In 1986, the United States enacted a vital piece of legislation known as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) to address a rise in computer-related crimes. CFAA made many computer-based offenses illegal, including hacking, computer trespassing, unauthorized access to computers and computer networks, and using computers to commit fraud or access national security information.…

Why does your business need compliance to grow? SOC compliance is crucial for those in service organizations. There are various compliance standards and accreditations that your business can work towards and ascertain, such as ISO 27001, NIST 800-53, and FEDRAMP, just to name a few. But arguably the most widely recognized and respected is SOC,…

Businesses operating in the European Union are subject to the strictest data protection regulation in the world, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Unlike the United States, the EU doesn’t have an industry-specific cybersecurity law for the healthcare sector. However, healthcare organizations are subject to a new cybersecurity law for businesses in essential industries, known…

Federal and state legislation say surprisingly little about how ordinary American businesses should manage their cybersecurity. However, financial services and insurance firms are not ordinary businesses. Because of their tendency to deal with sensitive personal data such as social security numbers, bank accounts and tax records, financial services and insurance firms are subject to a…

Ordinary American businesses are legally obligated to tell consumers when there has been a data breach but are not obligated to have cybersecurity protection in place. However, healthcare organizations are not ordinary businesses. Because they deal with protected health information (PHI), healthcare organizations are subject to special cybersecurity and data privacy rules pertaining only to…

How much money can your business afford to lose if it becomes the victim of a cyber-attack?  If you think this question will never apply to your business, then think again. Twenty-three percent of small businesses and 43% of businesses overall were targeted by cyber-attacks in 2020, according to a study commissioned by specialist insurer Hiscox of businesses in the United States and seven other countries.  The average financial cost of cyber-attacks…