PCI-DSS Compliance: What You Should Know

Over the last year, many organizations struggled to keep their private data secure against cyberthreats as they rushed to adapt to pandemic-inspired shifts in workforce and operations. Cybercrime is becoming increasingly prevalent, and the sophistication and volume of cyberattacks is escalating as well. According to a report, over 300 million ransomware attacks occurred in 2020.1

Dealing with a cybersecurity disaster is difficult and brings forth a lot of uncertainty, especially when it involves financial and reputational damage. This holds true for all organizations, and especially for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). SMBs are increasingly becoming prime targets for hackers because they consider these organizations to have insufficient expertise and resources to prevent and respond to attacks.

Stepping Up Your Cybersecurity With Defense in Depth (DiD)

When the pandemic hit, businesses all over the globe had to shift to remote work almost overnight. Now, with the vaccine rollout in full swing, the hybrid work model is gaining popularity. This allows employees to work from home, the office or split their time between both. According to a report, close to 65% of large businesses have adopted a hybrid model, and most workers prefer it that way.1

However, a distributed workforce comes with its own set of challenges. One of the primary concerns of IT leaders across the globe is the unprecedented increase in cybercrime. Experts estimate that cybercrime has shot up by almost 300% since the start of the pandemic.2

The Role of Compliance in Cybersecurity

The overall technology landscape is evolving at a breakneck pace. While these changes are meant to improve the quality of life, the unfortunate flip side is an increase in cyberthreats. This is why global cybersecurity spending increased from nearly $40 billion in 2019 to $54 billion in 2021.1 Unfortunately, due to a lack of spending on personnel or technology, SMBs are most likely to be targeted by threat actors.

Many organizations fall victim to cybercrime because compliance and security are not a high priority for them. For your organization to run smoothly, both compliance and security are critical. While compliance ensures that your organization stays within the bounds of industry or government laws/regulations, security ensures that your organization’s integrity and vital data are safeguarded.

Operational and Data Integrity Risks of Internet of Things (IoT) for Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs)

The continued rise in the number of Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices has brought about a host of security challenges for many businesses. As manufacturers compete in a race to bring their IoT devices to market, most fail to include even the most basic security controls necessary to protect the networks these devices connect to or the data they collect or transmit. This leaves businesses of all industries extremely vulnerable to a variety of security risks and cyberthreats.

How to Adopt Zero Trust Security for Your SMB

With the cyberthreat landscape getting more complicated with every passing minute, cybersecurity deserves more attention than ever before. You can no longer put all your faith and trust in applications, interfaces, networks, devices, traffic and users. Misjudging and misplacing your trust in a devious entity can lead to severe breaches that can damage your business. Zero Trust Security practices, however, can go a long way towards helping small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) minimize cybersecurity risks and prevent data breaches.

5 Ways to Combine Compliance & Cybersecurity Best Practices to Improve Outcomes

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, controls, etc.

What to Include in Your Incident Response Plan

Incidence Response Planning

A security incident can topple an organization’s reputation and revenue in a short amount of time. As billionaire Warren Buffet once said, “it takes 20 years to develop a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” Keeping that in mind, it’s ideal to have an incident response plan in place before a security breach occurs.

An incident response plan is a set of instructions intended to facilitate an organization in detecting, responding to and recovering from network security incidents such as cybercrime, data loss and service disruptions. Having a plan in place contributes to the development of cybersecurity as well as overall organizational resilience.

Regulations for Securing the Internet of Things

We are living in the era of Digital Transformation and witnessing first-hand the proliferation of assistive technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT). It is estimated that the global count of IoT devices will reach around 80 billion by 2025 — a figure that will outnumber the human population across the globe tenfold.

This IoT network of physical devices — “things”— designed with embedded sensors, software and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the internet, has generated greater access to data and analytics across all industries and can increase the efficiency and agility of business operations.

Making Security Awareness Second Nature

Your business’ security program must start with your employees and strong security policies rather than entirely depending on your IT team or the latest security solutions. You can significantly reduce the likelihood of a data breach by combining a well-drafted cybersecurity policy with comprehensive security awareness training.

Why Your Business Needs a Data Security Policy

Today, the competitive business environment is data-driven. Data provides key insights into your customers and business performance that helps you make better decisions and improve processes. However, the sudden influx of employees working remotely exposes your organization’s information to several security threats.