Conducting regular user access reviews is an effective way to make sure your organization is securing access to critical systems and third-party vendors. Frameworks like SOC 2 and ISO 27001 even require proof of regular access reviews to demonstrate compliance. ‍ Without automation, access reviews are tedious and time-consuming, requiring IT and security teams to manually record user access information in a spreadsheet and take countless screenshots of access permissions screens. ‍

The pace and complexity of AI technologies is increasing every day. In this rapidly changing environment, it’s critical for companies to adopt a rigorous approach to safely and responsibly incorporating AI into their products and processes. ‍ That’s why we’re excited to announce that the NIST AI Risk Management Framework (RMF) is now available in beta.

Cyber risk regulations like NIS2 and DORA in the EU, or PS21/3 in the UK, signal a seismic shift toward strengthening cyber resilience and enforcing accountability. Championing regulations is not just a matter of checking compliance boxes: it’s an opportunity to become a business leader. To enable growth and protect revenue.

Today we’re excited to share several milestones as we continue on our mission to secure the internet and protect consumer data. ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ And we’re just getting started. ‍ As we continue to reimagine GRC tools for the future of trust, we’ve built enterprise-ready features and rolled out additional Vanta AI capabilities along with support for the NIST AI Risk Management Framework. ‍ ‍

The U.S. federal government has many laws and regulations intended to assure strong cybersecurity for government agencies. Two of the most important are the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) and the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). Both FISMA and FedRAMP have the same fundamental goal: to assure that federal agencies and their vendors protect government data. That said, they also differ in many ways.

Welcome back to our ongoing series on the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). We’ve been journeying through the various requirements of this critical security standard, and today, we’re moving forward to explore Requirement 5 of PCI DSS v4.0.

In today’s rapidly evolving business environment, the stakes for maintaining robust governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) practices have never been higher. Regulators and auditors are scrutinizing areas such as risk management, regulatory mandates, cybersecurity, vendor management, and more with unprecedented rigor.

Staying compliant with ever-changing regulatory and risk management standards can be a daunting task. Compliance automation tools have emerged as a vital solution, simplifying and streamlining your work to meet legal and industry standards. This blog explores the intricacies of compliance automation, the tools involved, and how they revolutionize the way organizations approach regulatory compliance.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed the NIST 800-171 framework to set guidelines and security requirements for protecting controlled unclassified information (CUI). NIST first created the framework in June 2015 but has since revised the publication several times, most recently in November 2023.

Cybersecurity is a vast and complex field, and it’s made more complicated as technology – both infrastructure and in terms of cyberattacks – grows more and more sophisticated. Any large and complex industry grows terminology and jargon like leaves on a tree, and cybersecurity is no different. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of specialized terms that are used in narrow and specific ways throughout the industry.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) introduced its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program in early 2020. CMMC is a security framework and assessor certification program designed to ensure that all Defense Industrial Base (DIB) contractors meet at least basic cybersecurity requirements for handling Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), which includes compliance with a variety of standards published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

We’re excited to announce that Riscosity has successfully completed its SOC 2 Type II audit. This is a big effort for any organization, and it shows our commitment to protecting our customers’ sensitive data.

Cloud infrastructure is subject to a wide variety of international, federal, state and local security regulations. Organizations must comply with these regulations or face the consequences. Due to the dynamic nature of cloud environments, maintaining consistent compliance for regulatory standards such as CIS, NIST, PCI DSS and SOC 2 benchmarks can be difficult, especially for highly regulated industries running hybrid or multi-cloud infrastructures.

You may have heard more about the SEC Form 8-K recently due to changes that went into effect on Dec 16, 2023. From the SEC’s press release.

Technical vulnerabilities are areas of weakness in your source code or infrastructure that attackers could potentially exploit. It’s important for your business to address its technical vulnerabilities to protect itself from these types of threats, in addition to gaining or maintaining compliance with SOC 2 and ISO 27001. ‍ For many of these standards, you’re required to have vulnerability scanners running to ensure you’re continuously monitoring for new threats.

SOC 2 is an information security standard was created by the American Institute of Chartered Public Accountants (AICPA), as a way to provide assurance of an organisation’s management of data. SOC 2 compliance provides a framework to assess against five Trust Service Criteria (TSCs) – but more on those later. There are two types of SOC 2 compliance: Type I and Type II.

