Cybersecurity Insights & Expertise

If you've been told your web application pentest should be "OWASP-aligned" and almost every RFP says this you probably have a follow-up question: what does that actually mean in practice, and how do you verify a provider is doing it properly? This guide answers that question for the people making the buying decision. Not a technical tutorial, not a developer checklist a clear explanation of what each OWASP Top 10 vulnerability category means for your business, how a competent pentest covers it,

If you're evaluating web application penetration testing providers, you've probably already realised that the market is full of firms offering "pentests" that aren't really pentests automated scanner runs dressed up with a cover report. This guide is written for the people making the buying decision: CISOs, CTOs, InfoSec managers, and security leads who need to understand what a real web app pentest involves, what it should cost, and how to tell the difference between a genuine assessment and a

Achieving NESA compliance isn't a documentation exercise. It's an implementation project and for most UAE organisations, it's the most technically demanding compliance initiative they'll undertake. The gap between understanding what NESA requires and having it fully implemented, evidenced, and audit-ready is where most organisations need outside help. This article explains what NESA implementation actually involves, what a specialist partner does at each stage, and what separates firms that mak

If you've just been told a customer needs you to complete a SOC 2 audit, or you're preparing for one for the first time, a gap analysis is where you should start before you hire an auditor, before you buy compliance software, and before you spend money fixing things that may not need fixing. A SOC 2 gap analysis tells you exactly where you stand: what controls you already have in place, what's missing, and what has to be built before an auditor can evaluate it. Done well, it's the difference be

A SOC 2 penetration test typically costs between $8,000 and $25,000 for a standard SaaS scope web application, API layer, and cloud infrastructure. What puts you at the low or high end of that range depends on four variables: scope size, testing depth, report format, and whether retesting is included. 1. SOC 2 Pentest Price Ranges by Scope 2. What Drives Cost Up or Down 3. Penetration Testing Cost Per Hour: What It Means 4. What a Compliant SOC 2 Pentest Must Include 5. Get a Scoped Quot

TX-RAMP (Texas Risk and Authorization Management Program) is Texas's state-level cloud security certification framework. If you're a cloud service provider selling software or services to Texas state agencies, TX-RAMP authorization is not optional it's a legal requirement under Texas Government Code §2054.0593. Think of it as a state-level equivalent of FedRAMP, built specifically for the Texas public sector market. This guide covers everything you need to know: who needs it, what the two certi

What Is Assumed Breach Testing? Assumed breach testing is a type of penetration test that starts from the premise that an attacker has already gained access to your environment. Instead of testing whether someone can break in, it tests what they can do once they're inside — how far they can move laterally, what systems they can reach, what data they can access, and whether your security controls would detect them. It simulates the post-compromise phase of a real attack using a provided i

Does HIPAA Require Annual Penetration Testing? Yes — effectively. HIPAA's Security Rule (45 CFR §164.308(a)(8)) requires covered entities and business associates to perform "periodic" technical evaluations of security controls protecting ePHI. The regulation doesn't use the word "annual," but annual penetration testing is the widely accepted minimum standard in practice: it's what OCR investigators expect to see during breach investigations, and what NIST SP 800-66 guidance recommends as

PTaaS (Penetration Testing as a Service) is a subscription-based security model that replaces one-off penetration tests with continuous, platform-driven testing. Security teams get real-time vulnerability findings, on-demand human testers, and built-in remediation workflows instead of waiting months for a static PDF. If you're evaluating PTaaS platforms, this guide covers everything: how they work, how to compare them, what compliance frameworks accept, and what realistic pricing looks like. T

Does SOC 2 Require Penetration Testing? SOC 2 does not explicitly mandate penetration testing in its written criteria — but in 2026, auditors overwhelmingly expect it. Under CC4.1 of the AICPA Trust Services Criteria, organizations must demonstrate ongoing risk identification and that security controls are present and functioning. A scoped, third-party penetration test is the most accepted evidence for satisfying that expectation. Without one, expect your auditor to ask for it. Tabl

Does Nessus include remediation steps in its reports? Yes, but only in the loosest sense. Nessus plugin output contains a Solution field with one or two generic lines of guidance. What it does not include is anything your team can actually act on without significant additional work: no environment-specific steps, no implementation commands, no validation procedures, no priority based on real exposure. This is the gap that generates thousands of searches every month for nessus report remediation

Last updated: February 2026 — This page is updated monthly. Bookmark it and return. GDPR enforcement is no longer a background risk managed by legal teams. With €1.2 billion in fines issued in 2025 alone and daily breach notifications exceeding 400 for the first time since 2018, regulators have made one thing unmistakably clear: the grace period is over. This tracker compiles every major enforcement action from 2024 through February 2026, breaks down the violation patterns driving the biggest