Officials at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report entitled, "Influenza Pandemic: Key Securities Market Participants are Making Progress, but Agencies Could Do More to Address Potential Internet Congestion and Encourage Readiness". (Read this Report) The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responded to this report by stating, "An expectation of unlimited Internet access during a pandemic is not realistic -- any more so than an expectation that traffic congestion on hurricane evacuation routes can be completly avoided. All users which rely on the … [Read more...]
Security Policy — Components of a Good Policy
By: Lisa DuBrock, CPA, CBC Whether you are tasked with writing your organization’s Information Security Policies or updating an existing security policy or security policies, knowing what is in a well crafted policy is important. Below are details of many of the areas you should include: Security Definition – All security policies should include a well-defined security vision for the organization. The security vision should be clear and concise and convey to readers the intent of the policy. Also included in this section should be details of what if any security standards your … [Read more...]
"Red Flag Rules": Exemption Ruling Announced
By an overwhelming vote of 400-0, the U.S. House approved legislation on October 20, 2009, that exempt certain businesses from the Federal Trade Commission's Red Flag Rules. As part of that legislation, the FTC is also required to issue new regulation setting out the exemption processes that allow any business to apply for an exemption. With November 1, 2009 as an announced Red Flag Rule compliance deadline, it is very likely that this new ruling will cause the FTC to at least consider the announcement of another delay for this compliance deadline. Under the current ruling, health care, … [Read more...]
Supply Chain Risk Leadership Council – What Is It and Why Should I Know About It?
The Supply Chain Risk Leadership Council is a group of companies that meet four times a year to discuss how to incorporate standardized best practices into their supply chain. Some of the companies that sit on the council are industry heavyweights, such as CISCO, GE, Boeing, Coca-Cola, Merck and FedEx. Their mission as stated on their website http://www.scrlc.com/ is to: “Work together to create best-practice supply chain risk management standards, processes, capabilities and metrics to be adopted within our respective organizations. Leverage this best practices effort to proactively … [Read more...]
Standards Announced for PS-Prep by DHS
On October 15, 2009, Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identified three standards to be included in the PS-Prep; Private Sector Preparedness Program. The PS-Prep program was created under Title IX of Public Law 110-53: Recommendations from the 9/11 Commission and is a partnership between DHS and the private sector that enables private entities - including businesses, non-profit organizations and universities - to receive emergency preparedness certification from a DHS accreditation system created in coordination with the private sector. The three … [Read more...]
What Is PCI Compliance & How to Implement It
There are some people who still insist on paying the old-fashioned way, with cash. If you purchase anything using a credit card, you are most likely aware that thousands of cardholders have had their data stolen by unethical hackers. For this reason, there are standards, which businesses that offer credit card payment as an option must follow. Consumers have the assurance that a business is working to protect their valuable information by adhering to Payment Card Industry, PCI compliance mandates. What Is PCI Compliance? All major credit card issuers must adhere to the Payment … [Read more...]
What Are the Best Data Loss Prevention Products? Top 5 Choices
Data loss prevention is a crucial way of keeping your business data safe from hackers. It also helps keep it safe from a loss when your network or cloud storage system crashes. There are many different services available for data loss protection, each of which has its advantage and disadvantages. That's why we've compiled the best data loss prevention systems on the market today. They are listed in no particular order. Make sure to carefully understand the features of each piece of software, as well the pros and cons, to ensure you buy the right product for your needs. 1: Trustwave … [Read more...]
What Is Email Encryption & How Can You Easily Implement It?
As innocent as it seems, sending simple email communications can open you up to serious vulnerabilities. Unsecured emails, or those sent across public and Wi-Fi networks, are susceptible to hackers. Unethical types can even circumvent the protective walls of a secure company network. This is why email encryption is so important. Once a hacker gains access to an email, private data is compromised. This frequently happens while emails are in route from one account to another in cyberspace. Once they've intercepted an email, they have an open door into your personal data. The only guarantee … [Read more...]
Penetration Testing – a Method to Discover Your IT Infrastructure’s Vulnerabilities
All companies should use penetration testing to keep hackers away from their IT systems. Businesses, especially those that rely on a computer system, must be aware of vulnerabilities within their infrastructure. Web attackers work diligently to find loopholes in systems to penetrate security and compromise the system, or steal information. Hackers can steal sensitive data, or just take an entire system hostage to prevent the company from conducting business. Once a hacker is inside a system, they have access to all information. Also, they have the ability to shut down the entire computer … [Read more...]
What Is a Vendor Management System & Why Do You Need It?
In today's marketplace procuring a staffing service is often the most cost-effective way for your business to fill certain essential positions. When your company has to deal with a lot of external employee hiring, problems with the inefficient use of resources can prove counterproductive. That's why a vendor management system is important to have. A vendor management system (VMS) reduces the number of person-hours your human resources staff must expend searching the external labor force. It is the perfect solution for your company to handle the complexities of the staffing process. When … [Read more...]
What Is FFIEC Guidance? How Does It Ensure Compliance?
Since the FFIEC guidance reached your desk, the new compliance rules will approach fast, and if you fail to take action that brings your institution up to standard, you could face penalties and fines. Most people still wonder, "What is FFIEC guidance and how do I do it?" Compliance set the standards for online banking in 2005 when the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council issued it. Some of the standards require multifactor authentication because they have proven how inadequate the single-factor authentication looks. We have seen increasingly sophisticated and more daring … [Read more...]
What Are Unified Communications & Why Does Your Business Need Them?
A lot of shrewd self-employed business owners understand IP-telephony because they associate it with applications like Skype. You can use apps like this to call through the internet and make either free voice calls or a low-cost voice call to the person needed. However, Unified Communications takes the concept of IP-telephony and expands it to open new channels of communication. What's the big idea behind it? Unified Communications deals with integrating business data and telephony over into the same network. You firm up your ability to combine data, voice and video information into … [Read more...]
What Is Commercial Flood Insurance & Does Your Business Need One?
Without warning, a flood can eviscerate business inventory, buildings, and equipment. Most business policies neglect flood coverage, and because of that, when a flood strikes, one out of four businesses will shut their doors and never open again. In fact, 90 percent of natural disasters make up floods. Whether you own a small business with a couple of employees or a large business with several hundred employees, commercial flood insurance protects both the inside and outside of the business perimeter. What Is Commercial Flood Insurance? This form of flood insurance will cover your … [Read more...]
What Is a Security Awareness Program & Tips on How to Create It
Newly hired recruits brought aboard can either sink your company ship, or a good one can sail you straight for richer harbors. A comprehensive security awareness program educates and sets a wall of defense around your company's weakest points. As a shrewd entrepreneur, you want to arm your employees with defensive weapons to shoot an arrow into the heart of any hidden cyber-attack. Technology continues to outpace the demands and training of a security awareness program. Because of this, much of the workforce looks painfully vulnerable and unarmed in the world of cybercrime. This … [Read more...]
ISO Compliance – the Cloud – and the AWS Outage
Recently, many ISO Compliance teams in ISO certified organizations, utilizing Amazon Web Services, and located in the Eastern parts of North America had reasons to be on high alert. On February 28th 2017 a four-hour outage impacted one of Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) largest cloud regions, US-EAST-1 in North America. Since many enterprises rely on AWS --- this outage, many times longer than the expected annual downtime for the S3 cloud storage system where the issue occurred, is highly concerning. The outage, caused by high error rates affecting the Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon … [Read more...]