Patient health information is governed by robust rules that determine how this data is handled, stored, and accessed. Federal laws, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and various state laws strengthen patient rights. HIPAA set a baseline for regulatory compliance with patient health information. Under the “preemption” language in the rule, no state may create less effective or weaker medical privacy protection for individuals.

NIST CSF stands for the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework. The NIST CSF consists of best practices, standards, and guidelines to manage cybersecurity program risk. This voluntary framework is divided into three primary parts: the framework core, profiles, and tiers. The NIST CSF core comprises five functions, where each function are further broken down into categories and subcategories. There are currently 23 categories and 108 subcategories in the NIST CSF.

Vendor risk management is the practice of governing third-party access to company data. This is a critical aspect of an organization since vendors view your business information when providing their services. For some, this can turn into a severe vulnerability that can lead to data breaches. In fact, in the past five years, vendors like Home Depot and Target were responsible for those incidents, as reported by Forbes.

It’s not easy for an organization to implement the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001 and obtain an ISO certification for the standard. But just because you’ve achieved ISO 9001:2015 (the latest version) certification, doesn’t mean your work is done. That’s because your company has to be continually audited to ensure it still meets the requirements of the ISO 9001 standard.

ISO 9001 is the international standard for quality management systems (QMS), published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO standards are the most widely used quality management standards worldwide. Increasingly, your customers are looking for a guarantee that the products they’re buying from you have gone through quality management best practices. Adopting the ISO 9001 standard is one step toward offering that guarantee.

Cyber risk is defined as exposure to harm or loss resulting from data breaches or cyber attacks on information systems, information technology and information security. However, this definition must be broadened. A better, more encompassing definition is the risk of financial loss, disruption or reputational damage due to the failure of an organization's cybersecurity strategy.