The Evolution of Compliance Monitoring: From Niche to Mainstream

1990s: In the pre-2000s, compliance primarily applied to companies engaged in government work or meeting legal and regulatory requirements. Only NIST and SAS 70 provided security and compliance standards used as best practices. Compliance generally applied to companies working with large organizations. Believe it or not, there was no universal requirement for compliance.

2000s: The turn of the millennium marked the start of mainstream compliance with the introduction of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) v1.0 in 2004. This standard mandated requirements for companies handling cardholder data, making compliance a necessary part of doing business. The AICPA introduced the SAS 70 to demonstrate control objectives and validate control activities. The first publication of ISO 27001 in 2005 further expanded the relevance of compliance, particularly in Europe, as the standard addressed the changing information security challenges.

2010s: The 2010s marked a renaissance period for compliance with the rapid maturity and adoption of standards due to the rise of cloud services and globalization. In 2010, the AICPA replaced SAS 70 with SOC 2 and Service Organization Controls, while ISO 27001 became increasingly relevant with the worldwide marketing of services. This period also saw the rise of privacy compliance with the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018.

2020s: Now, in the early 2020s, security and compliance have become fully integrated into mainstream practices with the proliferation of cloud services and increased scrutiny from customers and the Department of Justice. Companies are held accountable to various security frameworks, including SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, PCI DSS, HIPAA, HITRUST, FedRAMP, CMMC, NIST 800-53, NIST 800-171, GDPR, CCPA, and APEC. Third-party vendors and service providers are also required to maintain similar compliance processes.

Present day & beyond: KonaAI offers a simple, end-to-end, and cost-effective solution for compliance monitoring. The platform blends 20 years of investigative and Big 4 forensic technology expertise with leading machine learning and technology-assisted review algorithms backed by academia. With a high level of spend and sales transparency, KonaAI makes compliance monitoring accessible to companies of all sizes.

Overall, the evolution of compliance monitoring has had a positive impact on making security & compliance a mainstream requirement. However, it also presents a challenge for companies to implement and sustain compliance with the numerous security frameworks. KonaAI offers a solution that streamlines the compliance monitoring process, making it accessible and achievable for companies of all sizes.