Welcome back to our ongoing series on the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). In our previous posts, we’ve covered the various requirements of this critical security standard. Today, we’re going to delve into Requirement 4, which focuses on protecting cardholder data with strong cryptography during transmission over open, public networks.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States approved their cyber rules on July 2023, originally proposed in March 2022 for public comments (SEC, 2022; 2023). This has sparked many conversations about how the board of directors and executive management should think about cybersecurity and to what extent public disclosures should be made about cybersecurity incidents and risks. Most notable among them is the requirement that material cyber incidents be reported within four days.

As global data privacy and cybersecurity regulations continue to increase, the pressure for organizations to manage compliance risk grows. The first step in your journey to better compliance risk management is compliance risk assessment. With risk management methodologies, a compliance risk assessment analyzes how an organization might not meet its regulatory compliance obligations.

Corporate compliance is not a new idea; for many years, organizations everywhere have had to comply with certain rules and standards to reduce risks and vulnerabilities. Those rules might be defined internally by the company’s compliance team or by an external party such as a regulatory agency — but either way, they are rules that the company must follow. An effective compliance function assures that the organization complies with both internal and external rules.

In our exploration of PCI DSS v4.0’s changes, we’ve reached the heart of the matter – Requirement 3: Protect Stored Account Data. While the previous two requirements focused on network and access control, Requirement 3 tackles the crucial issue of securing sensitive cardholder information once it’s captured and stored.

This blog is part of a series about how to use Vanta and AWS to simplify your organization’s cloud security. To learn more about how to use Vanta and AWS, watch our Coffee and Compliance on-demand webinar. ‍ Amazon Web Services, or AWS, is one of the most popular cloud providers for organizations today — providing one of the most flexible and secure cloud environments available.

It is increasingly common for Salesforce Orgs to be in scope for SOX. Auditors are concerned about revenue-related data and critical business processes on the platform. The problem is that Orgs are complex, often highly customized, and much of what auditors are most concerned about is hidden away in custom objects or very difficult to track.

SOC 2 – which stands for System and Organization Control 2 – is a cybersecurity compliance framework that specifies how third-party service providers should store and process organizational and client data. SOC 2 is part of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (AICPA) SOC reporting framework and utilizes the AICPA Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements No. 18 (SSAE 18) standard.

The International Society of Automation (ISA) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) started creating the 62443 series of standards in 2002.

According to Vanta’s State of Trust Report, 54% of businesses say that regulating AI would make them more comfortable investing in it. But with regulation still in flux, how can companies adopt AI safely and responsibly to minimize risk while accelerating innovation?

In 2022, Twitter suffered a massive data breach, which exposed the personal data of 5.4 million caused by broken authentication. Threat actors exploited Twitter's API vulnerability to gain unauthorized access to users' sensitive personal data. The incident resulted in reputational loss and hefty fines from the regulatory body for failing to protect users' data. This shows that no organization, regardless of size, is immune to data breaches.

While working towards a mission of building better, more secure mobile applications, the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) has spearheaded this effort with the Mobile Application Security Verification Standard (MASVS) and the Mobile Application Security Testing Guide (MASTG). These invaluable resources provide a comprehensive framework for safeguarding your mobile apps, ensuring trust, and protecting user data.

Trustwave Government Solutions (TGS) is proud to announce its designation as “In Process Program Management Office (PMO) Review" by the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) for its Government Fusion platform. TGS expects to receive full authorization in early 2024.

In our last discussion, we explored the evolution of Requirement 1 in the transition from PCI DSS v3.2.1 to v4.0, with a particular emphasis on the move towards ‘network security controls’. As we continue our exploration of the updated PCI DSS v4.0, today’s focus will be on the transformations in Requirement 2.

The number of tools organizations use is growing everyday. According to Zylo 2023 SaaS Management Index Report, the average organization has 291 SaaS applications in their tech stack — a number which only increases as your organization grows. The more tools that are added to your tech stack, the more third-party risk your business incurs. These risks could result in threats like data theft, service outages, or loss of revenue and customer trust. ‍

Here at Rubrik, few things excite us more than knowing that the work we do enables a smoother functioning of our governments. Government organizations have an important duty to defend our nation’s critical institutions and essential infrastructure against threat actors—while operating with limited budgets and limited resources. Rubrik has a long history of securing public sector institutions. We have relentlessly focused on developing products that ensure rapid and confident cyber recovery.

