So is your enterprise truly GRC-ready? Here are some tips to help your enterprise effectively achieve GRC goals this year:

Develop a valuable risk management strategy: A perfect Governance, risk and compliance plan can be followed only when you develop an effectual risk management strategy. This strategy must incorporate essential processes and policies to enable optimum risk management and mitigation throughout the enterprise. A proactive approach is the best mechanism to tackle risks across your enterprise.

Entrench core enterprise processes with GRC initiatives: Automated GRC solutions offer immense benefits for your enterprise by ensuring cost savings, mitigating risks and also efficiently tackling compliance-related concerns. Therefore, pushing in GRC procedures into key processes can help you enhance business performance.

Opt for a 24X7 GRC solution: A solution that can offer best monitoring capabilities, and can scrutinize threats on a 24X7 basis is the most desirable.

Plug threats in advance: Swift and significant analysis can ensure that looming threats are dealt with effectively. Hence by capturing all data and analyzing them for threat patterns, incidents, or security events you can take proactive measures to tackle threats before they harm your enterprise.

Integration is the key: When you opt for Governance risk and compliance software, an integrated solution is perhaps the best bet for optimized GRC. Therefore a solution which can offer an integrated governance risk and compliance support system works best. The idea is to simplify and reduce the time spent on regulatory compliance and its corollary certification requirements. Therefore the same solution needs to cater to and offer total end-to-end automated processes for security, risk management and compliance requirements.

Being GRC-ready is easier once your enterprise understands the importance of risk management and the need to abide by regulatory standards. And the above-mentioned tips can be quite valuable for your enterprise in its GRC endeavors.

The post Top Tips to be GRC-Ready in 2011 appeared first on Aegify.

All this boils down to the fact that there is growing pressure on public CIOs (Chief Information Officers), who now have added responsibilities. Analysts and consultants are of the opinion that it is critical for state CIOs to be involved in health IT policy issues, and also be more knowledgeable and familiar with issues related to the governance of Health Information Exchange (HIE). They should also be aware of how telehealth and HIE investments can impact Medicaid costs, and should be able to coordinate between Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and planned HIEs.

Hence there is a need to recreate or revamp IT infrastructure to prepare for huge numbers of Medicaid enrollments in the coming years, and this has added to the growing anxiety of public CIOs. However, upgrading information systems to these changing needs is a challenge in itself, because of the high cost of most IT applications.

Also, there has been growing reliance on IT in the healthcare industry, and rapid adoption of Electronic Medical Records (EMR), which have made it essential to ensure safe handling of sensitive data. And in addition to this, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act has also renewed focus on HIPAA Compliance. Hence, safeguarding medical records and preventing unauthorized access to patient records have been of high priority lately.

So public CIOs are now taking an objective look at how statewide health systems can be made more efficient. One way of dealing with this would be to adopt services hosted in the cloud, instead of using traditional methods, which involve procuring and managing IT systems. While on the one hand cloud-based services provide an opportunity for rapid deployment and greater interoperability, on the other, they are highly cost-effective. And with state budgets being cut, cloud-based solutions can prove much safer than traditional systems.

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Effective vulnerability management is therefore a perquisite for every business. But unfriendly economic conditions have compelled organizations to maintain a safe business environment, while also keeping costs low. This poses a major challenge since organizations today are spread across multiple geographic locations and time zones. In such a scenario vulnerability management can be a formidable task.

But with cloud-based security solutions offered by advanced GRC software, IT security compliance has assumed a new dimension. These solutions help streamline and automate vulnerability management processes and help patch security flaws.

Here are some other significant benefits of using a comprehensive security and vulnerability management solution:

Offers Complete Visibility- Vulnerability management solutions help in understanding the security posture of an organization, through comprehensive vulnerability assessment. This in turn helps in formulating security policies for IT Compliance with regulatory standards.

Ensures Compliance- Compliance audits are carried out at regular intervals to assess the actual degree of compliance in the organization. This helps in effective compliance management software by enforcing compliance best practices and ensuring fully compliant processes and procedures.

