katerina, Author at GhostWatch

SOC 3 Report: All You Need to Know

What is a SOC 3 Report, and How Does It Differ from SOC 1 or SOC 2?

The SOC 3 report is one of the most widely recognized reports in the area of security assessment. Its primary purpose is to evaluate an organization’s controls over management systems related to safeguarding sensitive customer information and payment card data. Essentially, it is a quality assurance benchmarking assessment tool for your company’s security policies and procedures.

One of the significant differences between SOC 3 and SOC 1 or SOC 2 reports lies in the scope. While both require compliance with regard to point-of-sale systems and consumer data, SOC 3 also audits the controls for remote devices like laptops and mobile phones. By contrast, a SOC 2 report focuses more on physical control aspects (such as access to computers and servers) while SOC 1 reports evaluate the controls for processing customer transactions. Thus, it is safe to say that a SOC 3 report has a broader scope than its two cousins.

Why Do You Need a SOC 3 Report?

Businesses and financial institutions are at a high risk of being victims of such cybercrimes, with Javelin reporting that companies’ annual cost of fraud is about $2 trillion. They also say that 66% of all data breaches affected small businesses, which should give you even more reason to have your security measures scrutinized.
Because of these appalling facts, it is almost a given that you will need a SOC 3 report for your business. It offers valuable insights into the effectiveness of your prevention strategies and procedures, thus helping you identify areas where you can improve. A high-quality report from an accredited third-party assessor means that you have not only met but also exceeded the standard industry requirements.

Benefits of SOC 3 Report for Your Business

Like we already mentioned, only an outside auditor can do a complete and thorough audit. Once the assessment is done, if any findings show your company is not following all the required security policies, you can fix them before it’s too late. One of the main benefits of getting a SOC 3 report done for your company is that it will help you identify potential security risks and vulnerabilities that you might not have known existed. If these issues are brought to your attention, then you can correct them before the consequences materialize.

Remember, neither the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) nor the SEC requires that companies subject themselves to SOC 2 or SOC 3 audits, so auditing your IT security is entirely voluntary. Because of this, there’s never a wrong time to do it. Even if you think that you’re doing a fantastic job with your security at the moment and have nothing to hide, none of these audits are ever wasted money.

A SOC 3 report involves a Statement of Security Practices (SOSP), which requires that the company disclose its security measures. This document contains information on how your business handles sensitive customer data. It also outlines the solutions you’re using and what protocols are in place to protect this data. If you decide to get a report done, you will be able to share it with your customers to show them that you’re actively working to defend their information against breaches and cyber attacks.

Getting a SOC 3 report is like getting a physical checkup. It’s there to tell you what needs improvement and where else you can improve your business. If you get one done, then you’ll be able to go back and study all of the recommendations given by the auditor and see if they’re worth implementing or not.

TrustNet is a leading provider of information security auditing and consulting services for companies in North America. We offer a wide range of services, including information security audits, penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, and world-class compliance services. From PCI, HIPAA, SOC, SOX to ISO assessments for any size business or organization across multiple industries worldwide, TrustNet has what you need to run a secure operation. Our proprietary project methodology ensures that each client is getting only services they require based on their needs. It lowers costs and improves efficiency while still providing an unparalleled level of expertise from our experts, who have over ten years of experience working as consultants in these fields worldwide.

SOC 2 Common Criteria

Safety is essential, especially for those who are on the Internet. That is why we have SOC 2 compliance reports. These reports outline how an organization protects data from a variety of threats and privacy issues. The AICPA has set up five common criteria that organizations must meet to comply with SOC 2 compliance report standards: security, availability, confidentiality, processing integrity, and privacy. Now let’s review the different criteria you’ll need to follow to be compliant.

What is SOC 2 Report?

SOC 2 is the set of practices and procedures that define a method for providing evidence to auditors on controls and identity protection. SOC stands for Service Organization Controls, one of six control frameworks from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). It was developed in 2001 and replaced COSO as a control framework after a decade. It was further enhanced in 2009 and again in 2013. SOC 2 is intended to be used as a report or assessment for internal use by service organizations providing services to external customers.
A SOC 2 Report provides an audit trail of the control activities within an organization from inception through design, development, implementation, and testing until final deployment into production. It is a collection of evidence that proves the company’s customer data, privacy, and security controls are working as they should be.

SOC 2 Common Criteria

A Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 report is a document provided by a third-party auditor that validates and attests to a specific system’s security, availability, processing integrity, and privacy controls. A SOC 2 report is based on five common criteria.

Security

Clear policies about security must be in place for any organization, especially if they are providing services or software over the Internet. Your organization must be able to detect any unauthorized access or modifications to your data. You must also have a process in place that immediately responds to any detected incidents. Your response will include containment, eradication, recovery, and reporting. Data integrity measures should consist of checksum mechanisms to ensure data is not accidentally or maliciously modified. The organization’s security policy could be a part of the overall plan or a separate document that includes methods for ensuring access to your systems is limited, protecting physical assets such as servers and computers from unauthorized access, etc.