Like every other industry, the healthcare sector is barely recognizable when compared to its state 20 years ago. It, too, has been transfigured by technology. While this has brought many impactful benefits, it has also introduced at least one major challenge: keeping sensitive patient information private.

In a mature Salesforce Org with hundreds of thousands of records, it might be difficult to know where to start on GDPR compliance. In this post, we’ll cover the steps you need to take to get your Salesforce Org GDPR compliant.

Compliance is a cornerstone for organisations, especially in countries such as the United States. One would expect that mature US-based organisations would be well-versed in navigating compliance-based frameworks, ensuring their operations align with established standards. However, when these same US-based organisations seek to align their systems with the Australian Government, a challenging mindset shift is often required to adhere to a more risk-focused approach.

The stakes couldn’t be higher for financial services organizations. They have to protect customers’ money and privacy, while complying with technical requirements and governmental regulations. Complying with all those requirements poses a major, ongoing challenge for security teams, which are already under pressure to do more with less. Cybercrime continues to grow, with every industry falling victim, at one time or another.

The recent SEC breach disclosure rules place enormous pressure on CISOs. The new SEC disclosure requirements for public companies require companies to report annually on their cybersecurity risk management and governance efforts and publicly announce cybersecurity incidents that prove "material." Determining materiality may be one of organizations' most prominent challenges with the new rules. What exactly is a material cybersecurity incident?

We closed out 2023 by rolling out more enhancements to the Vanta platform, including Updates to Automated Tests, 8 new integrations, GDPR with EU-US Data Privacy Framework, and more: ‍ ‍

What are some of the worries that keep compliance professionals up at night? For one, stressful stakeholder meetings and keeping abreast of the latest regulatory requirements. So is reporting bad news to the board or senior management, certainly. Another nagging worry for many: Despite your best efforts, you may “misreport” an issue – not report it completely or accurately.

How is generative AI transforming trust? And what does it mean for companies — from startups to enterprises — to be trustworthy in an increasingly AI-driven world?

With personal data or business communications, our vast digital footprint is vulnerable to malefactors. Consequently, safeguarding sensitive information has become a pressing concern for companies of all sizes. The cost of cybercrime was $8 trillion globally in 2023 and is projected to hit $10.5 trillion by 2025. This alarming statistic emphasizes the escalating threat and the critical need for robust cybersecurity measures.

The automotive industry constantly evolves, particularly in software development. From electronic control units and hardware security modules to advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), the complexity and functionality of automotive software have increased exponentially. This has opened new frontiers in efficiency, safety, and user experience but also introduced significant security threats.

‍This blog is part of a series about how to use Vanta and AWS to simplify your organization’s cloud security. To learn more about how to use Vanta and AWS, watch our Coffee and Compliance on-demand webinar. ‍‍ Amazon Web Services, or AWS, is one of the most popular cloud providers for organizations today — providing one of the most flexible and secure cloud environments available.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) delivered a timely Christmas gift to government contractors and subcontractors last month – the proposed regulations for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program. After over two years in development, the proposed rule, released on December 26, 2023, aims to enhance cybersecurity compliance across the defense industrial base.

Digital threats have led to new cybersecurity regulations that organizations from various industries must follow. Staying compliant with cybersecurity regulations can be legally required, depending on the type of regulation, and organizations face steep penalties if they are non-compliant. With so many different regulations to adhere to, organizations often utilize cybersecurity compliance solutions to help them track compliance over time.

As cyber threats get smarter every day, businesses must now make sure they are compliant with cybersecurity laws. Compliance isn't just a matter of checking off boxes; it's a proactive way to keep customer trust, protect private data, and stay out of big fines. There is a lot of pressure on companies to keep their systems safe and follow the rules set by Data Privacy Regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA. A new report says that violations cost companies $4 million on average per breach.

