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The Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) Common Security Framework (CSF) is a widely recognized security framework that HITRUST developed in 2007 to provide a roadmap to compliance for programs like ISO/IEC 27001 and HIPAA. HITRUST CSF incorporates security, privacy and other regulatory requirements from existing frameworks and standards to demonstrate their security and compliance in a streamlined fashion.
Is HITRUST Only for Healthcare?
HITRUST is governed by representatives from the healthcare industry, including Anthem, Kaiser Permanente and UnitedHealth Group. HITRUST created and maintains the CSF as a method for healthcare organizations and their providers to consistently demonstrate security compliance.
Due to its rigorous, comprehensive, and effective approach, a HITRUST r2 Assessment and Certification is considered a gold standard in responsible risk management and compliance assurances. A proper r2 Assessment offers coverage against NIST SP 800-53, NIST CSF, ISO 27001, HIPAA, FedRAMP, FISMA, FTC Red Flags Rule Compliance, MARS-E Requirements, PCI DSS, CCPA, GDPR, AICPA Trust Services Criteria for Security, Confidentiality and Availability, plus more than 30 other industry-recognized frameworks, standards, and authoritative sources.
Experts expect that more organizations, especially in highly regulated markets, including financial services and retail, will choose to certify under the HITRUST CSF r2. For example, earlier this year, Microsoft announced that Azure and Office 365 are the first hyper-scale cloud services to receive certification for the HITRUST CSF r2. Similarly, in May 2022, global information management and digital services company Ricoh USA, Inc. announced it had achieved HITRUST CSF r2 certification.
Why Choose HITRUST CSF Over Other Frameworks?
The choice to adopt the HITRUST CSF can be a good choice for organizations in any industry. HITRUST is based on ISO/IEC 27001 and 27002 and incorporates more than 40 other security and privacy-related regulations, standards, and frameworks.
By collaborating with other industry standards and bodies, HITRUST developed a practical security and privacy framework allowing organizations globally to manage information safely and securely.
The HITRUST CSF integrates data protection requirements from authorities – including ISO, NIST, PCI, and HIPAA. In addition, the CSF provides the flexibility to customize the requirements based on an organization’s specific goals.
HITRUST is driving widespread adoption through the security community. The HITRUST community provides awareness, education, advocacy, support, knowledge-sharing, and additional leadership and outreach activities.
Organizations face the challenges of protecting data in today’s ever-changing threat landscape. In addition, all organizations face resource constraints, and none want to invest unwisely. Therefore, to maximize the benefits of a robust security, privacy, and risk management program, organizations are often better served focusing on their business and leaving the development and maintenance of their control framework to a team of specialists.
About Truvantis
Truvantis is your HITRUST CSF business partner. Our experienced practitioners understand the challenges of securing data management systems and will work hard to understand your business objectives and develop a customized certification roadmap. Truvantis has a proven methodology for helping clients succeed in security compliance and certifications.
Truvantis is a cybersecurity, privacy and compliance consulting organization. We specialize in helping our clients by implementing, operating, auditing and testing information security programs that work – balancing budget with organizational risk appetite. Contact us today to speak with a cybersecurity, privacy and compliance expert.
