When it comes to cybercrime, cybercriminals are constantly changing their tactics. Think back to 10 years ago; malware sites — malicious sites that attempt to install malware on a device – were a common attack vector. At the same time, sophisticated ransomware attacks on organizations were rare. Often, ransomware was used to target individuals, sometimes blackmailing them for having been on unsavory sites and asking for a few hundred dollars in ransom.

When the subject is cybersecurity compliance, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is often the first reference that comes to mind. NIST has been around for decades, and its standards for the development of cybersecurity risk management programs are considered the gold standard. There is, however, another standard that applies to service providers that handle customer data, as well as to those firms’ business partners: the SOC 2 audit.

Everyone tracks progress. Whether it’s academics, health, or job skills, people need visibility into where they started and how well they’re advancing toward a goal. From a business perspective, tracking progress gives insight into whether the organization is prioritizing activities for long-term initiatives or whether it needs to take corrective action. Sometimes, the progress reports remain internal. Other times, organizations share them with customers and business partners.

The CISO of a large state agency shared with me the automated tools he used to mine intelligence about his IT suppliers, and their sub-suppliers and interconnections by way of vetting for security posture. He truly recognized the threat of third parties long before the SolarWinds hack. His due diligence sparked inspiration for this blog. Can a business assume that third party security controls are strong enough to protect their digital supply chains? What about cloud-based assets?

Hybrid clouds are an elegant and adaptable technology solution for combining public and private cloud storage with more traditional IT infrastructure. While the hybrid cloud model provides a number of benefits, it requires a different security approach than private data storage options. Keep reading to learn more about the pros and cons of hybrid cloud computing, as well as the best security measures for protecting the data stored there.

Although the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) has been around for nearly two decades, many companies still struggle to meet compliance requirements. Initially enacted in response to public companies mishandling financial reporting, SOX is a compliance requirement for all public companies. Understanding SOX compliance, as well as its requirements and controls, helps organizations create more robust governance processes.

The recent flurry of supply chain attacks has left a trail of carnage spanning across the globe Because supply chain attacks compromise a higher number of victims with less effort, cybercriminals are unlikely to forgo this efficient attack method without a fight.

Threat intelligence provides valuable insight into contextual business risk. You can gain insight into threat actors targeting your industry or information from your organization located on the Dark Web. According to one report, 79% of security professionals find threat data feeds essential to their organization’s cybersecurity posture. Additionally, 63% of respondents noted that they use feeds to ensure a better defense.

The connected nature of business environments has increased the severity and frequency of cyberattacks in the insurance sector. Insurance companies face a greater threat than most industries because they deal with sensitive and valuable data stemming from numerous avenues. This has resulted in several high-profile cyberattacks on insurance providers over the past few years.

Since the Colonial Pipeline incident in May 2021, the word “ransomware” has been circulating in public opinion and even in recent remarks from President Biden and law enforcement, along with warnings about how this type of advanced cyberattack on companies and individuals should be avoided.  But what exactly is ransomware? Why are we suddenly talking so much about it now?

The risks that threaten your vendors and contractors threaten your company as well. Every additional party added to your supply chain expands the scope of your risk and creates more opportunities for your compliance program to fail.  Some new suppliers may be reluctant to be fully transparent with you about their own risks and security measures. Nevertheless, it’s crucial that you work with your vendors to keep all potential threats at bay.

Technology is always changing, and as it does, businesses are constantly adopting new technologies to streamline their business processes and improve deliveries of goods and services. With those new technologies, however, comes risk. Every new technology opens up a business to digital threats. Sometimes those threats come from the untested nature of leading-edge technology, and sometimes those threats are simply associated with the learning curve of users within an organization.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are how organizations measure success. Supplier management KPIs assure that value is received for the money spent with suppliers and vendors while keeping one eye on cost savings. When evaluating your organization’s supply chain, you can review several areas, such as: Supplier management across the entire lifecycle can be difficult because of the sheer number of vendors and suppliers a corporate organization typically uses.

Supply chains are an essential part of today’s on-demand economy. However, they also expand your ecosystem, increasing the threat surface that you need to secure. While compliance assessments document vendor controls and enable you to manage third-party risk, responding to and completing them takes time. These delays can make your procurement team feel like you’re trying to disqualify their vendor.

As more companies migrate to the cloud, the way that companies protect data changes as well. In a traditional on-premises network architecture, companies were able to follow the “trust but verify” philosophy. However, protecting cloud data needs to take the “never trust always verify” approach. Understanding what a Zero Trust Architecture is and how to implement one can help enhance security.

This past year saw nearly a 300% increase in reported cybercrimes, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). There has been a clear rise in threat volume and sophistication as many cybercriminals shift to techniques that can effectively evade detection and easily go after high-value targets. IoT devices are becoming a focus for threat actors, and threats related to credential harvesting and ransomware are also growing in number.

Knowing what’s in your open source software, whether you’re a consumer or producer, can help you manage security risks in your supply chain Modern open source software (OSS) is a movement that started in the eighties as a reaction to commercial software becoming more closed and protected. It allowed academics, researchers, and hobbyists to access source code that they could reuse, modify, and distribute openly.

New IT Distribution Partner to Enable Simplified Support for VARs SAN FRANCISCO – July 12, 2021 – Reciprocity, a leader in information security risk and compliance, today announced it has expanded the Reciprocity® Partner Program to now enable InfoSec solution providers and Value Added Resellers (VARs) to develop and deliver innovative products and services supported by the award-winning ZenGRC® platform.

Coming into force on May 25th, 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was a landmark for data protection. Trading blocs, governments, and privacy organizations took note, and over the last three years, GDPR has inspired new data privacy legislation worldwide.

In a SecureAuth survey, 62% of respondents claimed to use the same password across three to seven different accounts. It begs the question: If passwords play an integral role in cybersecurity performance, why are people so remiss when it comes to practicing good password hygiene? Practicing good password hygiene is a security measure that organizations must take to protect against cyber threats.

I was recently asked to host a round table discussion on ‘Governance, Risk and Compliance‘ (GRC), and I have to admit I was more than a little excited. Why? Because the other people around the table were leading lights in the world of Cybersecurity, Risk and Resilience, and I was looking forward to exploring how a GRC framework can work across industries and learning some valuable lessons from those around our virtual table.

In the world of cybersecurity, there are no holidays and days off as proven by the ransomware attacks that began during the Fourth of July weekend, impacting users of the Kaseya VSA remote management and monitoring software.

Financial institutions lost $16.9 billion to account takeover and identity fraud in 2019 alone, and the shift to online financial services during the pandemic only exacerbated the problem. At the same time, the 60 percent jump in compliance costs and risk management spending since the 2008 financial crisis has left retail and corporate banks with little discretionary funding.

Security ratings are one out of the myriad of tools that security, IT, and vendor risk management teams rely on. In fact, we know that companies deploy an average of 47 different cybersecurity solutions and technologies; yet only 39% of security leaders believe that they are getting full value from their security investments. That’s why we built our Zapier app, enabling you to connect SecurityScorecard to over 3,000 apps and automate key workflows based on SecurityScorecard data.