The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently published NIST Internal Report (IR) 8517, titled “Hardware Security Failure Scenarios: Potential Hardware Weaknesses.” This pivotal document underscores the complexities of hardware security, a field often overshadowed by its software counterpart. While hardware is generally considered resilient, its vulnerabilities can have far-reaching consequences, especially given the embedded software and intricate designs in modern chips.

NIST IR 8517 details 98 hardware security failure scenarios, categorizes weaknesses and outlines their implications. This report aims to bridge the gap between hardware security and existing frameworks like the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE). Here, we explore the report’s key insights, categorizations, and what organizations need to know to ensure compliance and mitigate risks effectively.

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CMMC is a cornerstone of cybersecurity compliance for Defense Industrial Base organizations. With the increasing use of open-source software, aligning open-source practices with CMMC standards is a growing challenge. OSS offers flexibility, cost-efficiency, and innovation but also introduces unique risks that must be mitigated to achieve and maintain CMMC certification.

This article explores the viability of open-source software and CMMC, providing advanced insights and strategies to align OSS practices with the stringent requirements of this certification framework.

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Data anonymization and tokenization are essential techniques for SOC 2 security requirements and, in a larger context, for data privacy. By implementing these data protection methods, organizations can bolster their privacy controls, reduce risk, and demonstrate commitment to SOC 2 privacy compliance.

This article discusses how data anonymization and tokenization work, their differences, and how they help organizations comply with SOC 2 privacy criteria.

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