NIST has now finalized its guidance providing important information on selecting both security and privacy control baselines for the Federal Government. The guidance is available here: Special Publication 800-53B, Control Baselines for Information Systems and Organizations. As we previously discussed when the draft version was released, these control baselines are from NIST Special Publication 800-53, and have been moved to this separate publication as a consolidated catalog of privacy and security controls. While the implementation of a minimum set of controls is required for protecting federal information systems, NIST envisions that these control baselines can be implemented by any organization that processes, stores, or transmits information.
Continue Reading NIST Finalizes Guidance on Security and Privacy Control Baselines – SP 800-53B

Much has been written about the challenges and issues that companies will face when implementing new policies and adjusting to the obligations of the new European General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR in short. The following paragraphs will give you the gist of the new Regulation and the essential elements that you must take into consideration in your endeavors to adjust to the GDPR, which will take effect across the EU as of May 25, 2018. There is enough time for your organization to adjust, but work must start now. Our key approach in implementing new obligations and making the necessary adjustments to this new European framework for personal data collection and processing is based on two simple rules: simplicity and efficiency.
Continue Reading What You Really Need To Know About The GDPR

On February 29, 2016, the European Commission and United States released the terms of the much-anticipated renewed framework for the transfer, sharing, and processing of European individuals’ data to the United States. The framework replaces the “Safe Harbour” mechanism, which enabled U.S. companies to transfer data from the EU to the United States by self-certifying that their practices ensured an adequate level of protection for personal data under the EU Data Protection Directive. In October, the “Safe Harbour” framework was declared invalid by the European Court of Justice in the Schrems decision covered earlier in this blog.
Continue Reading EU-US Privacy Shield: Brace Yourself . . . or Maybe Not