Non-compliance in cybersecurity marks a grave oversight. It involves neglecting established security protocols, leaving organizations vulnerable to malicious actors. Read on as we examine the potential risks of non-compliance, including heightened susceptibility to cyberattacks, the specter of data breaches, and the erosion of a company's hard-earned...

Cyber threats are growing more sophisticated, covert, and frequent every day. This year alone has seen the likes of T-Mobile and PharMerica suffering serious security breaches. These incidents disrupted operations and threatened their bottom lines, not to mention the lingering aftereffects and negative brand perception in the eyes of their customers. ...

The basic parameters that control how hardware, software, and even entire networks operate are configurations, whether they take the form of a single configuration file or a collection of connected configurations. For instance, the default properties a firewall uses to control traffic to and from a company's network, such as block lists, port forwarding...

The Network and Information Security 2 (NIS2) Directive is the European Union's (EU) second attempt at an all-encompassing cybersecurity directive. The EU introduced the legislation to update the much-misinterpreted Network and Information Security (NIS) Directive (2016) and improve the cybersecurity of all member states. It signed NIS2 into law in...

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a set of privacy and security standards put into effect by the European Union (EU). Widely accepted as the world's strictest security and privacy law, GDPR imposes regulations on organizations that target or collect data relating to people in the EU. European Parliament signed GDPR into law in 2016,...

I recently spoke at a Fortra Webinar about CIS and MITRE. More specifically, I discussed the intersection between the CIS Critical Security Controls, CIS Benchmarks, and MITRE ATT&CK. In this post, I won't go into deep details about the core background, but there are plenty of excellent references available online, including our breakdown of the various...

In our increasingly digital world, global communications and financial interactions are nigh inescapable for anyone in any industry or walk of life. The infrastructure in place for international transactions is complex and layered, containing moving parts that work in tandem to make things like transferring money nearly seamless. Many of those moving...

Have you heard of the NIS Directive? The full name is quite a mouthful, "DIRECTIVE (EU) 2022/2555 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 14 December 2022 on measures for a high common level of cybersecurity across the Union". The informal name has been shortened to the Network and Information Security (NIS) Directive. The aim of the directive...

Over the following years, the costs associated with cybercrime, projected at $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, will exceed the estimated worldwide cybersecurity spending—$267.3 billion annually by 2026. Leadership needs to change its perspective on managing cyber risks instead of just spending more money to match the losses incurred. Cyber risk...

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 also...

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 Act...

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...

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 people...

When did you last have a light-bulb moment? For me, it was very recent. I was working with a client, supporting them in their latest Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) annual compliance assessment, and, in discussion with the Qualified Security Assessor (QSA), I had a sudden urge to challenge something we’ve all, always, believed to...

If you blinked, you might have missed it… On October 25th 2022, the new standard for the Information Security Management System,  ISO27001 was released. Without fuss, and without fanfare. But, to quote a famous movie, “There was a great disturbance in the force.” ISO27001 is possibly one of the world's best-known standards for Information Security...

When it comes to acronyms, Technology and Cybersecurity often rival various branches of government.  Technology acronyms are usually somewhat bland, amounting to little more than the arcane argot of the profession, such as SOC, SIEM, and DNS.  Government, however, rarely disappoints in its inventiveness, whether it is the acronym of the Puppies...

In the business world, compliance means making sure that companies of all sizes are meeting the standards set by regulatory or oversight groups in various laws and standards, such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOX, and GDPR. Sometimes, an organization will self-impose its compliance by adhering to guidance and frameworks from organizations such as NIST, ISACA, ISO...

Being in a more connected environment benefits all of us, from those using social media to stay in touch with far-away relatives, to businesses enjoying the rewards of remote working. But, while connectivity is great and offers many positives, it also creates vulnerabilities. Companies that handle sensitive data may find themselves the target and...