Category Archives: third-party security policies

How to Simplify Vendor Risk Management

Every major cyber security framework and law requires that an organization must manage the cyber risk of third party vendors. In fact, vendor cyber risk management must now be considered “best practice” for having a defensible cyber program. Over the last several years, many vendor cyber risk management tools have entered the market. In general, […]

8 Rules for Passing Cyber Vendor Assessments

We often speak to businesses struggling to pass a cyber security assessment from one of their key clients. The business has received a huge spreadsheet with 100+ cyber security questions, many of which they have no idea how to answer. If they don’t “pass” the assessment, they may lose the client entirely. Sometimes it is […]

Third Party Vendor Security – Regulatory Drivers

Third Party Vendors and Data Breaches So the bad news is sinking in.   Data breach reports are showing that significant information security risk can lie with third party vendors.  Starting with the now-famous Home Depot breach, a steady stream of breaches have been reported that involve third party vendors. In some studies, as many as […]

Security Policies Key to HIPAA BA Compliance

In January the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the much-awaited final updates to the HIPAA Security, Privacy and Enforcement Rules. These updates, known as the “Omnibus Rule” were required by the HITECH Act and have been in proposal form since 2010.  The new law incorporates some major changes in the HIPAA security […]

Managing Vendor Security Risks Under HiTECH

Assessing the risk of third-party vendors has been a growing problem for compliance management.  Because of the growing number of data breaches related to third-parties, regulators have been focusing on the inherent risks of outsourcing.   Within the financial services industry, this has long been accomplished via a SAS70 (now SSAE16) type audit. Within the U.S. [...]