In response to the coronavirus ("COVID-19") pandemic, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) made an unprecedented call for agencies to maximize telework flexibilities, resulting in 78 percent of the federal workforce working remotely. This abrupt and wide-scale shift to a remote work environment required agency security teams to adjust with little to no planning, placed a...

The premise of a January 27, 2015, article by CNBC is that there is good evidence that a cyber attack against nearly any country’s critical infrastructure could be imminent. This kind of reporting has become so commonplace, but this doesn’t seem like just more FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) journalism. ...

Every organization wants to be secure in the long term, but compliance might order them to focus on implementing certain safeguards within a short period. Given this situation, some organizations might elect to focus on compliance now and look at security later. This might involve designating budget for compliance before allocating additional funds for security at some point in...

The CIS Controls are a set of recommendations comprised of controls and benchmarks. They are intended to serve as a cybersecurity “best practice” for preventing damaging attacks. The recommendations are meant to provide a holistic approach to cybersecurity and to be effective across all industries. Adhering to them serves as an effective foundation for any organization’s...

Search online for the phrase “data is the new oil” and you’ll see it’s used by (and attributed to) many people. Data is a precious and highly valuable commodity. Data is the fuel pumping through today’s digital business, powering communications and commerce. Organizations the world over are mining data to turn raw information into real insight—to drive sales and grow their...

Governance, Risk & Compliance, or Generating Real Capability! How do we use GRC as a business enabler, and focus on the benefits it brings?

The FISMA SI-7 Buyer’s Guide focuses on one of the most difficult security controls agencies must adhere to: NIST 800-53 SI-7. Learn what solutions to look for.

When the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced that it had released its new Cybersecurity Framework in 2014, it appeared on the surface to be just one more option for organizations looking to develop a cohesive and effective cyber risk management strategy. Indeed, there are dozens of choices available and organizations have been all over the map when...

We’ve all heard, “it’s not a matter of if you’ll be breached, but when.” If a breach occurs, is your organization prepared to detect it quickly? Now more than ever, corporate executives and boards are asking for assurance that the organization and its sensitive data is adequately protected. This cybersecurity self-assessment is derived from the Cyber-Risk and Oversight...

Network and information systems (NIS) and the essential functions they support play a vital role in society from ensuring the supply of electricity, water, oil and gas to the provisioning of healthcare and the safety of passenger and freight transport. In addition, computerized systems are performing vital safety-related functions designed to protect human lives. For example,...

A common mistake many organizations make is approaching cybersecurity as a series of actions taken in order to check the right compliance boxes. If this sounds familiar, it’s likely that you’ve witnessed something similar to the cycle of crisis-driven audit preparation, a suspenseful audit, remediating based on those findings, and waiting until the next hurried audit...