Vendor Management: IT security and compliance

Showing posts with label IT security and compliance. Show all posts

Wednesday, 15 May 2013

Implications of IT security compliance programs

A core element of IT security is to effectively manage regulatory compliance requirements. Today IT security and compliance programs such as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), GLBA (Gramm-Leach Bliley Act) and Sarbanes-Oxley have become diverse. As a result of which, organizations are aiming for a complete compliance structure that is effective and also cost-efficient in nature.

In case you happen to be medium/large scale medical provider, a hospital, a health clearing house, have expertise in health care solutions, conduct clinical research and are involved with patient health information (PHI) directly or indirectly, via an intermediary then according to HIPAA/HITECH regulations you are a “Business Associate” or “Covered Entity”. In such a situation, your institution is required to attain and maintain IT security and compliance according to the standards set up by HIPAA and HITECH.

Healthcare providers and Business Associated are required to comply with HIPAA and HITECH policies. HIPAA came into enforcement keeping the following objectives in mind:

To improve the continuity and portability of health insurance coverage
To help in easy exchange of electronic data
To reduce the cost through improved efficiency, effectiveness and standardization
To ensure that every personal health record is secured privately

To cater to the IT compliance and security requirements, organizations need to deploy apt controls in order to avert unapproved access and leakage of critical patient information. Hence, efficient compliance management solutions are needed that will offer total security management in order to improve the compliance processes and offer guidance on every medical activities. An innovative automated HIPAA HITECH compliance management solution includes the following:

Ongoing security and compliance with instant monitoring
Multiple regulation harmonization
Has “ready-to-use” packaged content, regulations, assessment questions, best practices and the capacity to customize quickly
Can be customized according to business requirements
Provides extensive reports, i.e. compliance and risk reports on demand
Offers a single and centralized repository for all compliance related evidence
Easy to use and implement
Supports both HIPAA and HITECH regulations.
Complies with the requirements for Covered Entities (CE's) and Business Associate (BA's).

According to a Forrester research, compliance of all types has become a crucial content of data security. Approximately, 90 percent of the enterprises surveyed by Forrester have agreed that data privacy policies, data security regulations and data breach policies are the essential aspects of IT security and compliance programs. Compliance management solutions that are HIPAA compliance today comprises of security and IT-GRC functions that are needed to remain compliant. Furthermore, they come with “easy to adopt” compliance management framework having “ready to use frameworks” along with innovative context based inference engines, high-end alert processing, monitoring and logging solutions.

Monday, 22 October 2012

Plug Security Breaches with IT Security & Compliance Management Solution

Thanks to the advancements in technology, enterprises today are able to collaborate, communicate, and share information online. Technology has opened up new business avenues and a pool of opportunities for enterprises to explore, expand their businesses, and enhance their profitability. Though technology has made things easier, smoother, and faster for enterprises, it has exposed businesses and organizations to a variety of new and emerging information security risks, like security breaches, data leaks, and cyber-attacks. As a result, enterprises face huge risks and liabilities, which cost them millions of dollars per breach. The following are some of the data breach statistics that clearly point out the need to develop a threat management environment.

* In the first quarter of 2012, there have so far been 93 incidents, exposing 2,140,987 records. (Source: Identity Theft Resource Center)

* In 2011, 37 percent of data breach cases involved malicious attacks and averaged $222 per record. Negligence accounted for 39 percent of reported breaches. (2011 Cost of a Data Breach: United States, Ponemon Institute and Symantec)

* Total number of records containing sensitive personal information involved in security breaches in the U.S. is 544,817,607 in 3,002 data breaches since January 2005. (A Chronology of Data Breaches, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse)

* The average total cost per company that reported a breach in 2011 was $5.5 million. (2011 Cost of a Data Breach: United States, Ponemon Institute and Symantec)

* In the United States, data breach incidents cost companies $194 per compromised record in 2011. (2011 Cost of a Data Breach: United States, Ponemon Institute and Symantec)

Hence, what enterprises need is to invest in enterprise compliance management software that allows their users to access applications and information where and when it is required, without exposing the organization to security threats, data loss and compliance risks.This automated and on-demand integrated IT security and compliance management solution provides end-to-end integration of security monitoring with IT Governance risk management and compliance (IT GRC) using a cloud based delivery model. The following are some of the advantages of deploying IT security and compliance management solution.

