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Couch to Compliance, Cyber Scare Tactics, and States Team Up for Data Privacy

IT channel and business news with a focus on regulatory compliance.

Author

Blacksmith Team
October 29, 2025

🛋️ What is “Couch to Compliance”?

Couch to Compliance is all about making the leap from the sidelines into the action, turning the complex world of compliance into something every MSP can tackle, one manageable step at a time. Inspired by the popular “Couch to 5k” fitness movement — which helps anyone go from zero to running a full 5k with friendly, achievable steps — our program does the same for compliance…

🎙️The Get NIST-y Podcast!

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Jared and Mike talk all things compliance and IT channel while answering your burning questions!

đź‘» How to Make Security Awareness Stick With Your Clients (Without Scare Tactics)

Every October, inboxes fill with ghostly warnings, skeleton memes, and stats about lurking cyber threats — yet research shows that fear-based tactics, while momentarily grabbing attention, rarely create lasting change and can even backfire by wearing out trust or causing people to tune out.​..

🤝 Nine States Team Up for Data Privacy — A New Era of Cross-State Enforcement

With the absence of a comprehensive federal data privacy law in the U.S., states have been stepping up individually to protect their residents’ information. Now, nine states have formed a collaborative regulatory force, sharing resources and enforcement strategies to address the challenges posed by digital data crossing jurisdictional lines…

⚠️ Threat Updates

đź”´ Qilin Ransomware Sweep Targets Critical Sectors in 700 Attacks (10/26/25)

Security firm Comparitech reports that Qilin ransomware executed more than 700 targeted attacks against healthcare, public utilities, and defense contractors in October, leveraging newly discovered RansomHub exploits. The group demanded record-setting ransoms and used advanced data wipers against non-paying victims, prompting sector-wide alerts and rapid network segmentation mandates by CISA. » More Info

đź”´ Conduent Healthcare Data Breach Impacts 10 Million Patients (10/28/25)

A data breach at Conduent Business Solutions exposed sensitive health information for over 10 million patients served by government agencies and HIPAA-covered entities. Stolen data includes medical records, contact information, and insurance IDs. Impacted organizations are notifying affected individuals and increasing monitoring for identity theft and fraud. » More Info​

🗨️ Parting Words

“The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed.” — William Gibson

Are you a vCISO or MSP looking to operationalize security programs? Let’s discuss how Blacksmith Infosec proves that compliance is an opportunity, not a struggle that has to be packaged in FUD!