In today’s interconnected world, IT system trustworthiness has become an essential cornerstone for critical infrastructure’s seamless and secure functioning. As governments, enterprises, and industrial organizations rely on complex digital systems, the trustworthiness of these systems must be measured and maintained. The need for trust in IT systems has been magnified by the rapid adoption of… Read More
Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) are essential for federal agencies and contractors to ensure the security of sensitive information, such as classified data, personally identifiable information, and financial data. This article will describe some of the most common FIPS security standards, their importance, and how federal agencies and contractors use them. We will also discuss… Read More
Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) are some of the most dangerous and persistent cyberattacks that organizations face today. Understanding the APT lifecycle is crucial for organizations looking to protect their sensitive data and networks against these attacks. The APT lifecycle consists of several stages: reconnaissance, initial compromise, establishing persistence, escalation of privileges, lateral movement, data exfiltration,… Read More
Unlike traditional cyberattacks, advanced persistent threats are often carried out by well-funded and highly skilled threat actors who use a range of techniques to gain and maintain access to a target’s network and data for an extended period of time. As the number of APT attacks continues to rise, businesses of all sizes need to… Read More
Multi-cloud environments are becoming increasingly common. Multi-clouds leverage the flexibility of public cloud connectivity across several providers to help organizations remain scalable and flexible. While multi-cloud offers numerous benefits, it also presents unique security challenges that must be addressed to ensure the security of applications and data hosted in the cloud. In this article, we… Read More
We’ve previously discussed the role of risk assessment as defined by the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) 31000, and generally speaking, we’ve found that risk management is a key practice to supporting security and compliance. To better support organizations approaching risk assessment, ISO published the supplementary document, ISO/IEC 31010, “Risk assessment technique.” In this article,… Read More
In previous blog posts, we’ve discussed the role of technology and HIPAA (related explicitly to HITECH regulations). However, the growth of intelligent devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) has led to a sea change in how Covered Entities (CEs) and Business Associates (BAs) manage their patients. Likewise, it adds new wrinkles to how these… Read More
The Internet of Things (IoT) was seen as the next big thing for the consumer market. While the impact of IoT technology is still unfolding, there is no doubt that IoT devices have made a much bigger impact in the commercial space. IoT networks are changing how we handle major industrial processes, from healthcare to… Read More
Understanding the structure of a SOC 2 report is essential for both businesses and service providers who are thinking ahead to their audit and attestation. It will serve as the “story” of an organization’s SOC 2 journey, covering the evaluation of their adherence to the Trust Services Criteria (TSC)–security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. … Read More
As previously discussed, ISO/IEC 27701 is a comprehensive international standard that provides specific privacy guidelines for organizations attempting to meet additional standards for handling PII in line with jurisdictions like GDPR. This document aligns ISO-compliant organizations with PII-focused standards by implementing Privacy Information Management Systems (PIMS). So far, we’ve covered how ISO 27701 refines ISO… Read More
The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) is a security assessment and authorization program for cloud services used by the federal government. It is designed to ensure that cloud services meet the federal government’s security requirements, and that sensitive government data remains protected. A critical component of the FedRAMP security authorization process is the… Read More
We’ve previously discussed ISO 27701 and how it refines two essential security standards and control libraries (ISO 27001 and ISO 27002). But, the entire purpose of ISO 27701 is to align IT systems with privacy requirements found under GDPR. Here, we’ll discuss the third section of this document that defines additional guidelines for organizations acting… Read More
StateRAMP guidelines include network security standards from NIST 800-53, with specific requirements for implementing those guidelines based on the application and data processing. Implementing boundary controls is one of the more relevant and sometimes challenging aspects of compliance network security. Here, we will dig into how StateRAMP (and FedRAMP, to some extent) approach subnetworks and… Read More
In the unfortunate event that a breach occurs, organizations must have a plan in place to respond and recover. StateRAMP borrows requirements from FedRAMP and NIST 800-53 to define how exactly state and local governments can implement incident response into their overall security infrastructure.
The International Organization for Standardization wrote ISO 27701 to align the standards of the ISO 27001 series with privacy-based standards like GDPR and CCPA. As such, it addresses the core requirements of that standard and refines them so that organizations don’t have to fumble in the dark about adapting their existing ISO certifications to larger… Read More
Private security standards like those from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) generally seek some alignment with major regulations so that certified organizations can effectively adapt to new and rigorous standards. Accordingly, the ISO 27701 standard seeks to refine the standard ISO cybersecurity certifications to match evolving security laws in jurisdictions like the EU. In… Read More
As the old saying goes, the weakest link in any security system is the user. This isn’t an insult but rather a commentary on the impossibility of eliminating every vulnerability in a system that humans have to use daily. In terms of actually mitigating direct security threats associated with users, however, there can be no… Read More
ISO/IEC 27018 establishes commonly accepted control objectives to protect Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in line with the privacy principles in ISO/IEC 29100 for cloud providers offering public infrastructure and services. It is a critical document for these providers seeking to instill the trustworthiness of their systems in their customers and clients. Learn more about ISO… Read More
Much hay has been made about how cloud providers can take advantage of the new StateRAMP program. Only a few years into operations, there are already questions about how governments and cloud providers can leverage the requirements to bring top-tier cybersecurity to a local level. One of these questions involves the adoption of StateRAMP standards… Read More
Businesses undergoing ISO certification are probably aware of the 27000 series and its focus on comprehensive cybersecurity. What many organizations don’t know, however, is that the series itself provides guidelines for risk managers to better implement Information Security Management Systems (the core process of ISO 27001) following best risk management practices.
In February 2022, the FedRAMP Program Management Office updated the rules for their threat-based profiling methodology. This little-known approach to FedRAMP risk profiling and the rating security controls serves as the program’s effort to streamline authorization and program management with industry knowledge and agile development methodologies.
The cloud service ecosystem for FedRAMP authorization has been growing year over year, as has the demand for the reuse of cloud products across agencies. To facilitate cloud product adoption across different agencies without compromising security and usability, FedRAMP provides a quick process to help reuse these services.
GDPR has needed a centralized assessment and certification model for some time now. Still, with the plethora of certifications and standards covering different business contexts, there has yet to be a single approach that has risen to the top of the heap. However, the governing bodies of GDPR have authorized the new Europrivacy standard to… Read More
With the growth of the EU as an economic power, businesses in the United States are working to make headway into this lucrative commercial market. However, they are rapidly learning that the IT and data-driven practices standard in the U.S. will not stand in the GDPR-regulated European Union. There are some basic preparations that any… Read More