Washington Works Blog

Checking a box on an insurance application used to be enough to get your business covered. Not anymore. Since cybercriminals have caused significant problems over the last few years, insurance companies are aggressively altering their rules to protect their own finances.

If your best defense against cybersecurity threats is to hope your business is too small to target, we’ve got news for you. That’s no cybersecurity strategy, and hackers don’t care how big or small your business is. All they care about is the value your data presents, and let’s be real, that’s a lot.

Nowadays, the era of "checkbox” compliance is officially dead. As regulatory bodies become more tech-savvy—using AI to scan documentation and detect inconsistencies at scale—businesses can no longer rely on manual spreadsheets and periodic audits to stay above water.

Technology has shifted from being a support tool to becoming the strategic infrastructure that keeps a business legal, ethical, and operational. Here is how technology is redefining compliance.

The era of suggested AI transparency has officially ended. Nowadays, opening the hood of your digital operations isn't just a best practice—it is the law. The age of the black box is being dismantled by global regulators who are now forcing companies’ AI to show its work. 

Let me ask you something: say you had promised to protect someone, keeping them safe and healthy. Would you want them to actively partake in risky—and in many cases, completely avoidable—situations? Of course not. So, why would a business’ insurance provider want to provide coverage if that business did nothing to prevent a cybersecurity event?

They wouldn’t… and as a result, many providers are establishing minimum safeguards and compliance requirements to help protect themselves. Let’s go over what these safeguards are so that your safety nets will be there when you need them.

AI is everywhere, helping us do everything from writing emails to analyzing data. It's a powerful tool that can make work more efficient, but it also comes with a hidden risk you should be aware of: prompt hacking.

This isn't some half-baked science fiction. As more businesses rely on AI, understanding prompt hacking isn't just a job for the IT department—it's something everyone needs to know.

Healthcare technology is changing, and changing fast. Even beyond your typical concerns like data security and operational efficiency, healthcare IT faces unique challenges specific to the industry. Today, we want to cover some of the best practices that healthcare organizations should follow in regards to their IT. We’ll explore topics such as patient trust, legal compliance, and so much more.

A strong cybersecurity posture isn't just about installing the latest software or ticking boxes on a compliance checklist. It's about building a culture of security where every member of your team is actively engaged and invested in protecting your collective digital well-being… but how do you achieve that buy-in, beyond simply mandating policies? 

It starts with illuminating the "why" behind the "what."

Despite what detractors say, regulations are in place for good reason. They typically protect individuals from organizational malfeasance. Many of these regulations are actual laws passed by a governing body and cover the entire spectrum of the issue, not just the data involved. The ones that have data protection regulations written into them mostly deal with the handling and protection of sensitive information. For organizations that work in industries covered by these regulations there are very visible costs that go into compliance. Today, we look at the costs incurred by these organizations as a result of these regulations, and how to ascertain how they affect your business.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has released an emergency directive concerning a critical exploit known as Zerologon, that affects servers running Windows Server operating systems that needs to get patched as soon as possible.

The second you hear “audit,” your brain likely goes into damage control mode. However, the purposes of an audit are not necessarily malicious. In fact, they can be remarkably beneficial for a number of reasons, including network security. A good audit can help your business stay secure from threats and vulnerabilities.

No matter what type of business you run or the services you provide to the community, chances are you must adhere to at least some compliance laws and regulatory requirements dictated by state or federal governments. Today, we want to make it abundantly clear that you must protect your business’ data to avoid inadvertently becoming subject to the massive fines associated with these laws.

Perhaps predictably, the word “insure” has roots that tie it closely to “ensure,” as it is meant to ensure a level of security after some form of loss. Nowadays, that loss often pertains to data, making cyber insurance an extremely valuable investment for the modern business to make.

However, in order to obtain this kind of insurance, businesses commonly need to meet some basic requirements. Let’s go over some of these requirements now.

Cybersecurity is important. Scroll through a few pages of our blog and you’ll see article after article talking about threats and ways to make yourself and your business less vulnerable to cyberthreats. As an IT professional, however, I’d be so much happier if the state of the world didn’t require such a massive effort just to protect oneself and we could just talk about cool stuff you can do with modern technology all the time!

But alas, strong cybersecurity is crucial to virtually any organization, and it’s becoming even more important by the month.

When I was a kid, there was a Tex Avery cartoon where Droopy Dog was chasing down a crook who escaped from jail. There was a particular scene where the crook (I think it was a wolf in a black-and-white striped jumpsuit) takes a bus, a plane, a ship, and a taxi to a secluded cabin, and then closes a series of increasingly complex doors with a large number of locks, in order to hide away from the pursuing cartoon basset hound. 

Of course, when he turns around, exhausted by all the effort he puts in, he realizes that Droopy is standing right behind him, and greets him with a monotone “hello.”

I haven’t seen this cartoon since I was 7 years old, but I almost always think about it when I am using multi-factor authentication. 

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is a regulation passed by the US congress in 1996 to help streamline the healthcare system while maintaining individual ePI privacy over individuals’ health records. This regulation was put in place to allow people to transfer their health coverage, but also to minimize the risk individuals take on as far as fraud and abuse of their health records is concerned. This week we’d thought we’d discuss four ways your technology can help your organization keep its HIPAA compliance. 

Cloud computing is a major growth industry as businesses and individuals look to use the computing strategy to either save money or get resources that they would typically not be able to commit to. With cloud computing becoming more and more integrated into business each year, it stands to reason that the once Wild West of cloud computing would start to see a lot more regulation. This week, we’ll take a look at how the cloud is regulated and what to expect out of cloud regulation down the road. 

2020 was, obviously, a challenging year for healthcare providers. In addition to the obvious issue of the COVID-19 pandemic creating serious operational, financial, and supply chain difficulties, cybersecurity concerns didn’t go away during this time. Let’s consider some of the additional stresses that IT security needs can, will, and have placed on healthcare providers.

The days of the cash-only business are over. It doesn’t matter if your business is a multinational corporation or you cut grass for a living, accepting payment cards is not only convenient for your customers, most of the time it’s the most secure way to get paid. In an effort to protect the personal and financial information of consumers who have come to depend on their payment cards, the banks that back the credit card industry have developed a regulation that businesses who process cards need to adhere to. Today, we will go over this regulation and how it affects small and medium-sized businesses

Most companies have some sort of regulation they need to stay compliant to, and 2020 seems to be a landmark year. This year, companies have to deal with end-of-life upgrades, the development of new privacy laws, as well as the existing regulatory landscape. Let’s take a look at why compliance is important and what to expect in the year ahead.