ACM Queue - Compliance

What Went Wrong?: Why we need an IT accident investigation board

Poul-Henning Kamp — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 18:40:10 GMT

Enclaves in the Clouds: Legal considerations and broader implications

Jatinder Singh, Jennifer Cobbe, Do Le Quoc, Zahra Tarkhani — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 11:15:50 GMT

Standards Advice: Easing the pain of implementing standards

George Neville-Neil — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:18:47 GMT

My mother took language, both written and spoken, very seriously. The last thing I wanted to hear upon showing her an essay I was writing for school was, "Bring me the red pen." In those days I did not have a computer; all my assignments were written longhand or on a typewriter, so the red pen meant a total rewrite. She was a tough editor, but it was impossible to question the quality of her work or the passion that she brought to the writing process. All of the things Strunk and White have taught others throughout the years my mother taught me, on her own, with the benefit of only a high school education and a voracious appetite for reading.

Seeking Compliance Nirvana: Don’t let SOX and PCI get the better of you

Greg A. Nolann — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 08:48:46 GMT

Seeking Compliance Nirvana

Don’t let SOX and PCI get the better of you

Greg A. Nolann

Compliance. The mere mention of it brings to mind a harrowing list of questions and concerns. For example, who is complying and with what? With so many standards, laws, angles, intersections, overlaps, and consequences, who ultimately gets to determine if you are compliant or not? How do you determine what is in scope and what is not? And why do you instantly think of an audit when you hear the word compliance?

To see the tangled hairball that is compliance, just take a look at my company. It is on the hook for SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002), as we are a publicly traded company; for a number of banks for the PCI DSS (payment card industry data security standard), also known as Visa CISP (Cardholder Information Security Program); for HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act); for CA 1786 (and all other states’ disclosure laws); and for the European Union, its member countries, Japan, Korea, and a handful of other countries’ privacy and data security laws (these alone could probably spawn an entire series of lessons and lectures!).

Keeping Score in the IT Compliance Game: ALM can help organizations meet tough IT compliance requirements.

Tracy Ragan — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 08:48:43 GMT

Keeping Score in the IT Compliance Game

ALM can help organizations meet tough IT compliance requirements.

TRACY RAGAN, CATALYST SYSTEMS

Achieving developer acceptance of standardized procedures for managing applications from development to release is one of the largest hurdles facing organizations today. Establishing a standardized development-to-release workflow, often referred to as the ALM (application lifecycle management) process, is particularly critical for organizations in their efforts to meet tough IT compliance mandates. This is much easier said than done, as different development teams have created their own unique procedures that are undocumented, unclear, and nontraceable.

Achieving 100 percent compliance from all development teams requires that the ALM team clearly communicate the levels of compliance to the developers and clearly communicate to upper management which development teams are and are not in compliance. Keeping track of the game using a simple “compliance scorecard” can do the job.

Compliance Deconstructed: When you break it down, compliance is largely about ensuring that business processes are executed as expected.

J. C. Cannon, Marilee Byers — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 08:48:42 GMT

Compliance Deconstructed

When you break it down, compliance is largely about ensuring that business processes are executed as expected.

JC CANNON AND MARILEE BYERS, MICROSOFT

The topic of compliance becomes increasingly complex each year. Dozens of regulatory requirements can affect a company’s business processes. Moreover, these requirements are often vague and confusing. When those in charge of compliance are asked if their business processes are in compliance, it is understandably difficult for them to respond succinctly and with confidence. This article looks at how companies can deconstruct compliance, dealing with it in a systematic fashion and applying technology to automate compliance-related business processes. It also looks specifically at how Microsoft approaches compliance to SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002).

Compliance Drivers

Regulatory legislation and corporate governance are primarily what drives compliance. Failure to comply with legislation such as Sarbanes-Oxley can lead to fines and disruption of day-to-day business. Even companies that are not concerned with regulatory legislation need to protect important corporate resources such as customer data and trade secrets.

Box Their SOXes Off: Being proactive with SAS 70 Type II audits helps both parties in a vendor relationship.

John Bostick — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 08:48:41 GMT

Box Their SOXes Off

Being proactive with SAS 70 Type II audits helps both parties in a vendor relationship.

JOHN BOSTICK, dbaDIRECT

Data is a precious resource for any large organization. The larger the organization, the more likely it will rely to some degree on third-party vendors and partners to help it manage and monitor its mission-critical data. In the wake of new regulations for public companies, such as Section 404 of SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002), the folks who run IT departments for Fortune 1000 companies have an ever-increasing need to know that when it comes to the 24/7/365 monitoring of their critical data transactions, they have business partners with well-planned and well-documented procedures.

In response to a growing need to validate third-party controls and procedures, some companies are insisting that certain vendors undergo SAS (Statement on Auditing Standards) 70 Type II audits. These audits refer to an AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) standard that sets forth the practice for evaluating the performance of outside service organizations. (A Type I audit describes the business’s controls, noting if they are suitably designed and in place; a Type II audit tests those controls and reports if they are working adequately.)

Complying with Compliance: Blowing it off is not an option.

Eric Allman — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 08:48:39 GMT

Complying with compliance

Blowing it off is not an option.

ERIC ALLMAN, SENDMAIL

“Hey, compliance is boring. Really, really boring. And besides, I work neither in the financial industry nor in health care. Why should I care about SOX and HIPAA?”

Yep, you’re absolutely right. You write payroll applications, or operating systems, or user interfaces, or (heaven forbid) e-mail servers. Why should you worry about compliance issues?

A Requirements Primer: A short primer that provides background on four of the most important compliance challenges that organizations face today.

George W. Beeler, Dana Gardner — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 08:48:39 GMT

A Requirements Primer

GEORGE W. BEELER, JR., BEELER CONSULTING and DANA GARDNER, INTERARBOR SOLUTIONS

Many software engineers and architects are exposed to compliance through the growing number of rules, regulations, and standards with which their employers must comply. Some of these requirements, such as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portabililty and Accountability Act), focus primarily on one industry, whereas others, such as SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act), span many industries. Some apply to only one country, while others cross national boundaries. To help navigate this often confusing world, Queue has assembled a short primer that provides background on four of the most important compliance challenges that organizations face today.

SARBANES-OXLEY (SOX)

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 can be tidily summed up as trying to answer the not-so-simple question, “Says who?” when it comes to proper corporate financial reports. Because of a spate of major corporate and accounting scandals at the turn of the century—perhaps best punctuated by the collapse of Enron and Arthur Andersen—Sarbanes-Oxley, or SOX, was designed to shore up public and investor confidence in financial reporting.

Playing by the Rules: The complex world of compliance

Charlene O'Hanlon — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 08:48:31 GMT

Playing by the Rules

The complex world of compliance

Charlene O’Hanlon, ACM Queue

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of playing games with my sister—both structured games such as Monopoly or hopscotch and imagination-fueled games such as cops and robbers or roller derby girls (don’t ask). Regardless of whether the game had established regulations, often our play would devolve into what I call Calvinball, a term coined in the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes referring to the act of making up the rules as you go along.

Our Calvinball play had some distinct advantages: It was a lot more fun to change the rules in the middle of the game. No one ever got bored. It allowed us to stretch our minds beyond the parameters of regular play. And—quite possibly the best advantage—everybody won in Calvinball. Of course, there was the occasional cry of, “Hey, that’s not fair!” but that person was quickly outnumbered if there were more than two players.