* Automates all Security, Compliance, Audit, and Risk management needs

* Ensures faster regulatory compliance

* Combats cyber-security threats with proactive assessment, forensics, compliance and security

* Offers Continuous security and compliance

* Reduces Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) dramatically through automation and governance

* Provides Complete Risk Management

IT compliance solution thus provides a safe and secure environment for enterprises to carry out business activities effectively.

Friday, 5 October 2012

Plug Security Breaches with IT Security & Compliance Management Solution

In the first quarter of 2012, there have so far been 93 incidents, exposing 2,140,987 records. (Source: Identity Theft Resource Center)
In 2011, 37 percent of data breach cases involved malicious attacks and averaged $222 per record. Negligence accounted for 39 percent of reported breaches. (2011 Cost of a Data Breach: United States, Ponemon Institute and Symantec)
Total number of records containing sensitive personal information involved in security breaches in the U.S. is 544,817,607 in 3,002 data breaches since January 2005. (A Chronology of Data Breaches, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse)
The average total cost per company that reported a breach in 2011 was $5.5 million. (2011 Cost of a Data Breach: United States, Ponemon Institute and Symantec)
In the United States, data breach incidents cost companies $194 per compromised record in 2011. (2011 Cost of a Data Breach: United States, Ponemon Institute and Symantec)

Automates all Security, Compliance, Audit, and Risk management needs
Ensures faster regulatory compliance
Combats cyber-security threats with proactive assessment, forensics, compliance and security
Offers Continuous security and compliance
Reduces Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) dramatically through automation and governance
Provides Complete Risk Management

IT compliance solution thus provides a safe and secure environment for enterprises to carry out business activities effectively.

Wednesday, 26 September 2012

How To Implement a Successful VRM Strategy?

Global economic conditions today have caused almost every enterprise to pay greater attention to risks related to their service and supply chain. In addition to that, with the new and expanding compliance regulations many enterprises are also focusing on better ways to manage their ongoing vendor risks and compliance issues.

Vendor management is therefore looked upon as a project for staying compliant and efficiently managing third party risks. It is all about attaining the best possible returns and generating additional value from vendor investments. Furthermore, it involves, adopting a holistic approach for monitoring every aspect of the vendor relationship, i.e. from sourcing, selection, performance management to risk and compliance monitoring. Any effective vendor relationship management (VRM) strategy aims at harmonizing the appropriate people, business processes and supporting VRM software to derive the best possible results. It also includes conducting targeted vendor audits to uncover high risk vendors or instances of non-compliance and resolving the identified issues.

In order to ensure successful implementation of a VRM strategy, it is essential for organizations to follow the three essential steps. They are:

* Conduct risk analysis - Organizations need to understand the significance of the vendor to the organization, the nature of activity performed and the innate risks present in it. Only when the risks are recognized appropriate measures can be arrived at.

* Document a vendor relationship contract - All vendor relationships regardless of the risks should be defined in a written contract format in order to avoid any disagreements.

* Supervise the vendors on an ongoing basis - All the vendor policies associated with internal controls and security must be reviewed to determine whether a vendor is following the controls need to be developed as well.

Improve vendor collaboration
Today esteemed service providers specializing in enterprise compliance management software have introduced advanced vendor management solutions that make sure enterprises and their outsourced partners remain compliant. This results in improved collaboration with vendors and other benefits, such as:

* Automates the monitoring of technical controls and critical data
* Manage risks with a Vendor Manager
* Assess vendor risks by using multiple assessment types and library of questions based on best practice standards
* Attain risk, IT security and compliance rating of vendors from assessment results
* Evaluate vendor compliance to procedures and regulations
* Tracks and recognizes non-compliance areas

An enterprise that implements an effective vendor management strategy backed by appropriate vendor management processes, is better positioned to drive growth, manage expenses, and alleviate risk across every department and business unit.