Regulated Environment

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Discussion

A Regulated Environment operates under externally imposed legal, regulatory, contractual, policy, or sector-specific obligations.

The applicable obligations govern one or more aspects of the environment, including information handling, security, privacy, safety, operational resilience, record retention, audit, reporting, access control, change control, or evidence production.

A Regulated Environment includes the systems, services, infrastructure, processes, personnel roles, information, and operating conditions within the scope of the applicable obligations.

A High-Assurance Environment may also be a Regulated Environment. The two concepts remain distinct. Regulation identifies externally imposed obligations. High assurance identifies the degree of justified confidence required in the environment and its operation.

Definition

operating environment subject to externally imposed legal, regulatory, contractual, policy, or sector-specific obligations

Source

Generalised from legal, regulatory, contractual, governance, security, and sector-assurance usage and specialized for the Crucible architecture and operational model.

Note

A Regulated Environment does not require a specific deployment model. Cloud, on-premises, hybrid, connected, and disconnected environments may operate as Regulated Environments.

The applicable obligations depend on jurisdiction, sector, organization, information type, mission, and operating context.

Example

A financial services organization operates a software delivery environment under cybersecurity, records-management, operational-resilience, and audit obligations. The environment is a Regulated Environment because external obligations govern its operation and evidence requirements.

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