Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Resource Kit
Understanding and insuring compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act can be a formidable undertaking. It is a complex piece of legislation, and one which demands a serious and planned approach.
However, this need NOT be a daunting task. The Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Kit is designed specifically to educate, explain, and guide you through the process. It includes a whole series of resources intended to help simplify, and set you on the right path... to help you achieve full compliance as painlessly as possible.
Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 mandates that:
- Enterprises have an enterprise wide security policy;
- Enterprises have enterprise wide classification of data for security, risk, and business impact;
- Enterprises have security related standards and procedures;
- Enterprises have formal security based documentation, auditing, and testing in place;
- Enterprise enforce separation of duties; and
- Enterprises have policies and procedures in place for Change Management, Help Desk, Service Requests, and changes to applications, policies, and procedures.
To meet these needs the Sarbanes Oxley Compliance Resource Kit, which comes in four editions (Standard, Silver, Gold, and Platinum) contains:
- Security Policies (all editions);
- Threat & Vulnerability Assessment Tool (all editions);
- Business & IT Impact Questionnaire Risk Assessment Tool (all editions);
- Safety Program Template (all editions);
- Disaster Recovery Template (all editions);
- Outsourcing guide update to reflect what you vendors need to do (all editions);
- Internet and IT Job Descriptions (Silver, Gold, and Platinum Editions) and;
- IT Service Management Template (Platinum Edition) includes:
- Service Request Policy and Standard
- Help Desk Policy, Procedure, Standard, and Service Level Agreement
- Change Control Standard, Quality Assurance Standard, and Management Workbook
- Documentation Standard
- Version Control Policy and Standard
- Sensitive Information Standard
- Blog and Personal Web Site Policy
- Travel and Off-Site Meetings Security Policy
- Internet, e-mail and electronic communication Policy
Security Manual
The plan includes everything needed to customize the Internet and Information Technology Security Manual to fit your specific requirement. The electronic document includes proven written text and examples for your security plan.
Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP)
This Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) can be used as a template for any enterprise. DRP is sent to you via e-mail in WORD and/or PDF format. Included is a 13 page Business Impact Questionnaire as well as a 3 page Job Description for the Disaster Recovery Manager.
IT Job Descriptions
The Internet and IT Position Descriptions are in Word for Windows format. Includes positions from CIO and CTO to Wireless and Metrics Managers.
The IT Service Management Template
The IT Service Management Template contains policies, standards, procedures and metrics for Change Control, Help Desk and Service Request processing. ITSM template also contains several easy to implement forms and conforms with ITIL.
Practical Guide for IT Outsourcing
The guide is 91 packed pages and includes everything needed to plan for, negotiate, and manage an outsourcing process within an enterprise.
Safety Program Template
Safety Programincludes everything needed to customize the Safety Program to fit your specific requirement. The Safety reflects the latest issues associated with the most recent legislation (Sarbanes Oxley).
CIO and Compliance News
Goverments sites hacked -- again
Someone defaced the Web pages of nearly 50 members of the U.S. House of Representatives with an explicit insult to President Obama after he gave his State of the Union address on Wednesday night.
The 49 House Web sites, representing both Democrats and Republicans, were managed by a company called GovTrends, The Associated Press reported on Thursday.
Security Manual Template
ISO 27000 / HIPAA / SOX / CobiT Compliant
Includes PCI DSS Audit Program
The hacking occurred while GovTrends was performing an update, Jeff Ventura, spokesman for the House chief administrative officer, told the AP.
Last August, 18 House sites managed by GovTrends were also defaced, according to Ventura, who added that the House is reconsidering the business relationship with the Web site service provider.
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How secure is your sensitive data?
The prevailing model of enterprise network security is rooted in the axiom that being "physically inside is safe and outside is unsafe." Connecting to a network point within the enterprise is generally considered safe and is subject to weaker security controls. On the other hand, tight security controls are enforced at the network traffic entry and exit points using firewalls and VPNs. A WLAN breaks the barrier provided by the building perimeter as the physical security envelope for a wired network because invisible radio signals used by the WLAN cannot be confined within the physical perimeter of a building, and usually cut through walls and windows. Firewalls, VPN and 802.11i become ineffective at protecting the network from hackers, but there are certain security measures you can take.
