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 follow to ensure...

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 occurring in your systems and...

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 the health care...

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, banking and finance...

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 minimize the theft...

The IRS 1075 publication lays out a framework of compliance regulations to ensure federal tax information (FTI) is treated with adequate security provisioning to protect its confidentiality. This may sound simple enough, but IRS 1075 puts forth a complex set of managerial, operational and technical security controls you must continuously follow in order to maintain ongoing compliance. Any...

The National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA) is the government entity in charge of cybersecurity in Saudi Arabia, encompassing both regulatory and operational functions related to cybersecurity. National Cybersecurity Authority Essential Cybersecurity Controls The NCA works closely with public and private entities to improve the cybersecurity posture of the country in order to safeguard its vital...

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

To enhance your Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) compliance grade, you must implement one of the most challenging controls in NIST SP 800-53: the Controls, Family: System Information & Integrity (SI) 7 requirement. SI-7 states that organizations must employ automated and centrally managed integrity verification tools to detect unauthorized change. This level of visibility can be...

The United States Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or 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...