Tenable Blog

In a new post on the SHI Blog, Tenable’s Marcus Ranum discusses the importance of doing regular data backups as a defense against security risks.

… often the biggest security risk is the one you’re not paying attention to. It’s not forgetting to patch security vulnerabilities, or not running antivirus, or relying on outdated software. Those are bad ideas, for sure, but there is one idea that’s worse than all of those combined: Not conducting regular data backups.

As the old adage goes, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. In the case of the just announced Anthem Health Insurance data breach, an apple a day most definitely doesn’t keep the hackers away.

Let’s do a show of hands. How many network administrators go through a security audit without experiencing some anxiety?

Anyone?

I am guessing not many. And I can understand why.

The healthcare industry is one of the most heavily regulated business types today. To secure electronic protected health information (ePHI), organizations look to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. But they must also protect personal information, financial, and payment data in compliance with a variety of regulations including the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards (DSS).

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) version 3.0 is now the de facto standard for measuring security programs for all merchants and service providers that participate in commerce using credit or debit cards. There are twelve major requirements in the PCI DSS; this year, the Tenable Blog will feature a series of discussions about each of the twelve requirements.