Facilitates Risk Management- By proactively detecting vulnerable areas within the network, and identifying exposure to potential threats, these software solutions help in effective risk management.

Offers Holistic View & Prompt Reporting- Vulnerability management solutions help gain complete control over risks and vulnerabilities by offering total visibility through a centralized view. Their advanced reporting capabilities enable organizations to take prompt corrective and preventive action before security gaps are exploited.

Improves Productivity & Lowers Cost- Since these security solutions are completely automated, they allow IT departments to focus on more critical tasks, thereby enhancing productivity. And they also help reduce administrative costs and management overhead, as a single efficient software solution, can effectively replace multiple disparate applications.

Managing a diverse network environment can be quite overwhelming. But a proactive, integrated, vulnerability assessment and management solution can dramatically simplify this by offering a complete GRC framework that can patch vulnerabilities, mitigate risks, and improve productivity.

The post Vulnerability Management: Secured IT, Assured Success appeared first on Aegify.

Timely Recognition of Long-Term Risks

Security cannot merely be defined in terms of Trojans, viruses or spam eagerly waiting to enter and incapacitate the central IT nervous system of an organization. Even the careless attitude of employees can cause security breaches within the network, and intentional attempts like hacking or willful destruction of critical data also cannot be ignored. In order to deal with this growing concern, you require automated IT Compliance software that can provide you with robust, end-to-end integration solutions.

Many organizations fail to enforce a compelling security environment that is in alignment with the business goals. The alarming rate at which these security threats are increasing is an indication that you need result-oriented techniques to help overcome this problem. The answer lies in an automated and integrated solution that can handle all IT risk management issues, and carry out overall effective corporate governance.

Intensifying the IT Environment with Cognitive Security Parameters

A cloud-based model capable of providing unified governance risk and compliance management solutions can help crack down potential threats, and can provide a remarkably safe IT environment. The solution contains a centralized repository for all compliance-based organizational data, and it considerably reduces the total cost of ownership due to its SaaS-based model.

It helps monitor and enforce the best regulatory standards and practices without delay. Due to its integrating feature, the time required for compliance is minimal, and the process is simple. Such an integrated compliance solution, addresses all vulnerability management solution needs by performing comprehensive scanning procedures, scheduling audits and providing exhaustive audit log trails for all compliance related tasks, so that compliance gaps can be bridged promptly with corrective measures. It also provides a complete report of compliance statistics which in turn helps identify your compliance status.

The aim of a capable IT security solution is to provide a set of comprehensive features, with solutions for effective threat management. Its main objective is to resolve issues concerning data leakage, insider threats, intrusion detection, and verification of controls. Therefore, with an integrated, comprehensive security solution, enterprises can ensure a healthier and safer IT environment.

The post A Wake-Up Call for IT Security: Are Your Compliance Practices Fit for the Test? appeared first on Aegify.

Get cracking; threats are real!

Threats to systems and networks worldwide have been on the rise. For instance, the blaster worm in 2009 managed to shut down close to 120,000 systems in just 3 minutes, ensuring that networks across the world were affected. In another such attack, the Slammer worm infected nearly 55 million hosts per second in just 11 minutes. Susceptibilities in enterprise systems and the perpetrators of such actions are increasing globally, and IT organizations are more and more vulnerable to these attacks.

Be it internal or external, security threats can cause not just financial losses, but can also tarnish the image of an enterprise. Hence threat management has to take precedence over other activities. Enterprises should therefore follow best practices and invest in the best solutions to manage security threats effectively.

What are the best practices for effective threat management?