A few points to consider when providing a safe environment for your company and its customers include strong authentication, secure communication, and secure storage. Always remember that you will want to do regular updates on your security systems. If there is a vulnerability in the system, then this could be the point where someone will enter your company and potentially steal information. Updating your security programs lets everyone know that you recognize these threats and make sure they can’t happen.

Availability

When it comes to making sure your system is available for use, certain things will help keep everything secure and stable, while others will help ensure that everyone can use the system when they need to. Your organization must provide timely access to data and information with the proper levels of quality for internal and external customers. The plan should detail what needs to be done in case of a system failure or outage. Staff will need procedures on how to get things back up and running as quickly as possible without compromising security concerns. Backing up means everything stays safe and sound when problems are encountered. You will probably want to keep a copy of everything on an external server and another copy on a USB drive or hard drive. This way, you can ensure that your information is always available should something happen to the central system!

Confidentiality

When you are working towards complying with SOC 2, one of the most important things you’ll need to do is protect information. Your data must be kept private, and your organization should be able to detect unauthorized access. Your plan should detail who has access to what data and how that information is protected against non-standard means of accessing it. Data integrity measures will be another part of ensuring the confidentiality of your data, along with physical security methods such as alarms and cameras.

Processing integrity

You must have a way to ensure your data is handled in a correct, consistent manner such that it maintains the integrity of your organization’s financial statements. It covers logical access controls as well as verification of information entered by users. Employees will need training on how to use programs with proper security methods. The program may also include testing data entries for accuracy and procedural controls to ensure the integrity of the process.

Privacy

Your organization will need to protect your client’s personal information and comply with HIPAA laws requiring you to safeguard the data. You must have a way to ensure that confidential information is kept private and secure and detect when someone is attempting to access it in an unauthorized manner. Any security breaches should be addressed immediately, with your response including containment, eradication, and recovery plus reporting.

The SOC 2 compliance report provides a detailed outline of the five common criteria. Security, availability, confidentiality, processing integrity, and privacy are all important to consider for your company’s security. With these considerations in mind, you can provide timely access to data with the proper levels of quality for internal and external customers and maintain data integrity measures that will keep everything safe from unauthorized access.
If you want your company’s cybersecurity efforts certified by AICPA and don’t know where to start, we are here for you! Contact us today for more information on our services.

SOC 2 vs. ISO 27001: Which Is Your Best Fit?

The SOC 2 Compliance is an evaluation of the security controls and models of a company. It assists in ensuring that the company will be following an established control model and that there are well-documented procedures for identifying risks. The assessment for SOC 2 compliance is also helping to measure any possible data breaches or vulnerabilities and have a process in place for responding and investigating these findings.

It’s important to note that the SOC 2 compliance does not provide assurance directly related to security, as this is an area where other assessments may be needed. It should also be said that this assessment isn’t designed for regulatory purposes or required by law. However, it can help organizations meet compliance requirements or guidelines.

A SOC 2 compliance report is a document that provides an overview of the company’s information security program. The report can be used as evidence to provide the coverage necessary for compliance and certification purposes.

The reports are created by professionals who specialize in governance, risk management, and assessments, and they are based on an established control model. A SOC 2 compliance report is also helpful because it can help identify any vulnerabilities or breaches and provide information on responding to these findings.
The information contained within this document covers all functional elements of the Security Standards Council (SSC) issued Security Controls S-XML Specification, which is required for all third-party audits conducted by SSAE 16 (Engagements Other Than Due Diligence) and SSAE 18 (Due Diligence) auditors.

The SOC 2 Compliance is an essential report for any organization that wants to be compliant with regulations and guidelines, but it isn’t designed as a security measure. However, organizations can use the information in this report not only to meet compliance requirements or standards but also to identify vulnerabilities and breaches. This type of assessment is typically used by organizations that want to be sure their security control framework meets all data protection requirements.

What is ISO 27001

ISO 27001 is an internationally recognized standard for information security that provides a framework from which organizations can design, implement, and maintain their information security management system. Organizations may choose to use ISO 27001 as the basis of the SOC report because this type is designed for compliance with regulations and includes provisions related to risk assessment, confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
There are a lot of benefits that organizations can receive from receiving ISO 27001 certification. One example is the assurance that the information security framework is comprehensive and covers the various risks. Another benefit that many organizations find is that it improves their reputation among their stakeholders because it demonstrates their commitment to upholding the high standards needed. The certificate also provides an understanding of what needs to be done to maintain security. Relying on SOC 2 evaluations and audits alone may not provide enough protection, but by receiving ISO 27001 certification, companies can be assured they have all of the bases covered.
Other benefits include being able to take advantage of more cost-effective and flexible approaches for information security management and increased levels of visibility into their information security posture and risks.
This type of assessment is typically used by organizations that want to ensure their security control framework meets all data protection requirements. ISO 27001 specifies management practices to protect information assets in a way that helps avoid risks of harm or disruption to the organization.

