A security breach can destroy a company. Compliance failures can result in massive fines and lost deals. As CTO, security and compliance are ultimately your responsibility — even if you have dedicated security staff.
Security Fundamentals
You don't need to be a security expert, but you need to understand the fundamentals and ensure your organization addresses them.
The Security Basics
Authentication & Access Control
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA): Required for all employees, especially for sensitive systems
- Principle of least privilege: People should have only the access they need
- Regular access reviews: Audit who has access to what quarterly
- Offboarding process: Revoke access immediately when people leave
- Password policies: Strong passwords or, better, passwordless authentication
Data Protection
- Encryption at rest: All sensitive data should be encrypted in storage
- Encryption in transit: TLS everywhere, no exceptions
- Data classification: Know what data you have and how sensitive it is
- Data minimization: Don't collect data you don't need
- Backup and recovery: Regular backups, tested recovery procedures
Infrastructure Security
- Network segmentation: Separate production from development
- Firewalls and security groups: Limit what can talk to what
- Patch management: Keep systems updated
- Secrets management: No credentials in code; use a secrets manager
- Logging and monitoring: Know what's happening in your systems
Application Security
- Secure development practices: Security code review, SAST/DAST
- Dependency management: Track and update third-party libraries
- Input validation: Never trust user input
- OWASP Top 10: Address the most common web vulnerabilities
- Security testing: Penetration testing, bug bounties
Security Assessment Checklist
Use this checklist to assess your current security posture:
Critical (Fix Immediately)
- ☐ MFA enabled for all production access
- ☐ No credentials hardcoded in source code
- ☐ Customer data encrypted at rest and in transit
- ☐ Regular security updates applied
- ☐ Offboarding process removes access same-day
Important (Address Soon)
- ☐ Security logging and monitoring in place
- ☐ Incident response plan documented
- ☐ Regular access reviews conducted
- ☐ Dependency vulnerabilities tracked
- ☐ Security training for all engineers
Compliance Frameworks
Compliance requirements depend on your industry, customers, and geography. Here are the frameworks you're most likely to encounter:
SOC 2
What it is: An audit framework that evaluates how you handle customer data across five "trust principles": security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.
Who needs it: Any B2B SaaS company selling to enterprises. It's become table stakes — many customers won't buy without it.
What's involved:
- Type I: Point-in-time assessment of your controls
- Type II: Assessment of controls over a period (usually 6-12 months)
- Requires documented policies, procedures, and evidence of compliance
- Annual audit by a certified firm
Timeline: First SOC 2 typically takes 6-12 months to achieve.
GDPR
What it is: European Union regulation governing personal data of EU residents.
Who needs it: Anyone processing data of EU residents, regardless of where your company is located.
Key requirements:
- Lawful basis for processing personal data
- Data subject rights (access, deletion, portability)
- Data protection impact assessments for high-risk processing
- 72-hour breach notification requirement
- Data Processing Agreements with vendors
Penalties: Up to 4% of global annual revenue or €20 million.
HIPAA
What it is: U.S. regulation protecting health information (PHI).
Who needs it: Healthcare providers, health plans, and "business associates" who handle PHI.
Key requirements:
- Administrative, physical, and technical safeguards
- Risk analysis and management
- Business Associate Agreements with vendors
- Breach notification requirements
- Employee training
PCI DSS
What it is: Security standard for handling credit card data.
Who needs it: Anyone who stores, processes, or transmits cardholder data.
Pro tip: If possible, use a payment processor that handles PCI compliance for you (Stripe, Braintree). This dramatically reduces your compliance burden.
💡 Compliance as a Sales Asset
Don't think of compliance as overhead — think of it as a competitive advantage. SOC 2 certification can shorten enterprise sales cycles significantly. Having strong security practices helps you win deals that competitors without them cannot.
Incident Response
Security incidents happen to everyone. What matters is how you respond.
Before an Incident
Have a plan: Document your incident response process before you need it. During an incident is not the time to figure out who does what.
Your incident response plan should include:
- Definition of what constitutes an incident
- Roles and responsibilities (who's the incident commander?)
- Communication templates and channels
- Escalation paths
- Contact information for key people (including outside business hours)
- Legal and PR contacts
Practice: Run tabletop exercises. Simulate incidents and walk through your response. This reveals gaps in your plan.
During an Incident
1. Identify & Contain
- Confirm the incident is real
- Determine scope and impact
- Contain the damage (isolate affected systems)
- Preserve evidence (logs, forensic images)
2. Communicate
- Notify internal stakeholders (leadership, legal, PR)
- Decide on external communication (customers, regulators)
- Be honest about what you know and don't know
- Regular updates even if there's nothing new
3. Eradicate & Recover
- Remove the threat
- Restore systems from clean backups if needed
- Verify systems are clean before bringing back online
- Monitor closely for recurrence
After an Incident
Blameless postmortem: Focus on what happened and how to prevent it, not who to blame. If people fear blame, they'll hide problems.
Your postmortem should cover:
- Timeline of events
- What went well in the response
- What could have gone better
- Root cause analysis
- Action items to prevent recurrence
Building Security Culture
Security isn't just tools and processes — it's culture. If your team doesn't think about security, no amount of tooling will save you.
Making Security Everyone's Job
- Security training: Regular, practical training for all engineers
- Security champions: Designate security-focused people on each team
- Easy reporting: Make it easy to report security concerns without fear
- Celebrate good catches: Recognize people who find and report issues
- Lead by example: Follow security practices yourself, visibly
Integrating Security into Development
- Threat modeling: Consider security during design, not after
- Security in code review: Reviewers should check for security issues
- Automated scanning: SAST/DAST in CI/CD pipeline
- Dependency scanning: Automated alerts for vulnerable libraries
- Security acceptance criteria: Include security requirements in stories
⚠️ Security vs. Velocity
Security and development speed aren't opposites. Well-implemented security practices actually improve velocity by preventing the incidents that cause real delays. The goal is to build security into the workflow, not bolt it on as a gate that slows everyone down.
Key Takeaways
- Security fundamentals aren't optional — ensure basics like MFA, encryption, and access control are solid
- Compliance (SOC 2, GDPR, etc.) is increasingly required and can be a competitive advantage
- Have an incident response plan before you need it, and practice using it
- Security is a culture, not just tools — make it everyone's responsibility
- Integrate security into development rather than bolting it on at the end