As we all know, data security is a constantly evolving field, and it’s essential to keep up with the latest standards and requirements. And mark your calendars, because the current PCI DSS v3.2.1 is set to retire on March 31st, 2024. That’s right, the PCI Security Standards Council (SSC) has announced the release of the new and improved PCI DSS v4.0, and compliance with this updated version is mandatory for organizations to maintain data security.

This blog is part of a series about how to use Vanta and AWS to simplify your organization’s cloud security. To learn more about how to use Vanta and AWS, watch our Coffee and Compliance on-demand webinar. ‍ Amazon Web Services, or AWS, is one of the most popular cloud providers for organizations today — providing one of the most flexible and secure cloud environments available.

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, security is not just a priority; it’s an imperative. We’re excited to announce a significant enhancement to Endpoint Central that will take your data security to a whole new level—Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) compliance. In this blog, we’ll explore what FIPS compliance is, why it matters, and how it can benefit your organization.

The position of CISO is not an enviable one. Modern CISOs face enormous challenges like managing the complexity of on-prem and cloud environments, being responsible for the actions of thousands of employees without having authority over them, being perceived as a drag on growth and other resources, and trying to keep up in a compliance and technology landscape that just keeps changing. Oh and budget? Limited and scrutinized.

The Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement, better known as DFARS, has significance for contractors working with the Department of Defense (DoD). Our intention is to offer a comprehensive perspective on DFARS in the context of cybersecurity, its various clauses, and the intricacies of maintaining compliance as these rules constantly shift and change over time.

We’ve talked a lot about FedRAMP, CMMC, and the typical business/contractor security controls outlined in NIST SP 800-171, but these aren’t the only elements of cybersecurity that the government wants enforced. There are also the DISA STIGS to follow. What are they, do they apply to you, and how can you follow them?

When it comes to cybersecurity governance, 2023 stood out as one of the most eventful in a very long time. With everything from the enactment of stronger new cybersecurity regulations around incident disclosure from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to significant changes afoot for financial and cloud services providers operating within the European Union, many companies worldwide will be called to adjust to a new normal in 2024.

Navigating the regulatory standards within Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) demands a nuanced understanding of the evolving landscape shaped by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and other regulatory bodies. These standards serve as pillars for upholding the stability and transparency of the financial industry. Over recent years, this sector has witnessed a transformative journey in regulatory frameworks, reflecting the dynamic nature of finance.

With the recent surge of high-profile data breaches, supply chain vulnerabilities (SolarWinds, Log4j, and MOVEit, most notably), and targeted cyberattacks, the digital world is becoming increasingly precarious. At the same time, consumers are increasingly sharing sensitive data with companies in exchange for convenience and efficiency. For these reasons, organizations have a growing responsibility to not only avoid breaches, but safeguard their users’ data.

In response to the growing number of malicious actors that have managed to exploit cybersecurity vulnerabilities and cause irreparable damage to organizations, governments worldwide have decided to intervene, recognizing a need for a systematic approach to safeguarding national assets. Helping to lead the way in this institutionalized effort is the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). ‍

On December 26, 2023 the Department of Defense (DoD) unveiled the long-anticipated Proposed Rule for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Program, sending a clear message to defense contractors that CMMC is happening sooner than many thought, and that those taking a “wait and see” attitude can no longer wait to prepare.

In the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape, organizations are constantly striving to enhance their defenses against organized malicious actors. As cyber attacks become more advanced, regulatory bodies have created and enforced compliance requirements to ensure that organizations protect sensitive data and systems. One groundbreaking solution that can help your organization meet these challenges is Extended Detection and Response, known as XDR.

Implementing ISO 27001, the international standard for information security management, is a complex process that requires expertise, experience and careful planning. This blog explores why using a consultant for ISO 27001 implementation is crucial to not just ensure certification, but also (and perhaps more importantly), to build an information security management system that is tailored to your business and its objectives. To make sure your certification is actually working for you.

AI and cybersecurity are top strategic priorities for companies at every scale — from the teams using the tools to increase efficiency all the way up to board leaders who are investing in AI capabilities.

Cybersecurity is becoming a critical concern as various industries depend on digital infrastructure. To protect sensitive information from cyber threats, governments worldwide have introduced cybersecurity regulations for specific sectors that help secure digital ecosystems and prevent cyber attacks. Understanding the specific regulations for your organization’s industry is essential for risk management.