Houston Information & Network Security
Our Houston Information & Network Security Services Firm offers top notch information security and regulatory compliance services to all Houston businesses and medical practices; from simple to complex. Security work is not just to satisfy federal and state regulatory requirements – there are many tangible benefits of the work as well. Citiscape IT's plan includes work streams and detailed plans to handle risk and compliance in preparation for potential audits in the short and long term. Today more than ever, businesses need to fully understand the obligations, liabilities, risks and treatments involving information security and privacy. There is a lot to consider when it comes to a risk assessment framework, including having a strong understanding of legal, regulatory, industry and organization security requirements, defining risk thresholds and having a defined risk assessment plan. Business owners and executives must have a firm grasp of the information security and privacy statutes and regulations in each country where they do business, including any industry sector-specific rules. We provide this for businesses in the State of Texas. The evolution of information technology affects the business environment in many significant ways. It has changed business practices, reduced costs and altered the ways in which information should be controlled. In addition, it has raised the level of knowledge and skills required to protect an enterprise’s information assets, and increased the need for well-educated professionals in the fields of information security, governance and risk management. Information Security and IT Security are not one and the same. Don't confuse the two; there is a difference. We help Houston businesses manage the landscape of their company's information by mitigating risks and reducing costs associated with unstructured records and to protect sensitive business information. We offer full compliance services for businesses in the State of Texas.
Accept nothing less from your Houston IT Consulting Firm and Houston Information Security Firm.
- Third-party, independent cloud computing (SaaS) security auditing for businesses in the State of Texas
Third-party, independent managed services (MSP) security auditing for businesses in the State of Texas - Full service SLA and contract negotiations, and cloud computing procurement services. This includes liability assessments, risk assessments, and SLA verbiage in cloud computing contracts (as well as other IT outsourcing services) that often pass liability and legal risks to the client and take on no responsibility as a service provider.
- Backup remediation services
- Corporate asset protection
- Data analysis & recovery services
- Data culling services
- Data preservation and collection
- Defensible eDiscovery
- Development of legal and technical strategies
- Corporate criminal fraud and deception
- Electronic discovery & forensic services
- Internet usage and timelines monitoring and auditing
- Employee monitoring and activity analysis
- Employee internet and email abuse
- Unauthorized disclosure of corporate information
- Damage assessment (following an incident)
- Maintain proper and effective information governance
- Implement and automate records retention and disposition strategies
- Identify and classify records according to business value, compliance, regulation and information governance policies.
Data breaches, lost data and negligence occur thousands of times each day in the business world. When it is your time of need, our response team delivers.
Architectural Security Assessment
Does your security architecture really protect your most vital assets? We focus on understanding your unique requirements, capabilities and business drivers in our assessment process. Our security consultants perform in-depth discovery to identify key vulnerabilities. We also have experience reviewing and incorporating results from any recent vulnerability analyses that have been performed on your environment. Our team will document currently unknown risks and develop a plan for increasing the overall security of your business critical environments. Our senior level security experts come from commercial software development and IT backgrounds that have the distinct capability to analyze current framework (as well as legacy framework) to assist your company in making a sound assessment and state of your company information security.
Enterprise Architecture
o Application to application communications
o Business to business communications
o Data flow models
o Internal network security architecture
o Perimeter architecture
o Remote access architecture
o Security architecture and zones
o Threat Models
Command & Control
o Administrative access
o Authentication mechanisms
o Encryption management
o Identity management
o Monitoring and threat detection
o Patch management
o Security policy, procedures & process review
Access Controls & Operational Security
o Antivirus/antimalware capability review
o Data loss prevention
o Endpoint protection
o Network/Web application Firewalls
o Internet proxy
o Intrusion detection/prevention
o Security compliance, governance & risk management review
o VOIP
Cloud Computing Services
With the exception of internal threats to corporate information security, public cloud computing is one of the greatest security threats of any company in today's society. While this is not new technology (formerly known as the ASP or Application Service Provider model in the 90's which was for the most part a failure and unpopular at the time), the IT community has put forth much marketing hype (thus the "cloud" spin) on this model and brought it back to life. Common logic tells us if we don't have physical access to the server where the data resides, we don't have control. But for some businesses and applications, it makes sense. For those contemplating cloud based solutions, we are here to help you make a sound decision for your business, and assist with the complexities involved with this decision, and filter out facts from marketing hype as well as corporate politics that come into play with this decision.
o Regulatory: Do you know for sure if corporate data or legally protected data that your company owns is in your country of residence? What laws are governing the data's privacy? This would also include the cloud provider's contractors and outsourced services that are being consumed by that cloud provider.
o Integrity, Availability and Confidentiality: One needs to recognize that the cloud, by its very nature (as a host of lots of data and services) is a target. Why would a bad guy go after a personal account or a corporate data center when hacking a cloud provider provides access to thousands of corporations and virtually unlimited accounts?
o Corporate: How easy is it to get out of a relationship with a cloud provider once all of the company's data has migrated to the provider?
Like anything else, when we delegate responsibility for something we give up control. However we do not give up accountability for the risk. So in a cloud relationship it is even more important to have clear, well-documented agreements, as well as suitable transparency and assurances that the responsibilities of the cloud provider are being carried out.
Code of Ethics
We provide top notch information security services, IT consulting services, IT risk assessments, state licensed security services, and information technology services to small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) and medical practices located in Houston, Texas and outlying areas. We are fully licensed by the State of Texas, and board certified at the national level. We are senior level certified and individually licensed IT professionals equipped to manage advanced IT security issues, HIPAA regulatory compliance and audit, advanced level network, user, and security auditing and tracking, email monitoring, legally protected information on corporate networks, and corporate data analysis and protective measures. We have serviced most business verticals and understand uniqueness of each one. We feel strongly that our code of ethics is integral to our professional approach to this practice, and is also a requirement by the State of Texas licensed security professionals as well as a requirement to obtain and keep board certifications. Our goal is to promote practices that will ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of organizational information resources, as well as the protection of EPHI data for medical practices. To achieve this goal, we must reflect the highest standards of ethical conduct.
- Perform all professional activities and duties in accordance with the law and the highest ethical principles
- Promote good information security concepts and practices
- Maintain appropriate confidentiality of proprietary or otherwise sensitive information encountered in the course of professional activities, as well as confidentiality of EPHI as required by law.
- Discharge professional responsibilities with diligence and honesty.
- Refrain from any activities which might constitute a conflict of interest or otherwise damage the reputation of employers, the information security profession, or information technology profession
- Not intentionally injure or impugn the professional reputation or practice of colleagues, clients, or employers
Information Security and Information Technology Security are NOT the same! Call us today and find out the difference. 281-733-2422