What Cognizant gets wrong in United States
Cognizant's US operations are the point where their offshore delivery model intersects with the US regulatory environments that most restrict offshore data access. BSA/AML transaction monitoring data, HIPAA-protected health information, and FedRAMP-scoped government data all have US access control requirements that create compliance complexity for an offshore-first delivery model. Cognizant manages these requirements through contractual data handling agreements and access control architectures — mechanisms that satisfy the compliance documentation requirement but create ongoing management overhead that the offshore model was supposed to eliminate.
The Clorox attack — where Cognizant's US helpdesk gave network credentials to hackers — illustrates the security risk of outsourcing security-sensitive functions to a cost-optimized managed services model. The helpdesk operator was not negligent — they were following a process designed for throughput, not for security. The process was designed that way because the business model optimizes for cost, not for security posture. For US clients with HIPAA, SOC 2, or FISMA compliance obligations, the Cognizant security culture that produced the Clorox incident is a compliance counterparty risk.
United States frameworks we deploy natively
Our US engagements are delivered by US-based teams for work involving BSA/AML data, HIPAA PHI, or FedRAMP-scoped systems. The architecture enforces data handling requirements at the infrastructure layer — access controls are not a contractual commitment, they are a system design.
No managed services dependency. Full IP transfer at close. Your US team operates the system. The helpdesk function, if needed, is supported by documented procedures with compliance-aware access management — not by a cost-optimized process designed for throughput.
HIPAA, SOC 2, FedRAMP (US-citizen engineering teams), BSA/AML. US compliance requires US-based engineering for regulated data. Cognizant's offshore model creates compliance complexity that we eliminate by design.
US technology engagement: 8-20 weeks. Fixed price. US-based team for FedRAMP-scoped work. Full IP transfer at close.
Vendor Lock-In Exit Guide
How to identify, quantify, and systematically eliminate dependency on Cognizant in United States — without breaking production. Covers dependency mapping, exit plan design, and migration execution.