Category Archives: Compliance

What are Your Risking with Non-Compliance?

What are You Risking with Non-Compliance?

One of the many challenges you probably face as a business owner is dealing with the vague requirements present in HIPAA and PCI-DSS legislation. Due to the unclear regulatory messaging, “assuming” rather than “knowing” can land your organization in hot water with regulators. Are you taking a risk? Do you know if you are non-compliant? The Health and Human Services (HSS) Office for Civil Rights receives over 1,000 complaints and notifications of HIPAA violations every year.1 When it comes to PCI-DSS, close to 70% of businesses are non-compliant.2 While you

A 'Compliance First' Mindset Limits Liabilities

A ‘Compliance First’ Mindset Limits Liabilities

By adopting a Compliance First strategy, you will identify vendors and solutions that do not comply with your requirements. Then, you can eliminate them from your selection process, and select from the rest. It also means evaluating your current solutions and vendors and replacing those that cannot support your compliance requirements. In simple terms, ­­compliance is anything someone else makes you do. This means laws, regulations, contracts, and even the terms of a cyber insurance policy. Failure to act responsibly can have devastating results. Your business could endure hefty penalties,

How Security and Compliance Differ

How Data Compliance and Cybersecurity Differ

When you run a business, compliance and security are two essential factors. Both are equally important for the seamless operation of your business. While compliance helps your business stay within the limits of industry or government regulations, security protects the integrity of your business and sensitive data. It is worth noting that although security is a prime component of compliance, compliance does not equal security. This is because compliance does not consider the growing threat landscape and associated risks. What it considers, however, is a set of pre-defined policies, procedures,

Data Privacy Policy

Key Elements of a Data Security Policy

Having a well-documented data security policy in place can help protect your employees, sensitive information and customers from security breaches. To develop a holistic policy, it is important to analyze all the areas that could be a potential threat. USE THIS CHECKLIST TO ENSURE YOUR DATA SECURITY POLICY INCLUDES ALL THE KEY ELEMENTS REQUIRED TO MAINTAIN DATA PRIVACY AND SECURITY DOWNLOAD THIS CHECKLIST AS PDF ✅SAFEGUARD DATA PRIVACY Apart from complying with the existing rules and regulations, a data privacy policy guides your employees on how to handle sensitive information

8 Elements of a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) for Compliance

8 Elements of a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) for Compliance

A compliance program aims at protecting an organization from risk. The purpose of corporate compliance programs is to ensure that a business complies with laws or regulations relevant to it. An essential element of an effective compliance program is a Business Impact Analysis (BIA). You could consider a Compliance Program to be a form of internal insurance policy to create evidence of conformity with regulations and instill a culture of compliance. Remember that establishing a foundation of compliance is a company’s best protection to minimize risk and increase business efficiencies.

Getting Ready for New CMMC Requirements Now

The Interim DFARS Rule and What It Means for You

In January 2020, the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) formally added the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC). The decision sent over 300,000 members of the defense industrial base (DIB) into a state of frenzy. Most of the members are small to midsize businesses (SMBs). Many found themselves drowning in all the unnecessary noise surrounding CMMC and its larger implications on existing and future government contracts. The chaos increased when the Interim DFARS Rule (DFARS Case 2019-D041) joined the foray on November 30, 2020. This rule mandates all defense contractors

Getting Ready for New CMMC Requirements Now

Right off the bat, we’re here to tell you that anyone promising you a sure-shot solution to all your CMMC woes is trying to pull a fast one on you. The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) is a comprehensive move by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and involves a lot of moving parts that have not been finalized yet. In fact, with the planned rollout of the new CMMC requirements scheduled to take place over the next five years (through to 2026), you should expect a few changes or

Suit of armor guarding entrance

Who is guarding the gatekeepers?

This is a timeless concept from roman times, passed down in popular culture, and can be applied to your business information systems security plan. Companies of even modest size and complexity rely on some form of IT to support their computer systems and data. Although, most companies trust their IT department or Managed Services Provider to include security as a baseline component of their work, how do you verify your IT security is dong what you THINK it is doing? A Risk Assessment is a valuable tool. Trust but verify.

Getting Ready for New CMMC Requirements Now

CMMC: You Might Not Realize the Impact on Your Business

Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) The CMMC started within the Department of Defense (DoD) to reduce the theft of military intelligence, but as expected, it doesn’t look like it will be long before it spreads to other sectors. There’s interest in amending Sarbanes-Oxley to include CMMC, which will impact the financial sector.  Don’t fear this is just an additional burden – the CMMC model is set up to be clearer and easier to implement.  Standardization in security compliance is a win for businesses trying to juggle multiple requirements. Impact of

TAKING CARE OF SECURITY COMPLIANCE IN IT

TAKING CARE OF SECURITY COMPLIANCE IN IT

Regulatory compliance is an issue business has faced for years. Over time, not only have the regulations become more nuanced, they’ve become more difficult to track and address, as well. Given the importance of remaining compliant, it’s no wonder why businesses from all industries rely on The AME Group for assistance. The AME Group understands compliance requirements and has the tools to help you handle them with ease. HIPAA, PCI and GLBA are just the tip of the iceberg. Compliance regulations can be traced to global policy, national policy, and