SOC 2 vs. ISO 27001

SOC stands for Service Organization Controls (or Standards). At the same time, ISO 27001 is an International Standard that specifies management practices to protect information assets in a way that helps avoid risks of harm or disruption to the organization.
The differences between these two certifications are minor. Both certifications can help you maintain the integrity of your data and provide a way to demonstrate compliance with specific regulations. However, some key differences make an audit go differently for each type of certification: SOC is a set of auditing standards established by independent boards made up primarily of stakeholders from outside the company, whereas ISO 27001 has been developed and maintained by a non-governmental organization.
Both SOC and ISO 27001 are voluntary, but organizations must undergo a certification process to meet specific security standards before receiving the certificate. Unlike other certifications, these two involve an audit by a third-party company tasked with confirming compliance. The auditing process is overseen by independent boards made up of people outside the business.
One of the main differences between SOC 2 and ISO 27001 is that both are designed for different purposes. SOC reports can be used as evidence to meet compliance, certification, or similar requirements. At the same time, an assessment is done under ISO 27001 is typically designed for organizations that want to be sure their security control framework meets all the data protection requirements.
SOC certification is more likely to be required by businesses that deal with a lot of sensitive data on behalf of their clients or partners. In contrast, ISO 27001 may not be as beneficial for those companies because SOC doesn’t touch on privacy and confidentiality.

Hopefully, this article gave you the tools to help determine whether your organization is better suited towards SOC 2 or ISO 27001.
If you’re unsure which one of these two certifications is best for your organization, contact our team of experts today! We’re happy to help you decide which option will work the best for your company and make sure you meet all security standards across your business.

SOC 2 Trust Principles

SOC 2 is the most widely used standard to measure and monitor an organization’s information security. It provides a set of principles that are proven to lead to sustainable competitive advantages in the marketplace. It was developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) to certify that service organizations meet specific internal controls standards. Anyone can request a SOC 2 compliance report, and there are no adverse effects because the reports are purely informational. In addition, any person or company can participate as a client, supplier, or end-user.

SOC 2 can be thought of as a set of pre-agreed rules and procedures, which allow certified entities such as cloud vendors to disclose audited financials. The basic idea is that SOC 2 will enable companies to acknowledge the existence of their data centers and give cost estimates for them. Additionally, it offers an improved level of legal protection for companies (some might say “enhanced liability” protection) that move their data to cloud vendors with a SOC 2 certificate.

SOC2 is important for several reasons. First, many of the largest enterprises are either already using cloud services or plan to do so soon. That is especially true for large companies such as GE or Boeing, which have been shifting many of their internal workloads to clouds. Second, SOC 2 is used as a symbol of trust by third parties such as investors. Because of this, companies can benefit from the enhanced level of legal protection that comes with SOC 2 certification.

The service component is a significant distinction of a SOC 2 compliance report and addresses the fundamental change in business processes over the last decade. Technology services used to be aligned with product sales activity, but today technology services are being “outsourced” for companies’ day-to-day operations.

As a result, you may want to request a SOC 2 compliance report as part of the vendor selection process. In addition, if you are a vendor being considered for providing technology services to a client, the SOC 2 compliance report will be one component in that decision-making process. The report can confirm that your company’s governance and operational controls are adequate to support a client relationship with the company.

SOC 2 Trust Principles

The five principles of trust are competence, integrity, availability, confidentiality, and security. The first four principles are referred to as the “trust service principles.” The fifth principle is related to information technology. When fully implemented, these five principles result in an environment with sustainable competitive advantages. Competence requires that organizations employ knowledgeable individuals at all levels of the organization. Integrity refers to the organization’s adherence to a set of values, both internal and external. The third principle is about availability, which requires that the service auditor has access at all times for independent evaluation of controls in place. Confidentiality is also critical: inappropriate release of sensitive information could affect an individual or even an entire company. Finally, security is all of the steps taken by an organization to ensure compliance with confidentiality and other privacy rules.
The five principles are listed in a hierarchy, which implies that when one or more trust service principles are not satisfied, organizations should work on fulfilling the overriding principles. For example, if an organization does not have security, its confidentiality may be at risk.
SOC 2 compliance is based on these five principles. It gets measured against a defined set of criteria, which leads to the development of a SOC 2 compliance report for customers to review. For a SOC 2 report, these principles are translated into controls to be tested by the service auditor.

The Most Common Myths about SOC Compliance
Myth: My company is too small to hurt if I don’t comply.
Facts: You may think that your company is just too small to bother with compliance, but the reality is that any negative attention could be detrimental to your reputation and business. If you are audited, not only will it cost a great deal of money – it also will reflect poorly on both your company and its customers who do meet these requirements.
Myth: I can fix everything later.
Facts: If you’re not ready to comply, then start now because things are only going to get more complicated. The time to fix your processes is before you are audited.

Myth: I don’t have any customers, so why should I comply?
Facts: You may not have any customers now, but there will be some level of compliance when you do get one. The best time to learn about and implement the necessary levels of security is at this point, before an audit.
Myth: It’s too expensive, or we need to keep our options open.
Facts: The cost of remediation may seem like a lot in the short term, but if a service contract has a termination clause, that could cost far more money than fixing the problem now. When you know you have an audit, it’s time to get on top of compliance.

