Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

What are the brakes on a car designed to do? I have asked this question many times when speaking to customers or organizations who were dipping their toes into the audit space. Invariably, their answer was, “To stop the car.” At this point, I would then ask, “Then how do you get where you want to go?”

In many cases, penetration testing – a type of ethical hacking engagement designed to identify and address security vulnerabilities in networks, systems and applications – is required. Sometimes this requirement is specified directly, while in other cases it is implied by a need to build audit or assessment processes to mitigate cyber risk. This blog identifies some of the most common pen testing standards and regulations and provides guidance about the type of testing required.

While keeping data safe from modern cyberthreats is difficult enough, you also have to keep in mind compliance with common regulations, i.e., ensuring your company’s compliance to SOX, which deals with transparency in disclosures from public companies. Nowadays, it’s not enough for businesses to rely on dismissive financial documents that satisfy the intermittent audit; you need to level up your game, and create detailed day-to-day records of activities.

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) was signed into law as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in 2009. The HITECH Act encourages the meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) by healthcare providers and their business associates.