Words like cybersecurity and compliance are often interchangeable without much care taken with how they differ. But make no mistake: while they are related practices, both are different approaches to a common problem of cybersecurity threats. Here we break down the differences and, more importantly, why these differences are important for when you have to… Read More
With the more recent threats and attacks we’ve seen in both the Colonial Pipeline and SolarWinds hacks, the question of infrastructure security is firmly in the collective consciousness. With President Biden’s Executive Order focusing executive resources to beef up cybersecurity, the efforts of the government are turning towards addressing some of the gaps that have… Read More
ISO/IEC 27001 is widely known, providing requirements for an information security management system (ISMS), though there are more than a dozen standards in the ISO/IEC 27000 family. Using them enables organizations of any kind to manage the security of assets such as financial information, intellectual property, employee details or information entrusted by third parties.
“Resiliency” is a word that gets thrown around a lot by professionals interested in the continuity of business in times of disruption. The fact is that depending on the industry and business model, resiliency is more akin to a science than anything else. Professionals measure things like logistics, statistics, risk and operational effectiveness to balance… Read More
The complexity of healthcare service demands robust technical infrastructure. Advances in patient treatment, research, diagnostic tools and even predictive analytics and AI have pushed technologies available to healthcare providers, which means that these organizations turn to expert providers to give them new tools and features to revolutionize their patient care models. This increased reliance on… Read More
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is a voluntary security framework to help protect customers and merchants against the theft of credit card data during POS transactions. Like many other compliance frameworks, PCI DSS has continually evolved over the years to match new technologies and new threats to the privacy of consumers shopping online… Read More
Any IT or cloud provider working with the government needs to show that they are secured against data breach or theft. As the SolarWinds hack has demonstrated, our interconnected technology systems are under attack from outside entities who want to gain access to critical civil, military, and industrial data and undermine our security. That’s why… Read More
The Department of Defense has made a significant push to improve the security of its cyberinfrastructure and supply chain (known as the Defense Industrial Base), and the result of this push is the Cybersecurity Maturity model Certification (CMMC) initiative. This framework uses existing security guidelines to provide an overview of necessary security requirements for federal… Read More
While online retail isn’t a new phenomenon, many retailers are still behind when it comes to proper security measures for this form of business. With fraud claims and chargebacks rising exponentially in 2021 due to quarantine and increased online customers, these security measures related to PCI DSS eCommerce are only becoming more necessary, not less.… Read More
StateRAMP, like any other compliance framework, includes several reports to document a provider’s progress through certification for the Program Management Office (PMO). As of February 2021, however, the PMO is still spinning up its resources and and StateRAMP reports templates. As such, many required report templates are slated for availability on the StateRAMP website but… Read More
As Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) work with State agencies, many of them are undergoing StateRAMP certification. Fortunately, StateRAMP is much like FedRAMP in that it follows several of the same guidelines, requirements, and process structures. Here, we’ll break down one of the basic aspects of StateRAMP Impact Levels. The StateRAMP Impact level directly relates to… Read More
The news cycle for anyone connected with cybersecurity has been dominated by information regarding the SolarWinds hack. This breach, starting with a single cloud and security provider, has now become a national emergency as more and more private institutions have become infected with potentially dangerous results. As this situation unfolds, we wanted to touch base… Read More
In December 2020, Chinese researchers claimed to have developed the fastest quantum computer in the world. This computer, built using quantum particles and using light as a medium, can perform calculations exponentially faster than classical computers. What is currently the bleeding edge of computing and scientific research tends to become the norm at some point,… Read More
The reality of a world of always-connected customers and cloud platforms is that hackers are overwhelmingly targeting managed service providers. The main question posed in that article was how managed service providers could protect their clients with proper security measures. Here, we want to take this a step further to suggest that these managed service… Read More
Managed service providers carry a few additional burdens that many traditional IT companies don’t. Because the products and services of a managed service provider are used by different businesses, often in different industries, there is a balancing act between managing their own security needs and the needs of their clients. Different responsibilities, requirements, and approaches… Read More
Cyber threats aren’t new, but hackers have increasingly turned their attacks on vulnerable managed service providers and their clients. With the data that managed service providers store for those clients, they are a treasure trove for attackers who would use that data to attack those clients, or the MSP itself, with malware and ransomware.
One of the many changes brought by the COVID-19 pandemic may be the permanent expansion of telehealth. According to a recent study, the US telehealth market is expected to witness an 80% year-over-year growth in 2020. Numerous video communications services exist, not all provide sufficient privacy and security to facilitate the provision of health care (and… Read More
FedRAMP is one of the most popular topics on our website and blogs. One big question we often receive from Cloud Service Providers (CSP), is how can a FedRAMP authorization impact their business. Cloud Service Providers and FedRAMP FedRAMP is a program that enables cloud services providers (CSPs) to meet and demonstrate the security requirements… Read More
Coronavirus-related Phishing Scams and Attacks on the rise Cybercriminals have been taking advantage of the coronavirus outbreak to target people with phishing scams and malware in the guise of information relevant to the disease. These attacks typically take the form of malicious apps, phishing emails, and phony websites. In addition, the US government has been… Read More
The Evolving Need for PCI DSS Compliance. The current COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically accelerated a trend that was already on the rise — a move toward many new forms of electronic payment that involve capturing and transmitting credit card data. Businesses have moved online-only transactions during this crisis, and many consumers don’t want to handle… Read More
Real-word viruses and their online counterparts COVID-19 or the Coronavirus is changing life as we know it. From simple handshakes to finding toilet paper, life has changed tremendously over the past several weeks. Not only is this virus a physical threat, but it is also a threat to cyber-security. Different scams, phishing emails, fake news,… Read More
Secure Mobile Device Deployments As we all know, mobile devices have become not an integral part of the workplace, but even in society. Therefore, the safe deployment of these devices is of paramount importance not just for individuals, but businesses and corporations, government agencies, as well as other entities. For example: Mobile devices have indeed… Read More
Dark data doesn’t just cost organizations money; it also damages their cybersecurity and compliance postures Server rooms filled with digital files may look neater than the paper file rooms of old, but they’re not necessarily more organized, and “dark data” lurks around every corner. Sixty percent of respondents to a survey by big data software… Read More
A new Ponemon report on SMB cyber security reveals the top challenges and threats facing global small and medium-sized businesses If you think your company is too small to be hacked, think again. According to a new report on SMB cyber security by the Ponemon Institute and Keeper Security, 66% of small and medium-sized businesses… Read More