Data security and compliance are not one and the same but have enough overlap that organizations can take steps when building a data security program to move closer to achieving compliance, according to an expert.

Terry Ray, senior vice president of data security and field chief technology officer at software provider Imperva, spoke Monday during a presentation at a conference in Las Vegas jointly sponsored by ISACA, formerly the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, and the Institute of Internal Auditors.

Ray’s session covered how regulators usually care about specific data, like birth records, so if an organization includes that regulated data in its overall cybersecurity program, it will move a few steps closer to data compliance.