eMazzanti Technologies | Technology Newsletter | Hoboken, NJ – New York, NY | October 2013

If the acronym “PCI” makes your heart race, you’re in good company.

“Small and medium-sized businesses can feel blindsided by all that PCI requires them to do,” says Aaron Reynolds, an author of the 2011 PCI Compliance Report by Verizon Business Services. “They have to comply with the same standard that initially was targeted at larger merchants and service providers.” Complying is complex.

“Unless the business has expertise in PCI and network security technologies, it will have a hard time controlling its compliance costs,” says Sean Walls, managing senior security consultant at Presidio Networked Solutions.

Help is at hand. Cisco and many of its partners offer cost-effective PCI compliance services–including helping SMBs complete their self-assessment questionnaire or assess PCI readiness.

Some Cisco partner companies are also certified by the PCI as Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) companies, which have QSA employees who have been certified by the PCI Council to validate an entity’s adherence to the PCI DSS.

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• Help stakeholders prepare to review and discuss the draft versions of PCI DSS and PA-DSS at the 2013 Community Meetings.
• Prepare stakeholders to align their security programs with the updated Standards.
• Provide additional time for merchants to review and understand changes prior to implementation.

Publishing this document prior to release of more detailed information on the revised Standards is part of the PCI SSC’s ongoing commitment to provide a steady flow of information during the standards development process and eliminate any perceived surprises in the process.

Summary
As the amount of data being created continues to increase, and that info is accessed and shared by more people, SMBs can’t afford to ignore the need for data protection. Small and medium businesses are powered by information.
Should your business lose that information or even suffer an interruption in access, it can have serious consequences. When it comes to protecting their electronic data, some SMBs feel they are at a disadvantage because they lack the large budgets and dedicated IT staff that many large enterprises enjoy. While this may be true, that doesn’t detract from the fact that SMBs face the same fundamental data protection concerns as large businesses, as no business is too small to be immune to data loss. As the amount of data being created continues to increase, and that info is accessed and shared by more people, you can’t afford to ignore the need for data protection.

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Privacy Law: Helpful Guides
used with permission from SBA.gov

For many companies, collecting sensitive consumer and employee information is an essential part of doing business. It is your legal responsibility to take steps to properly secure or dispose of it.  Financial data, personal information from children, and material derived from credit reports may raise additional compliance considerations. In addition, you may have legal responsibilities to victims of identity theft.  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)</span rel=”nofollow”> regulates and oversees business privacy laws and policies that impact consumers. Check out the following guides from more information on how you can ensure you are compliant.

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Compliance Requirements You Need To Understand

HIPAA Compliance can be a mystery. It can be even more mysterious when you don’t understand technology. When you dig deep and try to understand the tasks and procedures you need to protect electronic data you are likely to encounter technical terms — and IT buzzwords —  that are confusing. Here are some tips you can use to ensure that your technology foundation is strong enough to support HIPAA compliance. Remember that HIPAA compliance is a fundamental requirement for you to earn and keep your Meaningful Use incentive money.

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