Continuous Elevate

Many I.T. policies and procedures are written like dense, legal documents — so complex that no one actually understands much less follows them. If policies are clear, they don’t get used, which means they don’t provide any real protection.

We take what you already have, review it, and simplify it. Our goal is to make policies that are clear, practical, and actually used while still meeting all compliance requirements.

A template-driven incident response plan is a good starting point for smaller organizations that need to meet basic compliance requirements. It provides a structured approach to handling security incidents, ensuring you have the essential steps documented to respond effectively.

While it may not offer the customization that larger organizations need, it covers the core requirements for HIPAA compliance and helps ensure your team knows what to do in the event of a security issue. For organizations with more complex needs, a tailored plan may be a better fit.

Check out our answer to the question regarding a basic incident response plan directly above.

HIPAA requires training for all employees when they’re hired and periodic refresher training after that, while the Security Rule requires training on security policies and breach prevention. While HIPAA doesn’t specify an exact frequency, most organizations provide at least annual training to stay compliant and address new risks.

As part of our Elevate Core program, we collect and securely store your Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) to help you meet HIPAA documentation requirements. However, we do not evaluate the content of these agreements, manage vendor communications, or track compliance obligations. Ensuring BAAs meet your security and legal needs is still your responsibility.

Yes, HIPAA’s Security Rule requires organizations to implement audit controls that record and examine activity in systems handling electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI). This means you must have security and event logging in place to track access, changes, and potential security incidents.

While HIPAA doesn’t specify exactly how logging must be done, logs should be monitored and retained to help detect unauthorized access and support compliance audits. Security logging and monitoring can be purchased as an add-on service for all Continuous security and compliance services.

During an OCR audit with the Elevate Core program, you’ll have access to a centralized repository where all compliance documentation,including policies and Business Associate Agreements, can be downloaded.

If you engage breach response attorneys, we can grant them access to this repository so they can review the same documentation available to you.However, if you need our team to liaise with your legal counsel or directly respond to audit requests, additional charges will apply.

Incident response plans are living documents: They should be regularly updated as threats evolve, systems change, and lessons are learned from real incidents or tabletop exercises.

With the Elevate Plus program, we help ensure your incident response plan stays current and effective, making updates as needed to keep pace with new risks and compliance requirements.

A business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR) plan isn’t a once-and-done document: It needs to evolve as your organization, technology, and risks change.

With the Elevate Plus program, we help keep your BC/DR plan up to date and actionable, making adjustments as needed to ensure your organization can recover quickly from disruptions.

A risk management plan is a structured approach to identifying, assessing, and reducing cybersecurity and compliance risks. It helps your organization stay ahead of threats by outlining how risks are tracked, prioritized, and addressed over time.

With the Elevate Plus program, we develop and maintain your risk management plan, ensuring it aligns with HIPAA requirements and evolves with your organization’s needs. That way, you can make informed decisions to reduce risk and strengthen security.

A shared responsibility matrix is a clear,structured document that outlines who is responsible for different aspects of security and compliance — whether it’s your internal team, your I.T. provider, or a third-party vendor.

With the Elevate Plus program, we create this matrix to ensure that security roles and tasks are clearly defined, so nothing falls through the cracks. This helps reduce risk, improve accountability, and keep your organization compliant.

A change management process is a structured approach to reviewing, approving, and implementing I.T. changes such as software updates, system upgrades, or security improvements. It helps ensure that changes are planned, documented, and reviewed for security risks before being made, reducing the chance of disruptions or compliance violations.

With the Elevate Plus program, we establish a governance framework around I.T. changes, ensuring they are secure, controlled, and aligned with compliance requirements.

Many internal change management processes focus on operational efficiency — making sure I.T. updates happen smoothly. However, they often lack a security and compliance perspective, which can leave gaps in risk management. Our process ensures that security, compliance, and risk mitigation are part of every change.

With the Elevate Plus program, we help enforce security best practices, track audit requirements, and document approvals, so your I.T. changes are both efficient and compliant.

Meeting once a year might check a compliance box, but it’s not enough to keep up with evolving threats, regulatory changes, and emerging risks. Security and compliance require ongoing attention to stay effective.

With the Elevate Plus program, we meet quarterly to review risks, track progress, and adjust strategies as needed. This proactive approach helps prevent issues before they become costly problems, ensuring your organization stays secure and compliant year-round.

During an OCR audit with the Elevate Plus program, you'll have more hands-on support to navigate the process smoothly. We provide everything included in the Elevate Core program, such as access to a centralized repository for compliance documentation. In addition, we:

✅ Work directly with breach counsel to coordinate responses.

✅ Prepare and organize necessary documents for legal review.

✅ Provide explanatory discovery to help breach counsel address OCR requests effectively.

This means you won't have to handle the audit alone — we'll help ensure your documentation is in order and that your legal team has the information they need to respond efficiently.

Most I.T. onboarding and offboarding processes are basic checklists — they ensure employees get the right software but often overlook security and compliance best practices. Our process goes further.

With the Elevate Plus program, we help enforce the principle of least privilege, ensuring users only have the access they truly need. We also align onboarding and offboarding with compliance requirements and implement security controls to reduce the risk of unauthorized access or data breaches.

A vCISO (virtual chief information security officer) provides executive-level security leadership without the high cost of hiring a full­ time CISO.