Managing threats is not an easy task, especially because enterprises today want their threat management efforts to coincide with compliance management as well. So an ideal threat management solution should essentially:

• Crack multiple data-centric information security challenges
• Decipher and detect in real-time advanced persistent and pervasive threats
• Detect automatically for any kind of data leakages
• Search for insider threats
• Provide detailed malware analysis
• Undertake continuous and automatic controls verification including e-discovery
• Deliver a holistic solution for both security as well as for IT- Governance and Risk Compliance that can be easily monitored through an integrated dashboard
• Provide an end-to-end automatic enterprise security solution that is all encompassing for compliance, audit and risk management needs.
• Swiftly update software with latest information
• Stay ahead of potential threats
• Thwart threats at their source

A company’s network, its information systems, databases, and processes are essentially its backbone. Hence, they must be made secure from threats, both internal and external. Therefore, deploying the right threat management system can prevent data breach and safeguard the company’s networks, systems and assets.

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Whatever the reason, cybercrime has been increasingly affecting the performance and productivity of companies. IT security is a matter of serious concern now, and companies are trying to adopt best practices to overcome this challenge. Here are some measures that you can take, to protect your company’s backup data:

1. Integrate backup security measures with the rest of the infrastructure. Make storage security a part of the overall information security policy. Even if the storage security responsibility lies with the storage team, they should integrate their security measures with the rest of the infrastructure, physical and virtual, in order to build in-depth protection.

1. Assess risk in terms of security. Ensure that a risk analysis of your entire backup process is done. Vulnerability management is crucial for every business and therefore it is essential to evaluate the backup methodology used by the company to identify security vulnerabilities in the process. For example, questions such as, can an administrator make copies of the backup tapes, are end-point devices easily accessible, and is there end-to-end custody for backup data, etc, need to be addressed to avoid security attacks.

1. Modify your security approach. If you do not have a comprehensive approach, adopt one. A multi-layered approach to security works well in most cases. Add different layers of protection such as authentication with anti-spoofing techniques, authorization based on roles and responsibilities as against complete access, encryption for data to be stored or copied, and auditing, along with log maintenance and log analysis, to ensure traceability and accountability.

1. Build awareness about data security. Communicate to your staff and managers, the risks involved in handling backup data and train them to abide by your backup security policies and regulations. Most often data loss is a result of ignorance or negligence of employees. If employees are made aware of the consequences of data leak, security lapses can be avoided to a large extent.

Secure data backup begins with formulating strategic policies. And implementing these policies requires proper planning and preparation. To fully protect a company’s critical data, complete control, continuous effort and constant monitoring are crucial. It’s important to understand that data security is as much a product of awareness, as it is an enforced directive. And it is your responsibility to create such awareness to ensure overall data protection.

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Security risks are now at their peak, with attackers continually adopting new techniques to break firewalls and hack networks. Hence, the amount of research done by security vendors, and how they apply the findings in developing their governance risk and compliance solutions, is one important factor to be considered while choosing the right vendor for your business.  Market research has revealed that those vendors, who invest judiciously in security research, develop better products that are capable of protecting customers not only against the prevailing threats, but also from future attacks.

Here are some tips to help you find the right security vendor for your business. The ideal vendor should fulfill the following criteria:

1. Should be Stable: Longevity and a large install base are the main indicators of stability. Therefore, always go for a software provider who has been around for years. They are better experienced and can guide you with the right solutions for your business risks.

1. Should be referable: The vendor should be able provide you with references of companies using their security services. You can be sure that those vendors, who readily offer a list of references, are the ones who have been providing satisfactory services. Hence they are the most reliable.

1. Should understand you: A vendor who is able to best understand your business needs is the most suitable for your company. Good vendors will be familiar with your specific business needs, or will take the time to learn. They take the time to understand how you work as a company, do a vulnerability scanning to determine the possible risks, and devise methods to curb them. They must evaluate your business processes and be able determine whether all your functions are in accordance with rules and regulations.

Apart from the criteria listed above, also consider other factors such as customer service, warranties, and free upgrades. Remember that your budget for a security service cannot be compromised. Hence, you should also bear in mind, the number of users who will benefit from this software, and the license and customization fees charged by the vendor.

The ‘loss prevention approach’ to security solutions should be another key factor in determining the right vendor for your business. A good security vendor is always capable of providing an end-to-end security solution, which will address present and future threats and help achieve loss prevention in all areas of your business.

