Security and compliance are paramount in the defense industry–even for unclassified information, like Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). The operations of these particular industries call for the utmost discretion, and all stakeholders must be on the same page. As modern digital infrastructure makes its way into the defense supply chain, it’s equally crucial for contractors and… Read More
Managing cybersecurity threats is a full-time job, and most cybersecurity specialists rely on shared knowledge between experts in the field to combat these threats. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database provides a starting point for this kind of knowledge, centralizing an index of known security vulnerabilities in the wild. The CVE program recently joined… Read More
We often take digital identity for granted… We create accounts all over the Internet for various services, but rarely think about the information that sits in a server for every company we interact with. Furthermore, we rarely think about the potential for fraud related to those identities and how that potential threat impacts finance or… Read More
The Internal Revenue Service is one of the largest and most essential federal government agencies… which means that there is a lot of opportunity for third-party contractors and managed service providers to offer products to support its mission. It also means that these contractors will be expected to adhere to security standards, specifically those outlined… Read More
Discussions about security and compliance disproportionately focus on businesses and enterprises, precisely because these organizations serve as central repositories for critical industrial or consumer information. Accordingly, regulations and best practices are often tied to securing this infrastructure, with consumers getting little to no attention. However, the reality of modern cybersecurity threats is that almost all… Read More
Audits and compliance are just part of doing business for financial organizations. Clients and partners must know that they can trust you to manage their critical information, keep it secure, and maintain its confidentiality. Frameworks like Systems and Organization Controls, or SOC, help organizations meet these expectations in a standardized way. While SOC 2 is… Read More
The federal government has strict and comprehensive regulations on how agencies handle constituents’ personal information. This is just as true for tax information. The IRS leans on established guidelines associated with federal security to dictate regulations for agencies that handle tax information and, by and large, treats that information as a sensitive and critical part… Read More
Many enterprises are looking for ways to increase their security and to protect their interests. As the world of cybersecurity, legal risk and operational challenges become more and more complex, checklist compliance regulations just aren’t going to cut it. That’s why governments and private organizations are increasingly turning to risk management as a tool for… Read More
Following the continuous rage of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations face a difficult task to secure the workload and devices of the employees scattered around the world. As a home has become the new office, it unveiled serious organizational cybersecurity gaps. Experts say that simply installing antivirus software or encrypting traffic on a company-issued MacBook is… Read More
Corporate compliance is a major undertaking for a few reasons–IT systems become complex, work forces grow to hundreds of individuals with different levels of access to information and public corporations must file difficult financial and security attestations annually to prevent fraud. One of the essential forms of financial and IT compliance for publicly-traded companies in… Read More
SOC 2 is one of the most well-known and well-respected compliance frameworks for businesses wanting to show partners and clients that they take security seriously. With the help of expert auditors and supportive security professionals, SOC 2 can quickly become a standard part of doing business in nearly any industry. Organizations attempting to meet SOC… Read More
PCI compliance is a hot topic these days. While payment processing seemed like the domain of large enterprises and retailers, the expansion of cloud-based processing and online storefronts have blurred the lines between processors, merchants and secure, compliant systems. Many organizations seek their PCI compliance certification to cover their bases with payment processing and data… Read More
The unveiling of CMMC 2.0 last November raised a lot of questions, but also brought a lot of relief. The streamlining of security around Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) will help defense agencies and contractors better secure their systems without burdening them with operational overhead. This is crucial for organizations who want to support these agencies… Read More
The Service Organization Control (SOC) standard is a well-known, but often misunderstood, approach to cybersecurity. It’s not mandatory, it has several methods, and some attestations involve different types of reports and assessments. Sometimes, the most difficult challenge is understanding the breakdown between reports. While SOC 2 is the most well-known and deployed assessment on the… Read More
FISMA is one of the foundational cybersecurity documents in the U.S. government. Its passage in 2002 and subsequent update in 2014 have defined the security landscape for federal IT systems and associated contractors. However, a one-two punch from Congress and the President has changed things again. With recent cyber threats causing major damage to public… Read More
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
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
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
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
NIST proposes a Secure Software Development Framework to address software supply chain attacks Applying software updates and patches as soon as possible is a cyber security best practice, but what if an update contains malicious code inserted by a hacker? Software supply chain attacks are a serious and growing problem for both private-sector organizations and… Read More
Formjacking allows hackers to steal payment card data and other information submitted through online forms As individuals become more savvy about avoiding phishing emails, and enterprises get better at filtering them out before they ever reach employees’ inboxes, it’s become more difficult for hackers to infect enterprise systems with ransomware and cryptojacking malware. Companies are… Read More
Hackers Can Use DICOM Bug to Hide Malware in Medical Images DICOM bug enables hackers to insert fully functioning executable code into medical images A newly discovered design flaw in DICOM, a three-decade-old medical imaging standard, could be used to deliver malware inside what appears to be an innocuous image file, a researcher from Cylera… Read More