In December 2023, the Department of Defense announced its new Proposed Rules for CMMC. This release comes two years after their initial proposal for CMMC 2.0 as a framework. Many of CMMC’s expected requirements are coming to pass, and the DoD is looking to finalize and aggressively roll out the program over the next three… Read More
The ongoing rise of state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) has increased scrutiny of federal and state IT systems security systems. The latest version of CMMC includes a high-maturity level specifically designed to address these threats, which relies primarily on advanced security controls listed in NIST Special Publication 800-172.
The complex relationships between government agencies, third-party vendors, and managed service providers form a challenging web of connections that comprise the DoD digital supply chain. Both NIST 800-171 and CMMC address these at various points, expecting providers to adhere to complex security requirements. These requirements can become so complex that they may turn to Managed… Read More
As organizations move up the CMMC maturity model, they do so for one reason: to prepare themselves better to protect against Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs). These threats are a significant problem in the defense supply chain, and as such, CMMC leans heavily on NIST 800-171 and 800-172 to address them. This article introduces how these… Read More
The existence of quantum computers on the horizon has shaken the cryptography world, and researchers and scientists have received a massive response to build feasible Post-Quantum Cryptography (PCQ). Recently, Apple has taken an enormous step forward by announcing their own PCQ systems, PQ3, in Apple devices. Learn more about PCQ and Apple’s announcement and the… Read More
An emergency vulnerability has emerged in Ivanti products and appliances, and it has sent many service providers, especially those in the federal space, in a rush to close their gaps and respond as best they can. This article covers the incident, the government’s response, and what it means for service providers.
As the recent Ivanti security breaches indicate, the existence of a strong and effective incident response isn’t an option but a necessity. An incident response plan (IRP) is essential to prepare an organization to respond to any security incident effectively and on time. This plan spells out processes that an organization should undergo in case… Read More
New data security regulations include, or foreground, the role of data privacy in compliance. Many of these, like GDPR and CCPA, make data privacy a primary concern and expect businesses to meet stringent requirements about protecting the integrity of consumers’ Personally Identifiable Data (PII). One practice stemming from GDPR requirements is the Data Privacy Impact… Read More
The European Cybersecurity Certification Scheme for Cloud Services (EUCS) is an initiative to establish a unified certification process for cloud services across the EU. Cloud services and associated managed services are critical to most government and business functions, and the EU follows the example of other jurisdictions in focusing explicitly on this area of cybersecurity… Read More
One of the fastest-growing security attack surfaces is the Application Programming Interface (API). These functions allow programmers to tap into distributed services like data retrieval or social media broadcasting, vastly expanding the interoperability of different software tools. Accordingly, because API access often requires connecting to or using sensitive data, this presents significant security risks. We’re… Read More
Ransomware isn’t going anywhere… in fact, it’s only growing. As several studies show, the threat of ransomware associated with attacks like phishing and APTs is only increasing, and hacking groups are leveraging ransoms to generate significant revenue while also threatening proprietary data. The latest threat, the Rhysida malware, is just the latest of these threats… Read More
When considering security and finance, we typically consider regulations like PCI DSS, SOX, or FINRA. But if you’re a company doing business in Europe, there’s another framework you need to consider–GDPR. This set of regulations not only governs the exchange of consumer data but also has a massive impact on how financial organizations navigate commerce… Read More
The issue of cookies and user tracking has long been an issue, but the importance of these marketing and development tools has kept them a vital part of our web experiences. However, Google announced that its popular Chrome browser would no longer support third-party cookies, and in January 2024, they began rolling out anti-cookie technology. … Read More
StateRAMP is based on the FedRAMP standard, which means that it uses a similar set of documents and requirements to assess and authorize cloud service providers. One of the key documents of both StateRAMP and FedRAMP is the System Security Plan (SSP), which represents the provider’s security controls, compliance perimeter, and capabilities. In Revision 5,… Read More
StateRAMP, much like FedRAMP, includes a series of documents that the cloud provider and their 3PAO must complete before they are fully authorized. These documents align with several stages of the assessment process and provide regulating authorities with the proof they need to see that the cloud offering meets requirements. Here, we summarize the documents… Read More
Companies can only monitor some of the pieces of software that their employees use. It’s inevitable, then, that those employees will start to kludge together their solutions through personal software or freeware from the Internet. This is such a problem that Splunk recently rated shadow IT as one of the top 50 threats to cybersecurity… Read More
There’s recently been a push within FedRAMP towards modernizing the framework to meet modern security challenges and better align federal security standards across agencies and technologies. Part of this push is standardizing how security controls are measured and assessed, and the most recent blog from FedRAMP mentions a new standard–OSCAL. Here, we will discuss OSCAL,… Read More
Understanding IRS Publication 4812 is not just about compliance; it’s about upholding a standard of trust and integrity crucial to the IRS’s operations and the taxpayers’ confidence. This relatively new standard addresses how contractors in the federal supply chain handle data specific to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and its mission of maintaining the privacy… Read More
A new report shines a light on some unfortunate news in the world of federal cybersecurity. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), only three of 23 federal agencies have reached their expected logging requirements as dictated by Executive Order 14028. In this article, we’re talking about this executive order and what it calls… Read More
Identity, authorization, and authentication are some of the hottest topics in cybersecurity right now, with 80% of attacks involving some form of compromised identity. The proliferation of cloud-based and managed infrastructure and primarily data-driven organizations has made identity and security a top priority for organizations and regulatory bodies. Here, we’ll talk about identity governance–what it… Read More
With traditional passwords becoming increasingly vulnerable to breaches, the focus has shifted towards more secure and unique identifiers – our biometric data. Biometric encryption stands at the forefront of this evolution, merging individual biological traits’ uniqueness with cryptographic techniques’ robustness. This article will discuss how biometric encryption works, its applications, and challenges in the rapidly… Read More
One of the ongoing challenges of GDPR is its (until recently) fragmented compliance and assessment approach. The requirements of GDPR are relatively open–they focus on standards and expectations, not implementation. Therefore, many assessment tools and frameworks have emerged to address the situation. Recently, Europrivacy has risen as a potential centralization of assessments under a common… Read More
The journey towards StateRAMP compliance is complex, with IT decision-makers at the strategic forefront. ITDMs are responsible for an organization’s infrastructure, including security and regulations, guiding their organizations through the nuances of the compliance process. While working with a framework like StateRAMP, these decision-makers will inevitably have to take leading roles in guiding company culture… Read More
The latest FedRAMP draft memo from the OMB shakes up quite a bit about the program. While nothing is set in stone, much ink is spilled on what it will mean for the program and participating cloud service providers. In this article, we will discuss what this new memo says about automation–specifically, how the program… Read More