Accelerate your compliance programs and see how they impact your risk posture.
The Regulatory Burden
There are numerous national security regulations that govern oil and gas facilities due to their critical impact on the global economy.
Moreover, the design of drilling facilities has become enormously complicated, with industrial controls and internet-enabled systems intersecting. This gives rise to an increase in potential attack points that must be secured and monitored at all times.
Oil and gas infrastructure security and risk management are simply too critical to manage via spreadsheets and legacy tools. Manual workflows are often rife with inaccuracies, something that could cost an oil and gas operation dearly. Instead, organizations need a robust, automated solution to plan, implement and monitor compliance and risk.
A Framework for Information Security Success
Organizations in the oil and gas sector must ensure that any cyber-enabled operating technology deemed critical infrastructure by the Department of Homeland Security is protected.
Any security risks for corporate financial or operational data must be protected with the appropriate governance measures. Furthermore, as employers, oil and gas companies also have all the usual regulatory obligations around personal data.
That being said, there are a number of regulatory frameworks that can impact this industry including:
- The NIST Cybersecurity Framework for Critical Infrastructure
- HIPAA to adhere to data privacy regulations if you house personal healthcare information (PHI)
- Gramm-Leach-Bliley to protect consumers’ financial privacy
- GDPR to provide privacy notices and rights to user if they’re located in the EU
- ISO for effective risk management strategies
Manage Compliance and Risk with Confidence and Ease
The Reciprocity® ZenGRC® platform has built-in compliance framework templates allowing you to quickly understand where your gaps are and create a cost-effective strategy to manage and monitor your compliance objectives.
ZenGRC leverages automation functionality to relieve you of tedious compliance workflows, like data entry. It also uses universal control mapping and real-time monitoring to streamline your governance, risk and compliance requirements.
ZenGRC sempowers you to automate and accomplish your goals faster and with greater accuracy so that you can focus on mission-critical tasks like pipeline management.
Compliance Objectives
Both the pipeline industry guidelines and the NIST critical infrastructure guidance include steps such as risk assessment, response planning, mitigation, training and protective technology to keep essential assets as far away from threats as possible.
However, for security officers building a compliance strategy, those obligations can translate into seemingly insurmountable objectives. This is where ZenGRC can play a role in helping to streamline and guide compliance management systems.
In addition to providing a central repository for organizing and cataloging all compliance documentation, ZenGRC’s automated workflows and compliance templates can help you to:
- Take an inventory of all the systems that control data assets, facilitate the pipeline and connect to the rest of your IT infrastructure
- Assess your baseline security posture—both your internal systems and any third-party vendors that make up the supply chain
- Cross-check your baseline controls with any pertinent frameworks (NIST, ISO, SOC 2, etc.) and identify the security gaps that need to be filled to meet regulatory requirements
- Establish mitigation steps that might be necessary and assign them to control owners
- Monitor usage of IT services and assign strict access privileges
- Conduct new risk assessments routinely to ensure compliance over time and keep up with new regulations and emerging threats
Choose the product that suits you
Reciprocity ZenComply
Reciprocity ZenRisk
Gain contextual insight on your risk posture to mitigate business exposure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who regulates the oil and gas industry?
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the main regulatory body for the oil and gas industry. However, several other federal agencies provide oversight for various components of the industry. A few examples include:
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
- The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)
- The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- The U.S. Department of Energy
What are the benefits of compliance software in the oil and gas industry?
There are several benefits to organizations in the oil and gas industry who opt for compliance software to manage their regulatory requirements. These include:
- Simplifying the assignment of mitigation responsibilities and avoiding notification fatigue
- Empowering stakeholders and managers with visibility into compliance operations, outstanding tasks and visualization of compliance KPIs and real-time data
- Bringing ease to task management and organization. With the ZenGRC software platform, you know exactly what needs to be done with clear priorities and objectives
- Generating business intelligence. Having ideal data analysis and business information involves accurate data collection, and the ultimate compliance system seamlessly provides these features by collecting and presenting data accurately
- Audit traceability and task notifications. Having all of the compliance task steps recorded creates a comprehensive audit trail to reference when improving business processes
What is the role of compliance in the oil and gas industry?
Due to the critical nature of oil and gas to the global economy, the industry is heavily regulated. From emissions concerns to process safety management to standard corporate oversight, environmental compliance requirements of many kinds are deeply rooted in this industry.
Many of these frameworks have unique requirements for oil and gas companies, often requiring significant upfront costs and investment to manage and implement.
Accordingly, oil and gas organizations must rely on technology solutions, like GRC software, to understand and navigate the numerous challenges and enterprise-wide risks they’re facing.
What exploits and security breaches threaten the oil and gas industry?
Digital transformation in the oil and gas industry has increased the frequency and veracity of cyberattacks. With the heavy use of IoT devices to connect gas, energy and transportation, many malicious actors’ breaches go undetected for long periods.
One of the leading causes for this is a lack of awareness about cybersecurity best practices beyond the organization’s security department. This can be remedied through a comprehensive GRC program that embeds security awareness and training throughout the organization.