Cyber threats and compliance requirements are constantly evolving, and many organizations don't have the in-house expertise to manage them effectively. A vCISO helps by:

✅ Developing a security strategy tailored to your business goals.

✅ Managing compliance and risk to meet HIPAA, HITRUST, and other regulations.

✅ Providing executive-level guidance to leadership and the board.

✅ Overseeing security initiatives like vulnerability management, incident response, and vendor risk.

With the Elevate Exec program, you get ongoing, high-level security oversight without the cost of a fuII-time executive.

A compliance manager ensures your organization meets regulatory requirements, but compliance alone doesn't equal security. Regulations like HIPAA set minimum standards, but they don't address real-world cyber threats, evolving risks, or strategic security planning.

With the Elevate Exec program, our vCISO services go beyond compliance by:

✅ Building a cybersecurity strategy that aligns with your business goals.

✅ Identifying and mitigating risks beyond what's required for compliance.

✅ Providing executive-level security leadership that compliance managers typically don't cover.

✅ Managing technical security oversight, including risk assessments, vulnerability management, and security architecture.

A compliance manager helps you meet the rules, but a vCISO helps you stay secure, resilient, and ahead of threats.

A tabletop exercise is a simulated cyberattack, security incident, or disaster event where your team walks through how they would respond in a real-world scenario. It’s a discussion-based drill designed to test our incident response plan and business continuity and disaster recovery plan, identify gaps, and improve coordination, all without the disruption of an actual attack or disaster event.

With the Elevate Exec program, we conduct quarterly tabletop exercises to ensure your team is prepared, your response plans are effective, and your organization can recover quickly from a security event.

We determine key risk indicators (KRls) by analyzing your organization's biggest security and compliance risks and identifying measurable warning signs that could indicate trouble.

With the Elevate Exec program, we assess factors like:

✅ Regulatory compliance gaps. Are you meeting HIPAA, HITRUST, or other requirements?

✅ Cyber threats and vulnerabilities. Are there security weaknesses that could be exploited?

✅ Incident trends. Are security events happening more frequently?

✅ Access and data security risks. Are employees and vendors following security policies?

By tracking these KRls, we help your leadership team proactively manage risk, make informed decisions, and strengthen security before issues become major problems.

If you don’t have a board of directors, we report key risk indicators to your executive or leadership team, whoever is responsible for making security and compliance decisions.

With the Elevate Exec program, we ensure that your key decision-makers have clear, actionable insights into security risks. Whether it’s your CEO, COO, CFO, or I.T. leadership, we tailor our reporting to help them make informed choices that align with your business goals.

Penetration testing is not included in the Elevate Exec program, but we offer it at highly discounted rates through our strategic partnerships with independent third-party testers.

This ensures you get a trusted, unbiased security assessment at a fraction of the typical cost, helping you identify vulnerabilities without breaking your budget.

Cloud is a broad term. What aspect of the cloud do you provide governance and oversight for?

We provide governance and oversight for the critical cloud services that impact your security and compliance posture. This includes:

✅ Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, OneDrive, Exchange). Ensuring secure configurations and access controls.

✅ Google Workspace (Google Apps). Aligning settings with security best practices.

✅ Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)- Managing cloud-based security and network controls

✅ Email Security Services - Protecting against phishing, spam, and email-based threats

With the Elevate Exec program, we monitor, configure, and maintain these cloud environments to meet industry best practices and compliance requirements, keeping your data secure and accessible only to the right people.

A zero trust security model advisory helps your organization implement zero trust principles, which assume that no one and nothing should be automatically trusted, whether inside or outside your network. Instead, every user, device, and system must be verified before being granted access.

With the Elevate Exec program, we guide you in:

✅ Implementing least privilege access. Ensuring users only have access to what they need.

✅ Enhancing identity and access management (IAM). Strengthening authentication controls.

✅ Securing cloud and remote access. Protecting data across Microsoft 365, Google Apps, and beyond.

✅ Reducing attack surfaces. Limiting exposure to cyber threats.

Our advisory helps you design, implement, and maintain a zero trust framework, improving security without disrupting business operations.

A security metrics dashboard provides a real-time view of your organization's security and compliance posture, helping you track risks, measure progress, and make informed decisions.

With the Elevate Exec program,your dashboard can include:

✅ Key risk indicators (KRls): trends and early warning signs of security threats.

✅ Vulnerability status: open security gaps and remediation progress.

✅ Incident and alert tracking: summary of security events and responses.

✅ User access and privileges: monitoring privileged accounts and potential risks.

✅ Compliance readiness: status of HIPAA, HITRUST, and other regulatory requirements.

This dashboard ensures your leadership team has clear, actionable insights into security and compliance at all times.

We help you navigate and optimize your cyber insurance coverage by ensuring your security controls align with insurer requirements, reducing both premiums and coverage gaps.

With the Elevate Exec program, we:

✅ Assess your current security posture to identify gaps insurers may flag.

✅ Align your policies and controls with cyber insurance requirements.

✅ Assist with application responses to ensure accurate and favorable risk assessments.

✅ Provide documentation and reports to support claims or audits.

By strengthening your security and compliance posture, we help you qualify for better coverage, lower costs, and reduce the risk of denied claims in the event of an incident.