Increasing into the North American market presents thrilling alternatives for startups throughout all industries. Nevertheless, for safety leaders accustomed to the European regulatory panorama—the place the Basic Knowledge Safety Regulation (GDPR) units a transparent and complete commonplace—navigating the patchwork of cybersecurity compliance requirements in North America could be difficult.
Cybersecurity compliance in North America is commonly much less about authorized mandates and extra about demonstrating trustworthiness by means of recognised safety requirements like ISO 27001, ISO 27701, SOC 2, and HITRUST. This fragmented panorama requires a tailor-made technique—one which aligns enterprise targets with the precise safety frameworks to construct belief and cut back threat. Right here’s the place to start.
Setting the muse
ISO 27001 is a globally recognised info safety administration system (ISMS) commonplace that gives a structured framework for figuring out and managing info safety dangers. With widespread adoption throughout Europe and different worldwide markets, many organisations increasing into North America have already got ISO 27001 certification.
ISO 27701 is one other internationally accepted compliance commonplace that serves as an extension of ISO 27001 for organisations that course of personally identifiable info (PII). It focuses on information privateness and descriptions necessities for establishing, implementing, sustaining, and frequently enhancing a privateness info administration system (PIMS).
As it’s primarily based on the identical ideas because the GDPR and integrates seamlessly with ISO 27001, ISO 27701 is a brilliant funding for organisations within the EU that wish to develop their compliance programmes and increase internationally.
One other benefit of pursuing compliance with requirements like ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 is their compatibility with different frameworks, together with SOC 2—a must have for cloud service suppliers (CSPs) seeking to set up themselves within the North American market. Whereas ISO 27001 certification stays beneficial globally, a SOC 2 report is commonly anticipated as a part of vendor safety assessments within the US.
SOC 2 experiences are issued following an impartial audit performed by a Licensed Public Accountant (CPA) and assess an organisation’s safety controls in opposition to 5 belief providers standards outlined by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA):
- Safety: The system is protected in opposition to unauthorised entry (each bodily and logical).
- Availability: The system is offered for operation and use as dedicated or agreed.
- Processing integrity: System processing is full, legitimate, correct, well timed, and authorised to satisfy the entity’s targets.
- Confidentiality: Info designated as confidential is protected as dedicated or agreed.
- Privateness: Private info is collected, used, retained, disclosed, and disposed of to satisfy the entity’s targets.
Many US firms choose SOC 2 over ISO 27001 because of the depth of knowledge it supplies about an organisation’s safety programme. The excellent news is that most of the controls required by ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 align with these evaluated in a SOC 2 examination. For startups seeking to simplify their compliance journey, it’s potential to mix ISO 27001, ISO 27701, and SOC 2 assessments utilizing a single, certified audit agency. This not solely streamlines the method but in addition reduces prices by eliminating duplication and redundancies.
Cost card safety across the globe
For startups that retailer, course of, or transmit cost card information, compliance with the worldwide Cost Card Business Knowledge Safety Commonplace (PCI DSS) is crucial. Not like ISO 27001, ISO 27701, and SOC 2—which are sometimes pursued voluntarily to construct belief—PCI DSS compliance is necessary for organisations dealing with credit score and debit card transactions.
Luckily, as a result of PCI DSS shares safety greatest practices with ISO 27001, ISO 27701, and SOC 2, companies can combine these compliance efforts to create a complete cybersecurity programme that satisfies a number of regulatory and trade expectations.
PCI DSS contains 12 core safety necessities that organisations should implement to make sure the safe dealing with of cost info. These necessities give attention to:
- Community safety, together with firewalls and encryption;
- Entry controls, equivalent to these associated to person authentication and role-based entry;
- Knowledge safety, together with tokenisation and encryption of cardholder information; and
- Monitoring and testing, which could embody vulnerability scans and penetration testing.
Many European startups already adhere to PCI DSS as a part of their operations, significantly these within the e-commerce, fintech, and SaaS industries. If your organization is increasing into North America and processes funds, making certain compliance with this commonplace is crucial to assembly authorized and contractual obligations.
HITRUST: It’s not only for healthcare
One other framework that has gained important traction in North America is HITRUST. Initially developed for the healthcare trade, HITRUST is now broadly recognised throughout a number of sectors and supplies a complete, scalable method to threat administration.
