GLBA Compliance in Salesforce ALM 

There are several aspects of the Salesforce release management process that could potentially be vulnerable to GLBA noncompliance:

• Data security during testing: Testing is crucial to ensure system functionality and enhancements. However, if you don’t handle test data with the utmost care, it can inadvertently expose sensitive customer information. Let’s say a developer mistakenly gains access to actual customer data due to inadequate data masking policies. This could lead to data privacy violations—and potentially expose you to legal repercussions.
• Change management: GLBA compliance requires you to put a robust change management process in place. This process should ensure that every change to your Salesforce instance, no matter how minor, is thoroughly tested and properly approved to avoid compromising data security and integrity. For instance, suppose a team member introduces a new configuration outside of the formal change management process. If it contains a bug, the issue could impact data protection, which would put you at risk of data breaches.
• Impact assessment: It’s crucial to effectively evaluate how changes will affect your production environment before releasing them. Consider a situation where a seemingly innocent modification to a workflow unintentionally exposes sensitive customer information to unauthorized users. This constitutes a data breach—and noncompliance.
• Access control: Robust access controls are pivotal in safeguarding data from unauthorized access. Without a stringent access control policy, there’s always a risk of exposing sensitive financial data to unauthorized individuals. Picture a scenario where an employee gains unrestricted access to customer financial records. Now imagine how easy it would be for them to use that information to their own advantage—at the cost of your customers. What would that do to your reputation—and your business?
• Change tracking and documentation: To maintain compliance with GLBA, you need to track and document all changes. The reason for this is that an auditor may have questions regarding accountability and traceability. For example, if you can’t provide a clear trail of changes to configurations that impact data protection during an audit, it will almost certainly put you under the auditor’s microscope.

Now you know what the potential vulnerabilities are, let’s examine how Prodly helps you maintain the security, confidentiality, and integrity of your customers’ data.