CMMC certification is rolling out in RFPs in the defense and federal security compliance space. This framework promotes a uniform approach to security to protect important, unclassified data that passes through third-party vendors working with federal agencies. To ensure that companies meet their compliance requirements, CMMC leverages outside certified assessors to serve as a third-party… Read More
“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
Thousands of companies, and an increasing number of government agencies, are relying on managed service providers for products like cloud storage, security administration, and productivity technologies. This has put tech experts in the profitable and challenging position of providing innovative products to support their clients.
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.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently released a new report looking at the evolution of Cybersecurity threats during 2020, specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has impacted businesses and individuals across every industry and geographic region. One of the significant areas affected is day-to-day work life. Remote work became the new normal for millions across the… Read More
A Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) is a process to help you identify and minimize the data protection risks of a project. The DPIA is an ongoing process, regularly applied to personal data processing, identifying, and mitigating risks. The DPIA is a part of the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance activities.
What is a SOC 2 Report? Introduced in 2011, Service Organization Control (SOC) reports are becoming more and more popular in data security and compliance discussions with every passing year, especially SOC 2. But what is a SOC report? Which one do you need? Why is a SOC 2 report so important? There are three… Read More
On July 16, the social media platform Twitter experienced one if not the most significant, security breaches in its history when cybercriminals hacked into major public figures’ verified accounts and convinced users worldwide to transfer them nearly $120,000 in bitcoin. What can other organizations learn from this Twitter hack?
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
There’s no telling when disasters will occur. The next disaster – a new epidemic, data breach, earthquake, or flood – could compromise data, result in lost business, or prevent employees from accessing a physical office. How quickly will your firm be ready to continue operations seamlessly? We have all experienced a change in the way… 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
The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) provide a globally recognized framework for best-practice information security management: the ISO/IEC 27000 family of mutually supporting information security standards (also known as the ISO 27000 series). The most well-known of the series is ISO 27001, which sets out the specification for an… 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