Automating SOC 2 Compliance: Tools and Technologies

SOC 2 compliance is a crucial standard for organizations that handle sensitive customer data, particularly cloud service providers and SaaS businesses. However, achieving and maintaining SOC 2 compliance is no small feat. The traditional audit process can be time-consuming, complex, and expensive, requiring extensive documentation, evidence collection, and control monitoring. Automation revolutionizes compliance by reducing… Read More

The Essential Role of Automation, AI, and Cloud Tools in Unified Compliance Management for 2025

In today’s complex regulatory environment, maintaining compliance across multiple frameworks is no longer just a survival requirement but a cornerstone of business strategy. Organizations must navigate an intricate web of security frameworks, data protection laws, and industry standards. Unified compliance management offers a structured, efficient way to address these challenges, and as we look toward 2025,… Read More

What is Ransomware and Why Is it a Major Cybersecurity Threat in 2021?

Major infrastructure in the United States is under attack. As more heavy industrial companies, defense contractors and government agencies increasingly rely on cloud platforms and IT solutions to serve their users and constituents, hackers are finding ways to leverage vulnerabilities and steal information.  The problem with these attacks is that they are taking advantage of… Read More

What is NIST Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity?

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

Core StateRAMP Reports for Provider Certification

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

SolarWinds and SUNBURST: The Technical Risks of State-Sponsored Terrorism

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

How to Choose a Security Partner: A Guide for Managed Service Providers

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

7 Ways a Managed Service Provider Can Protect Their Clients 

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

How does FedRAMP help Cloud Service Providers?

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 Coronavirus (COVID-19) meets Cyber Security

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

Deploying Mobile Devices Securely For The SMB

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

Preliminary Draft of NIST Privacy Framework Released

The NIST Privacy Framework will complement the popular NIST CSF Data privacy and cyber security have a symbiotic and sometimes conflicting relationship. Without robust cyber security, it is impossible to ensure data privacy, as evidenced by the Equifax hack. However, it’s fully possible for an organization to seriously violate users’ data privacy despite practicing robust… Read More

5 Tips for an Effective Cyber Incident Response Plan

A robust cyber incident response plan will minimize both damages and recovery time and ensure business continuity. Proactive measures to defend against data breaches, malware, social engineering, and other cyberattacks are crucial to enterprise cybersecurity, but there’s no such thing as a completely impenetrable system. Despite your best efforts, your company could still be hacked;… Read More

Growing Number of States Passing Insurance Data Security Laws

Insurers operating in multiple states must comply with a patchwork of state-level legislation patterned after the NAIC’s Insurance Data Security Model Law In 2017, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) developed the Insurance Data Security Model Law in response to a growing number of cyber incidents within the insurance industry. Similar to the NIST… Read More

Are You Ready for the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)?

The California Consumer Privacy Act represents a significant milestone for consumer data privacy in the U.S. Tired of the federal government dragging its feet on consumer data privacy legislation, states have started to take matters into their own hands. The biggest example is the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which takes effect on January 1,… Read More

What DoD Contractors Need to Know About the CMMC

The DoD unveiled its proposed Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) to prevent supply chain attacks Cyberattacks on the U.S. government’s vast network of contractors and subcontractors pose a serious threat to national security, and the DoD is taking action. The agency tasked NIST with developing a set of guidelines addressing advanced persistent threats against contractors… Read More

How Are IT Compliance and Cyber Security Different?

IT Compliance and Cyber Security: Understanding the Differences IT compliance and cyber security are often used interchangeably, even within the cyber security and compliance fields. This is the basis for the completely incorrect and dangerous notion that achieving compliance automatically equals being secure. While there is some overlap, and the two fields complement each other,… Read More

Which FedRAMP Security Impact Level Is Right for You?

Understanding FedRAMP security impact levels and baselines You would never pay $1,000 upfront and $30/month for a security system to protect a shed containing $100 worth of lawn equipment. However, you wouldn’t hesitate to spend that much or more to protect your home and family. The same concept applies in information security. Different kinds of… Read More

Understanding the Updated SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria

Your guide to the SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria (formerly the Trust Services Principles) Outsourcing IT services to service organizations has become a normal part of doing business, even for small companies. However, there are risks to using service providers, and these continue to evolve and change. In this dynamic environment, the American Institute of… Read More

The FedRAMP Assessment Process: Tips for Writing a FedRAMP SSP

Advice for writing a successful FedRAMP SSP A FedRAMP SSP (System Security Plan) is the bedrock of a FedRAMP assessment and the primary document of the security package in which a cloud service provider (CSP) details their system architecture, data flows and authorization boundaries, and all security controls and their implementation. Keep in mind that… Read More

Docker Hub Hack Compromises Sensitive Data from 190,000 Accounts

Is Docker Hub hack a harbinger of increasing cyber attacks on cloud containers? According to an official email sent to users, hackers gained access to Docker Hub, the official repository for Docker container images, “for a brief period.” However, during that “brief period,” approximately 190,000 user accounts were compromised, containing data such as usernames, hashed… Read More

Hackers Can Use DICOM Bug to Hide Malware in Medical Images

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