Companies in the healthcare industry are attractive targets for cybercrime. That’s why the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) developed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) to define and safeguard protected health information (PHI). Initially, HIPAA focused on the privacy and security of PHI to curb the number of cyberattacks. But with the passing of the HITECH Act, HHS built on the original framework to specify what companies should do when a HIPAA Breach Notification Rule does happen. (more…)
Blog
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Why Your Business Needs Vulnerability Management Tools
For organizations strengthening their cybersecurity posture, vulnerability management tools are essential. These tools help businesses continuously identify, assess, prioritize, and remediate vulnerabilities across networks, systems, applications, and cloud environments.
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Top Five Consequences of HIPAA Violations
HIPAA violations pose serious risks to healthcare organizations, both financially and reputationally. These laws are designed to protect patient privacy and maintain the integrity of healthcare services, but failing to comply can cripple a business for years. Many organizations struggle to recover from the financial penalties, remediation costs, and damaged trust caused by a single breach.
Intentional HIPAA violations can cost millions of dollars and may result in criminal charges for responsible individuals. Even unintentional violations, such as negligence or human error, can trigger fines, employee sanctions, and termination.
Ignoring HIPAA compliance does not guarantee safety. Violations can surface years later, and retroactive penalties can leave organizations paying for past mistakes. Taking HIPAA seriously today helps prevent long-term consequences tomorrow. (more…)
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What is a Hardened Baseline Configuration?
Attackers and exploits pose constant threats to the security of an organization’s systems and data. Navigating all the aspects of securing a system and implementing controls is an involved process that’s never finished, as threats are always evolving. A hardened baseline configuration will mitigate attacks and reduce the impact of incidents against your organization’s systems. (more…)
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Top 10 Network Security Threats
Network security is continually becoming an area of tremendous focus for companies of all sizes. Whether you’re a corporation or a small-to-medium sized business (SMB), you’re a target for a variety of network attacks that can stop your business in its tracks.
There are a plethora of network security threats that businesses should be aware of to ensure the continuous protection of their systems, software, and data. Let’s review what we believe to be the top 10 network security threats and solutions that you can use to protect your network from being compromised by these malicious attacks. (more…)
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NIST Security Operations Center Best Practices
The NIST Security framework, formally known as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF), provides a structured and risk-based approach to protecting critical systems and data. For organizations operating a Security Operations Center (SOC), aligning with NIST security best practices strengthens detection, response, compliance, and overall cyber resilience.
The NIST CSF is built around five core functions: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover. Together, these functions serve as a practical roadmap for building, auditing, and improving your SOC.
In this guide, we explain:
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NIST CSF SOC implementation
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A complete security operations center audit checklist
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How to perform a SOC gap assessment
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Whether managed SOC services are right for your organization
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NERC CIP Standards Summary: All Mandatory Requirements, Explained
Compliance with the NERC CIP standards is critical to mitigating cybersecurity risks to North America’s bulk electric system (BES), which is also known as the bulk power system (BPS). The NERC CIP provides a comprehensive list of security controls to help organizations effectively and securely operate the BES. Read our blog to get a sense of the NERC CIP standards summary. (more…)
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What Are System Hardening Standards?
Limiting the points of entry in an environment to as few as possible reduces the number of points that can be targeted for attacks, making that environment easier to secure. The same principle applies to system hardening standards. To implement them effectively, it’s critical to understand NIST’s recommendations and tailor your baseline to your organization’s needs. (more…)
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5 Steps of the Incident Management Lifecycle
The Incident Management Lifecycle is a structured process designed to restore IT services as quickly as possible after disruption. Within the ITIL incident management lifecycle, organizations follow five critical steps to identify, track, prioritize, and resolve incidents while meeting service level agreements (SLAs).
The 5 steps of incident management are:
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Incident Identification
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Incident Logging
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Incident Categorization
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Incident Prioritization
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Incident Response and Resolution
Together, these steps form the foundation of an effective incident management process. Here’s how each stage works — and why it matters. (more…)
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What Is Cryptography in Cyber Security: Types, Examples & More
Cryptography in cyber security is one of the most important technologies used to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access. From HTTPS encryption on websites to database encryption in enterprise systems, modern organizations rely heavily on cryptographic methods to safeguard information.
But what exactly is cryptography in cyber security — and how does it work?
At its core, cryptography is the process of converting readable data (plaintext) into an unreadable format (ciphertext) using encryption algorithms and cryptographic keys. Only authorized users with the correct key can decrypt and access the information.
In this guide, we’ll explain:
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The types of cryptography
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Symmetric vs asymmetric cryptography
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How encryption and decryption work
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Real-world examples of cryptography
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The benefits of cryptography in network security
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