Are you weighing your options between integrity management solutions? Evaluating, purchasing, and deploying new software is hard work, especially when you get down to the granular details of understanding which solutions have which capabilities and matching those capabilities to your organization’s particular needs. In an industry buzzing with ever-changing terminology and a...

The National Information Assurance (NIA) Policy provides organizations with the necessary cybersecurity foundation and the relevant tools to enable the implementation of a full-fledged Information Security Management System. Keeping sensitive data and assets safe is the goal of regulatory cybersecurity frameworks such as the NIA. The NIA policy guides organizations in...

A vulnerability management program should provide a series of metrics that outline the vulnerability risk to the organization and how the risk posture is trending. In addition to this, reports should be provided which show system owners which vulnerabilities pose the greatest risk to the organization and how to remediate them. This report outlines recommendations for...

Vulnerability and Risk Analysis Measuring and managing the security risk associated with information and information technology remains one of the most challenging and debated problems faced by all levels of an organization. While scoring standards designed to assist with solving this problem have been developed over the past decade, a select few have accomplished this and...

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) maintains comprehensive reliability standards that define requirements for planning and operating the bulk electric system (BES). Among these are the Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Cyber Security Standards, which specify a minimum set of controls and processes for power generation and transmission companies to...

When should your security strategy include agent-based monitoring? It can be difficult to discern when and how to incorporate agents into your vulnerability management processes. There are several instances in which agent-based monitoring offers superior support and protection across your networks. But that doesn’t mean you need to opt for a 100 percent agent-based approach,...

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) requires all publicly held companies to establish internal controls and procedures for financial reporting to reduce the possibility of corporate fraud. SOX is not specific on the types of controls that are required, but points to the COBIT framework to provide organizations’ guidance on their IT governance. The Challenge Change is ever...

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted to safeguard Protected Health Information (PHI) by mandating procedures and controls to assure the public that critical and private information is controlled from loss of confidentiality, integrity or availability. With few exceptions, an organization is subject to HIPAA if it exchanges data related to...

Federal security managers expect that most federally run systems are actively engaging with FISMA compliance for protecting federal data and systems. However, as we all know, federal information does not remain only in federally operated systems. Data and IT systems connect via the Internet and other networks for business, operations and research. Information about citizens,...

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) was created to help organizations that process credit card payments, secure the cardholder environment to prevent credit card fraud, cyber threats and other security vulnerabilities. The latest version, 4.0, provides specific security guidance on handling, processing, transmitting and storing credit card data to...

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) was created to help organizations that process credit card payments secure the cardholder environment to prevent credit card fraud, cyber threats, and other security vulnerabilities. The latest version, 4.0, provides specific security guidance on handling, processing, transmitting, and storing credit card data to...

There isn’t an industry that hasn’t been affected by cyber threats, and the broadcast industry is no exception. In April 2015, France’s TV5Monde was attacked, resulting in eleven of its channels going dark and its social media outlets commandeered to display pro-Islamic State messages. This was preceded by an attack on WBOC in Salisbury, Maryland, where their Twitter account...

The recently enacted European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires organizations to take adequate measures to ensure the security and privacy of personal data of any European citizen. This supersedes the previous Data Protection directive. As a regulation—as opposed to a mere directive—it directly imposes a uniform data security law regime on organizations...

North American electric utility companies constantly balance the need to be audit-ready for NERC CIP compliance against their top priority: ensuring the reliability of the bulk electric system. NERC CIP compliance, especially when approached using manual methods, is complex, time-consuming, and prone to human error. Further, NERC CIP requirements often infer security skill...

Over the past several years, the number of known vulnerabilities has grown drastically, and has continued to challenge security and operations teams to keep pace with the continuing flow of new security advisories. One of the biggest problems is accurately determining which vulnerabilities present the greatest risk to prioritize remediation efforts. Most vulnerability...

There is a misunderstanding that if you are compliant, you are secure. This isn’t the case. For example, adhering to PCI DSS v4.0 will only allow you to tick the box to say you are PCI compliant in that moment. It gives you a snapshot in time of where you are in your compliance journey. But it won’t prevent your company from suffering a breach—along with incurring fines and...