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This case sends out a strong message to all those in control of sensitive data, about their responsibilities to protect confidential information. It once again reinforces the importance of compliance with security standards and the need for secure GRC solutions. The disk that was lost is said to have contained some of the most personal, intimate patient information, which is capable of causing grave embarrassment to individuals, financial harm and identity theft.

Health and financial institutions, which are in control of the most sensitive data, should therefore take necessary steps to put in place, a comprehensive compliance management system as a preventive measure to avoid any kind security breach.

The post AG’s Office Scores Settlement for Unparalleled Security Breach: First of its Kind appeared first on Aegify.

• Approximately 500 million records containing personal identifying information of United States residents stored in government and corporate databases was either lost or stolen in the last 5 years?
• Various other corporations lost US$1 Trillion worldwide as a result of data loss, accidental or malicious?
• Costs from the largest computer data breach in corporate history at TJX, in which more than 94 million customer Credit and Debit card numbers were stolen was estimated at US$ 256 million?
• In 2009, Gartner analysts estimated that the cost of sensitive data break will increase 20 percent per year?

These are not merely statistics but a warning that companies need to take a serious note of the kind of cyber security threats and business compliance risks that are out there for them.

So you may feel that your company is safe…so here’s some number crunching for you to think again!

Security breaches affected the following industries

• The retail industry (35%)
• Technology firms (20%)
• Banking and financial industry (20%)
• Medical industry (15%)
• Defense industry (10%)

Overall, only 5% of the companies resorted to security monitoring! The majority (55%) had absolutely no mechanisms for monitoring and the rest 40% conveniently outsourced the IT security monitoring functions to managed services providers. So your company may have put in place certain strategies in the form of policies, guidelines, firewalls and virus scanners, which you deem adequate enough to deal with hackers. But are they truly the protective shield your company needs?

Keep your company cyber-threat free

Verizon Business for instance reported 90 confirmed breaches within their 2008 caseload encompassing an astounding 285 million compromised records. And a thorough investigation proved that ‘significant errors’ standing at 67% was the main cause of the security breach! So the question that’s begging to be answered right now…is whether your company implemented a proper Governance, Risk and Compliance system? If not, then your company is at its maximum risk level. The most workable solution for any company in such a volatile and unsafe environment is to integrate and automate GRC combining compliance workflow with control assessment automation and security monitoring.

But keep in mind, IT-GRC does not stop threats; it only helps companies manage “the whole process” of IT security, compliance, and risk management through policy guidelines and implementation. So, compliance with a regulatory framework is a big  step which could bring down the risk significantly, since these regulations are the collective wisdom of specialists in the society. Thus there is a considerable reduction in risk exposure by simply the best practices prevalent in the industry.

Next generation GRC solutions

A holistic approach is to look at business risks from 2 different perspectives, from the compliance management policy implementation point of view as well as measuring the reality on the ground through information security monitoring. what the next generation enterprise solution needs to offer -one which will cover all aspects of security and compliance management, An ideal next generation solution would provide

• integrated compliance management and security monitoring
• multiple out of the box global regulations support
• automated control assessment
• secure end-point devices to enable massive storage of sensitive and regulated data
• security solutions for monitoring the network traffic
• ability to address business problems through detection of advanced threats
• scale up to global enterprises and down to small and medium businesses
• capable to integrate multiple solutions
• deliver compelling and value to the organization and also be affordable

Gain with SecureGRC: Integrated GRC and Security Monitoring

With your company’s integrated GRC  and security efforts you will notice that it actually drives real value for your company, especially in optimizing risk and compliance coverage and the underlying cost structure. All you need to do is ensure that your company’s integrated GRC should understand and manage the nature of risks for your specific industry with security monitoring.

SecureGRC from eGestalt Technologies Inc. unifies Information security monitoring and IT Compliance management. For more details please visit: http://www.egestalt.com/securegrctm.html

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