Myth: I have a small company and don’t want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to comply.
Facts: When you can prevent the fines for non-compliance by spending money up-front, it’s definitely worth the cost. If your organization is compliant now, there will be no penalty when you are audited.

Myth: You don’t need an expert – do you have any good friends that know the law?
Facts: You may think you know the law, but most individuals are not experts when it comes to technology. When it comes to your company’s reputation and IT security, you should have a professional team do the work.

The SOC 2 Trust Principles are paramount to any business that values its customers and reputation. If you want a competitive advantage, your organization must comply with these principles to maintain integrity, security, confidentiality, availability, and competence. Our team of experts can help you comply with SOC 2 requirements and establish a foundation for future growth.

How to get a SOC 2 Report: A Deeper Look

A SOC 2 report is an audit of your company’s security and trust practices. This report is a more detailed version of the SOC 1 report. It’s an audit that provides assurance and validation for customers and potential customers on how you, the company, handle their data. SOC 2 looks at many areas to determine whether the customer can rest easy when it comes to their data being held by your organization or not. It covers many things that would pertain to how you manage and maintain customer data. A SOC 2 report spans technology and applications to the people involved in handling your customer’s data.
Before getting into details about how to get a SOC 2 report, it is crucial to understand a few things about the certification process for customers.

· The purpose of the SOC2 audit is not only to assure that you are handling your customer’s data correctly, but it also provides validation on how you work with your clients. It means that all procedures and processes in your company that pertain to how you work with your customers will be audited and analyzed to determine whether it is working correctly or not. The SOC2 certification process looks at the methods, procedures, and technology used for you to function daily.

· SOC 2 means Service Organization Control 2. It is a set of standards and best practices that have been created by the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) to provide assurance to customers that their information is being handled correctly. It isn’t something that one can do overnight. It takes time and effort for your company to meet all the requirements needed for the certification process.

· The customer must have confidence in the organization that it is handling its data correctly. They need to see that you are following through with your security and trust practices and demonstrating these things for all aspects of your company, including technology, people, and procedures.

How Do You Achieve SOC 2 Compliance?

SOC 2 certification has three main components that need to be met for your company to achieve it:

• The Trust Services Principles (TSPs) must be adhered to throughout the organization’s practices and procedures. These rules cover a wide range of topics, including customer service and the protection of your customer’s data.
• The Trust Service Criteria (TSCs) for each principle are to be met throughout the company, and that must also be adhered to for you to achieve SOC 2 compliance. These criteria are guidelines that the AICPA has set for each of the principles.
• The common criteria are rules that have been put into place for the auditing process. Common criteria are not included in TSPs or TSCs, but they are adhered to throughout all parts of your business and how you conduct yourself with customers.

Complying with the requirements of SOC 2 is a combination of you doing things yourself and using an outside source. The AICPA does require that an independent 3rd party helps in the certification process. It means that your company will have to pay for this service, but it’s worth it in the end.

What Are Some Things That SOC 2 Examines?

SOC 2 examiners will look at your business for how you handle passwords, data encryption, and the disconnection of services and training provided to employees. They will also ensure all employees are up-to-date with the latest technological developments and essential security updates within your organization.

· SOC 2 compliance measures how well you are protecting customer data/information. To accomplish this, they will be checking many things, including your physical and logical security access, as well as safeguarding the data itself.
· Accessibility – SOC 2 examiners will be making sure that your company is implementing controls to keep everyone out of harm’s way, not just customers but employees as well. All entrances to data centers and offices should have at least two layers of security to keep out intruders.
· Logical/Physical Controls – Logical controls consist of your systems and networks, and physical controls deal with access to these areas and who has control over them. As part of this section, they will be ensuring that the proper security measures are taken to protect data and customer information from outside and internal sources.
· Logical controls are broken down into two sections, including a network perimeter and an inside perimeter. Interconnection between servers and other devices defines a network perimeter. At the same time, an inside perimeter refers to the switches and routers to ensure that access to data is kept within certain boundaries.

How Can You Make Sure That All Your Systems Are Secure And Protected?

You have to make sure that you are getting the proper amount of protection for any sensitive information you may be dealing with and make sure that if someone is trying to break into your system, they cannot bring it down.
The first step in securing your data is by ensuring that you can protect it correctly. It means you must have the proper amount of physical and logical security in place.
The second step is to implement controls that make sure all systems are working correctly, and if they are not, you need to take measures to get them back online before continuing with your business.
The third step is to make sure that you can identify any problem that may arise and then deal with it as soon as possible. It goes hand-in-hand with your first step of having the proper amount of protection in place, so if a breach does happen, you can detect it early on before things get out of control.
The fourth and final step is to make sure you are getting any patches or updates regularly so that your systems can stay protected from any outside forces looking to harm.

How much does it cost to get a SOC 2 report?

The cost of getting a SOC 2 report depends on the complexity of an organization’s information security controls. The more complex the organization – and the more controls it has in place – the longer and more expensive it is to produce a report.
For example, health care providers with many complex systems and business processes will have a more detailed and complicated SOC 2 report than small businesses with fewer systems and more straightforward procedures.
The reason is that the smaller business has fewer controls in place, so there’s less to evaluate and document. The same applies to a large corporation with many information systems and business processes; the more extensive its operations, the more controls it will have in place.

