I didn’t even go over everything that was shared.

[00:08:38] Jara Rowe: So I truly hope you go back through and listen to every episode. And with that, I would like to let everyone know that the Tea on Cybersecurity is going on hiatus. I definitely appreciate everyone joining me in learning about cybersecurity, and I hope that everyone else gained as much information and insight as I did, however.

[00:09:00] Jara Rowe: Just because the Tea on Cybersecurity isn’t here doesn’t mean that I’m going away or that Trava security is going away. So if you have any questions or you need some clarity. Please feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn and I will do my best to get an answer from you through our Web of experts. Or if you simply just need help with cybersecurity or getting a compliance framework, do not hesitate to reach out to Trava.

[00:09:28] Jara Rowe: We are still here. You can contact the team at travasecurity.com. Thanks for being along on this journey with me. It was an honor.