Blog

For some time now, organizations around the globe have been met with looming cybersecurity threats, increased pressure from stakeholders, and catastrophic internal IT Security fatigue. As a result, one of the most in-demand leadership positions is the Chief Information Security Officer. Just like numerous other “as a service” platforms, the rise of “CISO as a Service” or Virtual CISO (vCISO) has also become a major game-changer for emerging and medium-sized businesses, allowing them to gain the same cybersecurity direction as a large enterprise, but at a fraction of the cost.

For most of the 2000s, companies without an IT department seemed doomed to fail. Amazon is a prime example of what is possible with the internet and innovative leadership (pun intended). Times have changed. It now it seems like organizations are doomed for humiliation without a proper cybersecurity program and consequently a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for cybersecurity direction.

Wouldn’t it be a dream come true if you could predict the future and know what market changes, natural disasters (or pandemics), and cyber threats will occur around your organization? While we don’t have a hack for this, we do know a risk assessment helps prepare your organization for any unforeseen circumstances such as these.

The Idaho Technology Council hosted an excellent virtual conference, Develop.Idaho, on February 25th, 2021. This event has been running for 10 years and has grown dramatically since inception. Introductions were provided by ITC's President, Jay Larsen, and a keynote speaker and CEO of Albertsons, Vivek Shankaran.

They say, “rules are meant to be broken,” but in the case of a cybercriminal, rules are meant to be created… Email rules that is. A new twist on the age-old email phishing tactic has enabled attackers to cause over $1.7 billion in losses since 2019. Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams account for more than half of all losses according to the FBI’s Cyber Crime Report.

New year, new business contracts, right? Ever since the Department of Defense (DoD) introduced its new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program there has been a ton of uncertainty. Many contractors are idling in a learning mode to see how it plays out. Unfortunately, those who still want to do business with the federal government will find themselves at a crossroads in 2021.

Government contractors today are constantly under the scrutiny of security compliance. After all, breaching a government contractor is an efficient path to stealing valuable U.S economic as well as national security information. These attaches are actively carried out by nation-state threat actors. Several years ago, the Department of Defense (DoD) worked with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to create a security manual to address this issue- it was titled NIST SP 800-171. However, implementing NIST SP 800-171 has proved difficult as fulfilling its requirement can be costly and almost unattainable for contractors with low cyber literacy. This year the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) was released to revamp the existing requirements for DoD contractors and help address the complications associated with NIST SP 800-171.

A service organization control audit, or SOC 2 audit, provides a report on an organization’s security controls. There are two types of SOC 2 reports, Type I and Type II, which we have touched on in other posts. Here we’ll discuss why B2B tech companies of all sizes are pursuing SOC 2 audits more than ever before.

On the surface, a SOC 2 certification may sound like just another flashy security badge or boring report that management reads. However, having a successful SOC 2 has been proven to be an asset, supporting company growth by helping organizations land enterprise contracts, grow revenue, and increase their market share.