Change Management Policy

What is Change Management?

Changes made to infrastructure and applications could impact your business in many possible ways – from a millisecond delay in processing data to system downtime to an increase or decrease of available resources. In today’s competitive market, you must give yourself leverage by creating strict processes that document how changes are made and the impacts. That will save you time and money while allowing your organization to scale quickly when needed.

Change management is a process of controlling all changes made to infrastructure and applications to ensure that there are no negative impacts to the business. Change management is critical in environments where compliance is required but so are high availability and business continuity.

What is Change Management Policy?

A change management policy is a written document that describes what is allowed when it comes to changes in your infrastructure and applications. It provides clear guidance on what requirements need to be met before any new code or configuration can be rolled out onto production servers. The policy should also contain clearly defined roles and responsibilities for those involved in the change life cycle. By creating this set of standards and guidelines, you help to ensure repeatable success while avoiding costly mistakes. Ultimately, it helps your organization save money by limiting downtime and avoiding system errors.

A firm change management policy is one of the most effective ways to make your infrastructure stable and manageable. One way to accomplish this goal is by tying together changes made in a development environment with those deployed in staging and production environments. This automation process helps you record how each change was implemented, who authorized it when they completed it, and the business value it provides to your company. In addition, it ensures that necessary tests are performed before code is deployed into production and that any errors in the code are quickly identified and fixed.

Change management policy is vital for any service company because it provides guidelines on how to make changes, how to test them and helps you comply with increasingly stringent regulatory requirements.

In summary, a change management policy ensures that critical system changes are properly recorded, documented, and shared throughout the company. It, therefore, allows you to effectively troubleshoot problems and quickly respond to events as they occur.

The Importance of Change Management Policy

Changing your technology stack or app configuration can have significant implications for your business. That is why it is essential to properly manage these changes and ensure that they don’t impact your business’s uptime. For many companies, this means creating a Change Management Policy that clearly defines how changes are made, tested, and implemented to avoid costly downtime.

Change management is a process used by many organizations to ensure that changes to their IT systems do not impact the availability or performance of core services. Before rolling out any change, it must first be authorized through a predefined workflow that ensures only approved changes will be released into production data centers. This process has gained popularity as many companies realize how critical it is for maintaining high-performance levels while still embracing new technologies and innovation.

Without proper change management processes, companies face risks such as downtime, resulting in lost revenue opportunities through missed sales goals or customers unable to access services.

By creating a change management policy, you ensure that changes in your infrastructure or applications do not negatively impact your business. It provides clear guidance on what requirements need to be met before any new code or configuration can be rolled out onto production servers. The policy should also contain clearly defined roles and responsibilities for those involved in the change life cycle.

It helps avoid costly mistakes by ensuring that all changes are thoroughly documented and can be easily reproduced in case of any future issues with maintaining service levels. Following best practices when creating a change management policy will guarantee success in managing changes without impacting your business’s uptime.

Best Practices

Although there is no perfect formula for success, some fundamental principles can help you reach your goals. Here are a few of the most essential best practices that you should follow to ensure that your change management policy delivers the maximum amount of value:

– Form a dedicated CAB team to manage the process (e.g., create agendas, minutes, etc.). The CAB should include members from all critical areas of business and IT to ensure that change requests are raised on time and that every proposed change is thoroughly tested before release into production.

Make your change management policy available to all workers, including those working with third-party vendors to maintain services. Everyone should know and understand how changes are made, tested, and implemented.

Ensure clear communication about who is responsible for what in the change management process. Clearly define all roles and responsibilities, so they are easily understood by everyone involved with authorizing and implementing the changes to your infrastructure or applications. Make certain that their experience and skills are clearly stated, so there is no room for confusion about what has to be done to make specific types of changes. That will help avoid costly mistakes through any manual intervention that may take place during the rollout of new code or configuration.

Ensure that you have thorough documentation describing each step in detail so that others may replicate your changes if necessary. That will help avoid costly mistakes through any manual intervention that may take place during the rollout of new code or configuration.

Review policies regularly to ensure they continue to be adequate and relevant. For example, if your business has been impacted by an unauthorized change released into production after a policy revision – include it in the next version of the policy. You should also regularly add any new best practices for improving your change management process.
– Update policies when significant incidents occur so you can use them as case studies going forward. That will help to implement proper procedures going forward and prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
– Keep it simple! A generic template that outlines all roles and responsibilities clearly laid out step-by-step would be an excellent foundation for a change management policy. That would provide clear instructions for people involved with authorizing and implementing changes to your infrastructure or applications.

Data Center Security Policy

What is Data Encryption Policy

The importance of data encryption is becoming more and more apparent as the world becomes increasingly digital. Not only are people sending sensitive information across networks that may not be secure, but many companies are storing their customers’ data on servers that can be hacked into by malicious individuals. Data encryption helps protect against these problems by ensuring that anyone who manages to access your files cannot open them without first decrypting them. Encryption also helps with compliance requirements like SOC 2, which requires organizations to create a data security policy to maintain their certification status.