This Security Manual for the Internet and Information Technology is over 240 pages in length and is ISO 27000 Compliant. All versions of the Security Manual template include both the Business & IT Impact Questionnaire and the Threat & Vulnerability Assessment Tool (both were redesigned to address Sarbanes Oxley compliance).
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Outsourcing issues CIOs need to address
CIOs need to avoid issues associated with their businesses as they operate in a crisis mode. Outsourcing decisions will be made in haste and be too simplistic and sudden to deliver real business advantage.
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- CIO should start their sourcing endeavor by building a solid sourcing strategy that focuses on creating short and long term value. This strategy should be aligned with the organization's sourcing management maturity and include business value scenarios, open options and a road map of value creation with a timeline of expected results.
- CIOs must take a long-term view of the developing global presence of countries that can provide high-quality resources at the right price point. If your geographic presence is diverse, seek providers that are not exclusively focused on single country, so that you can mitigate risks (such as geopolitical instability) and also take advantage of the benefits of alternative countries, which may offer opportunities close to your own growth markets.
- CIOs should actively monitor the market to determine the best combination of software and IT services and service provider options to meet their requirements and specify their appetite for risk.
Security a key issue
Some industries inherently deal with extremely sensitive data financial services, healthcare and law firms are among some of the businesses that cannot risk a data breach due to an employee emailing a file that could be compromised en route. It is imperative that their knowledge workers and staff had a bullet-proof way to move files.
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IT Professionals Not Happy
The recession and its accompanying reorganizations, layoffs and corporate turns to outsourcing have been corrosive to IT employee job satisfaction.
And that job dissatisfaction is increasing concerns among many employment experts that key employees may leave current jobs as soon as they get what they perceive is a better offer.
A mid-2009 job satisfaction survey by the Corporate Executive Board, a Washington-based advisory firm that counts many Fortune 500 firms among its clients, found that the number of dissatisfied workers continues to increase. The firm surveys 150,000 workers each quarter, asking a battery of behavioral questions about their jobs. About 10,000 of the those surveyed work in IT jobs, board officials said.
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Salaries Flat and Demand Low -- Where to Look for a Job
For IT professionals who are either looking to get back into the workforce or mulling moves to greener pastures, here are the skills most in demand . Among companies that plan to hire, the top reason for doing so is to meet demand for new systems and projects. That could be why programming/application development is the skill set that's most in demand, by far, according to Janco.
Building the IT Staff your company needs to succeed requires offering the right jobs at the right salary levels. Only the IT Hiring Resource Kit provides the industry-standard job descriptions and up-to-date salary data you need to recruit top talent as effectively and efficiently as possible.
This indispensable resource provides up-to-date salary data gathered through an extensive survey of businesses throughout the United States and Canada, plus polished job descriptions for the 73 IT positions surveyed. This proprietary information will reduce the time it takes to recruit top talent and ensure that you get the right person for each job.
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Security for laptop computers
The simplest form of laptop computer security involves protecting the computer and its physical environment. More than 31% of organizations surveyed provide laptop users with cable locks to secure their computers when out of the office.
Nearly 94% reported the use of password-based authentication on laptop computers. Interestingly, this same survey group indicated that they believed employees were responsible for most incidents of data breach within their organizations. Clearly, many organizations believe that despite basic precautions such as providing laptop locks and password-protecting computers, employees remain the weakest link in security plans.
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Unretired IT Pros source of talent
(BusinessWeek) As the recession forces more older workers to postpone retirement, a major shift is under way in the makeup of the U.S. labor pool. Calls for "Tennis, anyone?" are going unanswered. Foursomes on the fairways are few and far between.
Retired Americans who thought they would be golfing or shopping with grandchildren are sharpening their tech skills, updating resumes, and scouring job boards instead. America's recent retirees are talented, innovative and energetic - and millions of them have found that retirement just isn't for them. They're joined by millions more who have realized they can no longer afford to stay retired, following last year's stock market and housing crash.
The AARP says that 8 out of 10 baby boomers will work part- or full-time past retirement age. That's 64 million unretiring Americans, the biggest demographic shift in the American workforce since WWII - and 93% of the growth in the American labor market from now until 2016, according to the Pew Research Center. Welcome to "Gen U" - Generation Unretired - America's newest, bona fide workforce segment. To sail through this sea change in the labor pool, managers need to recognize the unique set of opportunities that Gen U presents.
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