RSI Security

Rethinking Your Cybersecurity

Category: Compliance Standards

Staying informed about all of the cyber security compliance standards is essential to keeping your company safe from hackers. Read on to learn about the various steps you can take to stay up to date with your industry’s compliance standards.

How Are E-Commerce Websites Affected By GDPR Regulations?

E-Commerce websites are constantly under scrutiny for a myriad of reasons. Whether it be from consumers or regulatory committees, these websites need to play defense 24/7 to ensure their networks remain compromise-free from the threat of hackers. This is one of the main reasons why the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was adopted in Europe in 2006.

Although GDPR may be somewhat of a regulatory headache for e-commerce websites, it is also important for keeping consumer data secure. With an estimated average of 4,800 e-commerce websites every month becoming compromised by hackers inserting malicious code into their website to steal payment information such as credit card numbers, names, and more – there is no denying that a strong defense is the perfect solution.

This is why having a GDPR compliance checklist for e-commerce companies is incredibly advantageous in helping overcome these malicious network intruders. Let’s walk you through our GDPR e-commerce checklist that helps online retailers understand the importance of GDPR and what rules and regulations they should familiarize themselves and their IT teams with.

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September 13, 2019
HITRUST Scoring Guide: What is it and How Does it Work?

In 2007, the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) took the world of healthcare security by storm when it introduced a framework that does not only protect sensitive information but also manage risks for global organizations across third-party supply chains.

Technically-speaking, the HITRUST Common Security Framework (CSF) characterizes and transforms HITECH and HIPAA requirements into a standard functional procedure which is subsequently documented and compared to other data privacy and security regulations.

This allows healthcare organizations to effectively cultivate compliance and be able to meet an extensive range of regulatory requirements. Apart from bringing together HIPAA and HITECH, the HITRUST CSF also boasts globally-recognized security standards such as PCI, COBIT, FTC, ISO, Red Flags, and NIST which work together to take a visionary approach to risk mitigation and data protection.

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August 30, 2019
HITECH Enforcement & Penalties

When you’re sick and at the doctor’s office, you have to reveal a lot of personal information for the physician to properly treat you. Within your file contains your demographic information, your personal medical history, mental health, tests and lab results, insurance information, and more. All of this falls under a specific category called protected health information (PHI).

In 1996, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in order to protect patients’ PHI. Privacy and security weren’t the only topics covered in HIPAA. It also addressed health insurance prices and changes, encouraged the use of electronic health records (EHRs), and developed the groundwork for a national healthcare standard.

HIPAA was amended — rather, bolstered — in 2009, when Congress passed the HITECH Act. It addressed many of the problems arising from HIPAA and helped bring the framework into the 21st century. It also brought with it harsher penalties for HIPAA noncompliance. To avoid these fees, healthcare providers and their business associates must understand the HITECH Act penalties and enforcement.

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August 28, 2019
What Is HITECH?

When asked about the Obama administration’s efforts to reform the American healthcare system, most people will think of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare.” Many forget or fail to realize that a year prior to the ACA’s creation, Congress had already passed the largest healthcare reform measure in decades in the form of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH).

One of the reasons why HITECH’s addition went mostly unnoticed and unremarked is that it was a subsection of President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Few realized that this stimulus package introduced sweeping changes to the healthcare industry that had far-ranging impacts on the relationship between patients and providers, especially pertaining to healthcare provider treatment of private health information.

Do you want to know what is HITECH in healthcare and how it protects your private information? Read on to find out.

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August 21, 2019
What Are the 3 HITRUST Implementation Levels?

Healthcare is an industry intertwined with our everyday lives. The young and the old alike rely on doctors to keep them healthy and usually, in that pursuit, reveal personal details to their health practitioners. This means consumers put a lot of trust in healthcare companies.

But with technology taking over the mundane tasks of healthcare, threat actors target health institutions for that personal information. The Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) is designed to verify privacy and security compliance combat healthcare fraud. In particular, there are three different levels associated with HITRUST controls.

Learn about each HITRUST level and why it’s important with our comprehensive guide.

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August 1, 2019
What Are The PCI DSS Compliance Regulations for the Cannabis Industry?

The legalization of recreational and medical marijuana in many states and countries around the world has made the global marijuana market one of the fastest-growing industries. According to a recent report by the Grand View Research, Inc., the global legal marijuana market will grow to $66.3 billion by 2025.

Cannabis is being widely used as a pharmaceutical product. It is said to be effective in treating severe medical conditions like arthritis, cancer, and Parkinson’s disease. This has contributed to the increased demand for medicinal marijuana.

Moreover, recreational marijuana or the use of cannabis without medical justification is being legalized in many states and countries. In the United States, 11 states and the District of Columbia have legalized the recreational use of cannabis among adults. Countries like Canada, Belize, Jamaica, Argentina, and the Netherlands have also decriminalized the use of marijuana.

All these developments point to the expansion of the cannabis industry in the years to come. Marijuana dispensaries can maximize their growth potential by complying with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), an information security standard for payment processing. Cashless ATM or point of sale (POS) banking is considered a viable and important platform for marijuana dispensaries to grow their sales. With POS banking, online cannabis dispensaries can accept purchases from customers who use their credit and debit cards.

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July 19, 2019
What is Service Organization Control (SOC)?

Service Organization Control reports (SOC), in a nutshell, help companies with various aspects of their business. Essentially, these reports outsource different responsibilities within a business, like payroll, medical claims processing, document management and much, much more. Typically, they are aspects of a business that a company or “user entity” is not capable of doing as well as the service organization. It also allows the company or “user entity” to concentrate on other facets of their business. These reports come in various types based on the type of work the user entity does.

In this article, we’ll discuss the different types of reports in detail, as well as why you might choose one Service Organization Control report over another. To best understand how it works, it’s important to make sense of the system that came before SOC. Prior to the implementation of Service Organization Control, CPAs used a system called SAS 70.

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July 12, 2019
What Are SOC 2 Trust Service Principles?
As a business owner, you are always looking for ways to set yourself apart from the competition. It may be that your exceptional service, incredible products, or perhaps low prices that give you that competitive edge. Just as important as all these things are to the success of your business, so is establishing a deep level of trust with your customers. One good way to establish this trust is to become SOC 2 Compliant.

There are five trust service principles which include:
- Security
- Availability
- Processing integrity
- Confidentiality
- Privacy
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July 10, 2019
What is HITRUST and How Does it Protect the Healthcare Industry?

If you’re a business owner who operates within the healthcare industry, you know that patients are your top priority. Whether it’s protecting their health or their data, you want to meet a high standard of excellence. Read below for more information on the HITRUST Alliance and how they help protect the healthcare industry.

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July 1, 2019
Privacy Policy Requirements For CCPA

People want privacy when it comes to their personal information; however, sometimes they don’t realize how other companies use their information. Third party involvement and the use of online platforms increase the chances that consumer data will be sold or affected by a data breach. Consequently, California took action to empower consumers. Are you aware of the privacy policy requirements outlined by CCPA? Find out everything you need to know with our complete guide.

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June 28, 2019