What Is Data Encryption and Why Does It Matter?

The term “data encryption” is sometimes used as a catch-all phrase to describe the act of encoding data in some way. Still, it typically refers specifically to techniques that transform a piece of information into ciphertext (encrypted text). The transformation process usually involves using an algorithm or a series of specific steps. It means that decryption, or the process of transforming encrypted data back into its original form, is possible only with knowledge of the algorithm and a key.

The importance of data encryption to corporate security is that it protects sensitive information from unauthorized access. Organizations must encrypt data stored on workstations or in the cloud because it isn’t safe unless those who need to use this valuable resource have a way to decrypt and read the files, but only with proper authorization. Encryption prevents data breaches, maintains confidentiality, and enables compliance with security regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley.

In addition, when information must leave a secured environment (for example, offsite backups), the files will need to remain encrypted during transit as well as while at rest in any non-secure environment (such as cloud storage).

Data encryption can be used to protect data being sent and received over a network. It scrambles the data so that no one else can read it, including someone who manages to intercept the transmission in transit. Even if they have access to your computer or other devices, encrypted data will appear as gibberish until decrypted. Companies should use data encryption for any data that is particularly sensitive or valuable.

Encryption Standards

Encryption Standards are constantly changing with new standards being created and old ones being removed. That is why it’s so difficult to decide which one you should use for your business. Today’s most common encryption standard that companies could benefit from is TLS (Transport Layer Security). This security protocol was introduced as a replacement for SSL back in 2014.

SSL (Secure Socket Layer) is an older encryption standard that has been used for years to encrypt data before it travels over networks such as the Internet, Wi-Fi, or LAN. It uses RSA cryptography with key lengths of 512 bits in its public key exchange protocol, which is considered insecure and outdated (in terms of actual security, 128-bit AES key roughly compares to a 3072-bit RSA key). While SSL is still in use today, we don’t recommend you to use it to encrypt sensitive data such as passwords or credit card numbers because of its vulnerabilities.

TLS (Transport Layer Security), on the other hand, was released back in 2014 and uses a new protocol with more robust encryption algorithms such as AES-256, which is considered to be more secure than SSL. It also offers additional benefits such as forward secrecy, authentication, and improved key derivation methods, which will help protect the data from being intercepted by man-in-the-middle attacks. Additionally, TLS has the ability to adapt and evolve over time, providing future confidentiality enhancements as needed.

Both TLS and AES are considered strong encryption standards. However, suppose your company is required by law to use a specific standard. In that case, you must abide by it while still ensuring that all necessary security measures have been put in place, such as multi-factor authentication. Encryption isn’t enough on its own to protect your company’s sensitive data. It would be best to use it in conjunction with other security measures such as strong authentication, intrusion detection systems, and network monitoring tools.

What is Data Encryption Policy?

Encryption is critical for compliance with a variety of laws, regulations, and industry standards. Encryption policy helps define what types of encryption methods your organization allows, such as full disk encryption or encrypting sensitive data files. It also guides when to use encrypted communication channels such as email, file servers, and cloud storage.

A robust data encryption policy helps protect sensitive information and protects against the possibility of a security breach. If an organization’s employees use proper measures to encrypt sensitive data and files on mobile devices or computers, they will have less chance of becoming victims of identity theft. Some industries may require more stringent requirements than others for their data encryption policy.

The most crucial part of any encryption policy is the key management process. It doesn’t matter how much work you put into encrypting your data – if someone else has the keys, then they will be able to decrypt it as well. It means you need to treat your encryption keys as securely as you would any sensitive information, such as customer data or passwords. You must protect the confidentiality of the key at all costs.

The best way to ensure that your encryption policy is effective and has the appropriate controls in place is to test it. To do this, you should regularly perform a penetration test on all of your systems or hire outside consultants with specific expertise in data security. It will help uncover any gaps in your program and provide you with a roadmap for improvement.

Best Practices

What you should do:

– Create a data encryption policy that is specific to your business needs and requirements. Make sure it fits in with how your organization does things as well as being compliant with local laws and regulations, such as SOC, GDPR, or HIPAA. Make sure that you have a good understanding of the algorithms and protocols you are going to use.

– Use encryption technologies efficiently in your organization. Ensure all data is encrypted at rest, in transit, or while processed – depending on its intended purpose. Ensure that the algorithm you choose for each situation offers enough strength and that the keys are secure.

– Have a layer of defense in depth for your encryption. Make sure you have more than just one way to encrypt data if this is necessary. Also, ensure that all different levels of protection work together correctly so that any potential vulnerabilities or exploits can be patched up quickly and reported accurately.

What you should not do:

– Don’t assume that it is okay to only encrypt one kind of data or information in your organization. All data should be considered important, regardless of who created it or where it is located.

– Most importantly, don’t forget that encryption is a process, not an end goal. You can’t just encrypt something and then forget about it. The key management aspect of data protection needs the most attention because everything else falls apart very quickly without this.

