Most data crimes are the result of online compromises. This makes sense, as the criminals don’t need to know any of the old, dirty, hands-on techniques such as lock-picking, dumpster diving, or any other evasive maneuvers to carry out a successful attack. However, this doesn’t mean that the old methods are completely defunct. Physical security is...

The Department of Defense (DoD) introduced the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) in 2019. This framework outlined a series of security standards contractors must meet to win DoD contracts, so it’s a big concern for many companies. However, four years later, the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification rollout has yet to take effect...

The Gramm-Leach Bliley Act (GLBA or GLB Act), or financial modernization act, is a bi-partisan federal regulation passed in 1999 to modernize the financial industry. It repealed vast swathes of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 and the Bank Holding Act of 1956, allowing commercial banks to offer financial services such as investments or insurance. It...

At the turn of the most recent century, the financial world was in a moment of unregulated growth, which lead to some serious corporate misdeeds in the United States. This presented the opportunity for two senators to enact a new law to ensure accurate and reliable financial reporting for public companies in the US. The result was the Sarbanes-Oxley...

We often hear how a company was compromised by a sophisticated attack. This characterization contains all the romantic thrill of a spy movie, but it is usually not how most companies are victimized. Most breaches usually happen as a result of malware entering the environment. The need to protect against malware is addressed in progressive degrees in...

In April 2023, German artist Boris Eldagsen won the open creative award for his photographic entry entitled, Pseudomnesia: The Electrician. But, the confusing part of the event for the judges and the audience was that he refused to receive the award. The reason was that the photograph was generated by an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool. It was...

What is the SEC? Founded 85 years ago at the height of the Great Depression, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has a clear mission: to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation. Put simply, the SEC aims to protect US investors by maintaining a fair market. The SEC doesn’t work...

If someone asked you “are you protecting your data,” your initial response would probably be to clarify what they are referring to specifically, since the question is so broadly stated. You could just reply with a terse “Yes,” but that is as open-ended and nebulous as the question. The general idea of data protection encompasses so many areas, from...

We have officially entered the 12-month countdown to the enactment of the new Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). The new version, 4.0, set to go into effect on April 1, 2024, contains some interesting and notable changes. Is your organization ready to meet the new requirements? In this 6-part series, we spoke with specialists...

Cybersecurity has risen to become a major concern for nearly every industry. With the constant stream of news about the escalating numbers of breaches, it is understandable that governments have taken a more active role by passing cybersecurity and privacy legislation. Some of the industries are not top of mind to many people. For example, few...

While we all know the actual point of PCI is vastly more far-reaching, we can’t deny that the juggernaut of PCI DSS 4.0 compliance is getting past the auditors. However, there is a right way to do it that doesn’t just check the box – it creates the underlying business operations that enable you to pass an audit any day, at any time, with just the...

Zero Trust seems to no longer command the volume of articles that once set it up as a trend that promised a bright new future for security. This is in part because security is a journey. Rushed implementations and low returns often result in burnout with new technology, and generally the real work happens in the quiet stages when analysts and...

In our webinar, Insights for Navigating PCI DSS 4.0 Milestones, we discuss some of the challenges organizations face as they try to comprehend the new requirements of PCI DSS 4.0. One of the questions we commonly hear is, “How do we prepare for PCI 4.0 deadlines while still maintaining day-to-day operations?” The discussion involved David Bruce,...

The boon of online business and credit card transactions in the early 90s and 2000s resulted in an increasing trend of online payment fraud. Since then, securing business and online card transactions has been a growing concern for all business and payment card companies. The increasing cases of high-profile data breaches and losses from online...

The K-12 Report breaks down the cyber risks faced by public schools across the country and is sponsored by the CIS (Center for Internet Security) and the MS-ISAC (Multi-State Information Sharing & Analysis Center). Published “to prepare K-12 leaders with the information to make informed decisions around cyber risk”, the report provides a data...