Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

The recent pandemic pushed medical facilities and staff to the brink, taxing resources, exhausting employees, and disrupting decades of norms and protocols. It also accelerated technological trends that were quickly becoming popular, namely the centrality of technology and data in patient care. Today, many medical practices are digital-first operations, embracing telehealth and remote work at far greater levels than before the pandemic.

From healthcare to education to critical infrastructure, nobody seems to be safe from cyber attacks. Not even video game creators. News broke in early June that video game giant Electronic Arts was one of the latest victims of a major breach. At first glance, this is just another story of hackers breaking into a victim and finding their way to a sizable pay day. Nothing new here. Plenty of attacks happen every week, right? However it was the way that the attackers got in that was interesting.

The costs and consequences of a data breach or cybersecurity incident have never been more severe. According to the FBI’s recently released Internet Crime Report 2020, cybercrime resulted in $4 billion in losses last year, a low estimate that still encapsulates the incredible value lost to threats actors. For small businesses, the costs can be catastrophic. As Vox reports, 60% of small businesses will close after a data breach, underscoring the high-stakes bottom-line nature of cybersecurity.

In February 2020, a Time Magazine headline declared, “The Coronavirus outbreak has become the world’s largest work-from-home experiment.” Over a year later, that experiment has been a resounding success for companies and employees who found abundant upsides to less rigid workplace expectations.

Businesses need to act now to survey their supply chain, developing the capacity to anticipate and respond to supply chain risks, minimizing the impact and optimizing opportunity. In March, the world witnessed a curious scene. A container ship longer than the Empire State Building became lodged in Egypt’s Suez Canal, creating an incredible spectacle as heavy construction equipment and a fleet of tug boats tried to dislodge the vessel from the canal walls.

While data security has been an important topic since the internet’s inception, the issue is experiencing renewed prominence as platforms collect and struggle to secure copious amounts of personal information and prevent cyberthreats at the same time. The early 2000s were characterized by unprecedented growth and participation in the digital data economy, but the 2010s saw the creeping consequences of this ecosystem.

NIST compliance is mandatory for federal contractors, but there is a lot of confusion around it. Without it, chances of getting those big projects in the government are significantly skewed. So what is NIST compliance exactly?

In todays political landscape a more aggressive enforcement approach from health and safety regulators is fast approaching. For employers looking to reduce their business risk, achieving regulatory compliance starts with creating an audit program that is both strong and sustainable. However, with COVID-19 restrictions still in place, many organizations are facing new barriers that may impede how they assess compliance and limit their potential exposure.

Employees, contractors, and vendors have unparalleled access to company data, requiring careful adherence to data privacy best practices to secure personal information. Unfortunately, many employees are either unaware of these practices or are unwilling (or forgetful) to regularly implement them into their workflows.