Why Do You Need a Vendor Management Policy

The Federal Acquisition Regulation defines a “vendor” as an entity with which the government has or will enter into a contract, grant, cooperative agreement, or other transaction to obtain property or services for the direct benefit or use of the government. All organizations that perform work for the federal government or purchase goods/services from third parties are required to monitor and evaluate their vendors to ensure critical functions, such as security, quality assurance, cost control, and business continuity plans are in place.

The need for a vendor management program exists when an organization finds inadequate resources or insufficient knowledge, skills, or capability to manage its involvement with third parties effectively. One consequence of ineffective processes is the increased risk to your agency, mission, and employees. Vulnerabilities include:

Improper performance of work or services.
Mismanagement of funds and assets.
Fraud.
Loss of intellectual property.
Violations of security and privacy laws and regulations.
Other legal concerns.

One way to minimize these risks is to establish a robust vendor management program.

The Purpose and Importance of Vendor Management Policy

So what exactly is a “vendor management policy”? A well-defined and implemented vendor management policy is a critical component of any organization’s overall governance framework. Effective policies are not just about implementing regulations, but instead provide:

The foundation for developing strong internal controls.
Managing risks associated with third-party business relationships.
Setting expectations for vendors and coordinating partner relationships across the enterprise.

The purpose of a vendor management program is to establish processes and procedures for managing the risks associated with contractors, subcontractors, and other third parties with whom your agency has business-related interactions. A well-managed vendor management process enables an organization to accomplish its mission efficiently while mitigating associated risks.

A Vendor Management Policy (VMP) ensures that a vendor-supplied product meets the security requirements, adheres to the security policy, and complies with other organization policies such as privacy and confidentiality. The VMP documents all known aspects related to all software products, services, or hardware systems provided by a vendor to an organization.

A comprehensive yet fundamental VMP will ensure that vendors have implemented processes and procedures to enhance security from the initial development phase of products or services to its implementation, operation, retirement, and disposal phases. A vendor provides different levels of security (e.g., risk, maturity, or assurance levels) depending on the product and its involvement with an organization’s business processes. A VMP will identify these levels and aims for a higher level of security to be implemented through contractual means. The benefits of implementing a VMP include:

Giving the organization better control over its vendors’ practices. It is helping the organization determine what security-relevant activities and products a vendor use in providing its service or product.
Aiding the organization in evaluating the security level of various contracts with vendors.
Giving guidelines for identifying suitable vendors to work with based on their commitment to security.

Things to Consider When Creating a Vendor Management Policy

The policy document should provide an overview of the process for managing vendor risk in general, including initial selection (e.g., developing the request for proposal), ongoing monitoring, contract management, and ongoing due diligence. It should also describe the organization’s approach to managing specific types of vendor risk. Consider the following things when developing a VMP:

Define a vendor risk management policy at the organizational level.

The policy development process is a group effort that includes representatives from across the organization. It should be discussed in detail during an organization-wide meeting to involve everyone who can contribute to the process. It will ensure all aspects are considered, including the necessary supporting procedures. The group should also discuss how often your organization will review the policy and procedure documents for relevance, accuracy, and completeness.

Consider the organization’s risk management strategy.

Implicitly or explicitly, each organizational unit has its risk tolerance level and will likely have some unique requirements involving vendors. In this light, a vendor risk management policy should outline the goals and policies of the organization-wide strategy. It should also provide an organizing structure or framework for handling vendor-related risks in each organizational unit and explain how to conduct due diligence when selecting new vendors and ongoing vendor monitoring.

Define your vendors.

The policy should help define what constitutes a vendor, how vendors are categorized and managed, and what types of risks might arise in the relationship with vendors. Management will then be better able to select tools and processes to handle those different risks appropriately. The goal is to convey the organizational message that the risk of working with vendors has always been an integral part of management’s oversight activities. Not only should due diligence be applied to vendor selection, but ongoing monitoring is also essential. The policy and procedures should consider that each type of vendor will have its risks associated with it. It will be necessary to tailor the policy and procedures according to vendor type. If vendors are categorized by risk, there should be separate sections or subsections addressing management processes for each category.

Incorporate a description of risk management processes.

The policy should help management understand how it can manage risk by identifying different areas where risks exist. Incorporating a description of risk management processes helps set realistic expectations for the outcomes of those processes.

Establish metrics for measuring effectiveness.

The policy should detail the information and measurements used to assess performance, identify gaps in management processes and procedures, and take necessary corrective action.

Review your policy regularly.

You should periodically review the policy for relevance, accuracy, and completeness and, where appropriate, update it to reflect changes in the organization’s risk profile. A review policy is especially helpful when the business risks associated with vendors are increased or decreased. If the organization’s overall risk profile changes significantly (e.g., if a portion of its business is sold), a policy review may be required to help determine what new vendor-related risks have arisen and how your organization should manage them.

It is important to remember that management of vendor-related risk involves more than just the development of policy and procedures. Mitigating vendor-related risks is an ongoing effort requiring management planning, continuous monitoring, and periodic reassessment. The time and effort required for day-to-day monitoring will be extensive, especially in high-risk environments.