HITRUST’s validated assessments supply three totally different ranges of assurance:
-
The HITRUST e1 Evaluation focuses solely on foundational cybersecurity controls and is commonly appropriate for startups and organisations with decrease ranges of threat. Greater than 60% of organisations that pursued HITRUST certification for the primary time in 2024 selected the e1.
-
The HITRUST i1 Evaluation supplies a average degree of assurance for organisations with extra sturdy, established info safety programmes. The i1 features a thorough evaluation of 182 controls, however comes at a decrease value and with a faster turnaround than the r2 Evaluation.
-
The HITRUST r2 Evaluation requires 200 or extra controls and presents the best degree of assurance for organisations with bigger and extra complicated environments. The r2 examines every management at a coverage, procedural, and implementation degree. For startups shifting into extremely regulated industries or in search of enterprise clients in North America, the r2 can supply the depth of assurance wanted to win enterprise and construct long-term belief.
Choosing the proper HITRUST evaluation relies on your threat profile, trade expectations, and go-to-market technique in North America. The framework’s built-in flexibility means organisations can choose the evaluation that aligns with their present stage of progress—after which scale up as their compliance wants mature. That is significantly beneficial for startups making ready for extra complicated regulatory or customer-driven necessities.
One more reason HITRUST stands out is the velocity at which it evolves. The HITRUST Widespread Safety Framework (CSF) is up to date extra regularly than many different frameworks, serving to organisations keep forward of rising threats.
HITRUST certification also can speed up the trail to compliance with different frameworks, equivalent to SOC 2, PCI DSS, and FedRAMP. Because the HITRUST CSF was designed to align with AICPA’s belief providers standards, some companies can difficulty each HITRUST and SOC 2 experiences by means of a single engagement. For rising startups, which means fewer audits, much less duplication, and a unified method to safety assurance.
Compliance with US laws
Firms getting into extremely regulated sectors might face extra compliance necessities when doing enterprise with companions primarily based in america. In case your startup intends to promote into the US healthcare, authorities, or defence sectors, understanding these extra regulatory frameworks is essential:
- HIPAA: Compliance with the Well being Insurance coverage Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is required for any firm dealing with protected well being info (PHI) within the US healthcare system. Not like ISO 27001 and HITRUST, HIPAA doesn’t have a proper certification course of, however firms should implement administrative, bodily, and technical safeguards to guard PHI and digital PHI (ePHI).
- FedRAMP: Compliance with FedRAMP is necessary for CSPs offering providers to US federal companies. Attaining this compliance milestone requires a rigorous safety evaluation and ongoing safety monitoring.
- CMMC: The Cybersecurity Maturity Mannequin Certification (CMMC) is required for firms within the defence provide chain. Like FedRAMP, this framework units totally different ranges of cybersecurity maturity that defence contractors should meet relying on their degree of threat.
Figuring out which of those frameworks applies to your goal clients will enable you prioritise the precise investments and keep away from compliance surprises down the highway.
Wanting forward: AI compliance
Whereas North America presently lacks a complete regulation on synthetic intelligence (AI), the EU AI Act has set a worldwide precedent for managing AI dangers. Just like GDPR, the AI Act is designed to use to any firm providing AI providers within the EU, no matter the place they’re headquartered.
Organisations making ready for AI compliance also needs to contemplate adopting ISO 42001, a first-of-its-kind commonplace for managing AI dangers. Revealed in late 2023, ISO 42001 mandates controls for establishing, working, monitoring, and frequently enhancing an AI administration system (AIMS).
Compliance with ISO 42001 ensures your organisation has processes in place to judge and govern AI know-how in a safe, moral, and clear manner. For startups incorporating AI into their merchandise, aligning with ISO 42001 early can function each a threat administration technique and a aggressive differentiator—particularly as clients start to demand extra accountability in how AI techniques are developed and used.
The underside line
Whether or not you’re constructing AI instruments, scaling a cloud-native platform, or powering digital well being options, getting into the North American market comes with new compliance calls for—in addition to monumental progress potential. Aligning your safety programme with North American expectations early on helps cut back friction in gross sales cycles, builds belief with stakeholders, and positions your startup for long-term success.
Need to chat extra about scaling securely throughout borders? Join with Marc Gold, ISO Observe Chief at BARR Advisory, on the upcoming EU-Startups Summit in Valletta, Malta starting 24 April 2025.
