Auditing Basics: Carve-Out vs. Inclusive Vendors

by Joseph Kirkpatrick / February 15, 2023

During the initial scoping phases of an organization’s audit engagement, your auditor will partner with you to help you narrow down the third-party vendors to be included in your engagement. In order to ensure that your organization’s security posture is and remains strong, you need to consider the impact that the third-party vendors you’ve entrusted sensitive data with could have on your organization. This means that you’ll need to be…

Auditing Basics: What is a Gap Analysis?

by Joseph Kirkpatrick / February 15, 2023

Do You Need a Gap Analysis? If it’s your first time pursuing compliance for any framework - whether it’s SOC 1, SOC 2, PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, etc. – we strongly recommend beginning your engagement with a gap analysis. At KirkpatrickPrice, we’re committed to helping our clients get the most out of their audit, which means that we don’t want you to fail due to lack of preparation. That’s why…

Secure Your City: Public Transit

by Sarah Harvey / June 14, 2023

Public transit is integral to metropolitan areas. The public transit sector ranges from buses to trains, overground systems, underground systems, light rails, ferries, and more. New York’s Subway, London’s Underground, and Paris’ Métro are hallmarks of the cities’ cultures. But the growing dependence on and integration between public transit and technology opens up new areas of risks to cities with public transit systems. If a public transit system is compromised…

3 Types of Social Engineering Attacks on the Financial Services Industry: Would Your Employees Fall for Them?

by Sarah Harvey / December 16, 2022

Providing quality customer service is crucial for the financial services industry, but there are many potential pitfalls when your employees go above and beyond for your customers. Consider the number of sensitive assets that banks rely on every day to conduct business: Social Security numbers, credit information, PINs, cardholder data, mailing addresses, email addresses, account balances, and more. It’s all available and accessible to employees, which means that it’s susceptible…

Auditing Basics: What are Control Objectives?

by Joseph Kirkpatrick / February 15, 2023

What are Control Objectives? Control objectives are statements that address how risk is going to be effectively managed by an organization, and your auditor will be validating whether or not your organization meets these control objectives during a SOC 1 audit. The AICPA requires that the description of the service organization's systems includes specific control objectives and controls designed to achieve those objectives, and control objectives are typically presented in…