Vendors should not be seen as mere vendors; they should be viewed from a risk perspective, incorporating the organizational approach to managing the risk of working with vendors. Management should be aware that new risks may arise due to this unique perspective, and existing risks will evolve. If you need any help developing your policy or any other cybersecurity or compliance-related questions, feel free to contact us today!

Password Policies Best Practices

The Importance of Password Security

It is no secret that passwords are the first line of defense to protecting your company’s data. When you have a good password policy in place, an attacker will need more than just a username and password to get into your system – they’ll need knowledge of those specific rules. Organizations often overlook password policies because there are so many other things to worry about, but they’re one of the easiest ways to protect against unauthorized access.

Password security is an essential part of office life. It helps keep sensitive documents and information private and protects computer systems from hackers who want to take control. A firm password policy can help your employees develop good habits that will better protect them in the future. What’s more, a company with strict guidelines on passwords makes it easier for your staff to access certain company areas.

Poor corporate password policy can lead to a breach in your company’s network security and the leak of sensitive information such as personal financial data, Social Security numbers, and access codes. That is why businesses need to create and support a comprehensive corporate password policy.

Eight Today’s Best Practices for Your Password Policy

1 – Encourage the use of password managers.

Password managers are a tremendous boon for corporate security policies and operations. They provide a simple way for employees to create strong passwords while securing them with one master password that can be difficult to hack or steal. Password managers also help to improve cyber resilience by reducing the number of passwords that employees must remember. And, better yet, there are many different options on the market nowadays so you’ll be able to find one that suits your needs.

2 – Require multi-factor authentication.

The problem with passwords is that you give away all the power when another person knows it. MFA provides an extra layer of security by requiring two factors to access your account: something you know (like a password) and something you have. This is where an additional step comes into play in order to verify that you are who you say you are – this could be a unique code sent by text message or email, for example.

The right solution for your needs will depend on the type of data you have and how much access you need to it as well as what measures can be put in place to protect that information if someone gets their hands on a username and password. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution here because every company is different. You’ll want to work closely with your IT team, so they know what to look for and what’s the best solution.

3 – Encourage employees to use unique passwords.

Password security is the first line of defense for any company when it comes to safeguarding its data. The more unique your password is, the less risk of a person guessing or hacking into your account. Encourage your employees to use different passwords for each online account and never use any password twice at work (or anywhere else). That way, if one gets compromised, you won’t have to worry about all of your accounts being at risk.

4 – Keep all passwords random.

Randomizing passwords is one of the critical steps in ensuring corporate security. A password with a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols is the best way to ensure that an attacker does not easily guess your passwords. Many people who use their spouse’s name as their username or favorite movie title for their strong password fall prey to this problem because they make it easier on themselves for the sake of convenience. Using a random combination of letters, numbers, and symbols is one way to make it difficult to guess your passwords if they are stolen or compromised.

Another benefit of using different passwords with random combinations is that you can easily spot any account changes on your various accounts because the password will not match what you have saved in your password manager.

5 – Use password testing tools.

Give serious thought to implementing password testing tools as part of your security strategy. In addition to relying on complex alphanumeric and symbol characters in your passwords, there are standalone and integrated password testing tools that you can use to check passwords quality.

Using a password testing tool can help ensure your passwords are sufficiently complex and do not contain any known vulnerabilities. Password checking tools will also assist with enforcing new policies, such as expiration dates. It is essential for maintaining reasonable security practices and compliance with regulatory requirements.

6 – Have continuous education and awareness.

Companies could avoid many potential risks by educating employees on the importance of maintaining a safe work environment. One such risk would be the theft or loss of sensitive data, which can lead to breaches in essential company operations. It’s crucial to conduct cybersecurity awareness training sessions and provide continuous education for your employees to ensure that they take all the necessary precautions.

7 – Conduct password audits.

Conducting a password audit can help organizations identify and remediate weaknesses in their passwords, which attackers could exploit. It includes stolen credentials and phishing scams that trick employees into sharing their passwords with malicious actors.

Password audits can be done periodically or as a one-time event. Still, they should always occur in conjunction with other security efforts like awareness campaigns and training employees to identify phishing schemes that try to trick them out of their passwords. The frequency will depend on the organization’s risk tolerance level, which is usually determined by its criticality, its vulnerability, and the frequency of attacks.

8 – Don’t force your employees to change their passwords too often.

Although changing passwords on a regular basis might be common practice, it doesn’t mean it is the best option. While most security best practices recommend periodic password changes, it is mainly due to outdated advice and research.

The NIST has changed its recommendation for password change policies. According to the update in 2019, they recommend against changing passwords unless evidence of compromise exists. It’s been shown that frequent password changes can lead to confusion, misplaced passwords, or locked accounts.

If you do not have evidence of any cybersecurity breaches within your organization, it would be best for your employees to change their passwords less often. Strong passwords will keep them safe, and confusion will be kept at a minimum.

Creating a secure password policy for your office is an essential step in preventing hackers or malicious users from gaining access to confidential information. Use the tips and advice we’ve provided here as you create guidelines that will keep your data safe. As always, if you need help with any of this, reach out! Our team would love to partner with you on creating a security plan that keeps your customer’s sensitive information protected at all times.