Financial institutions are always at a great risk of falling victims to cyber-attacks. They are under a constant threat of being attacked by hackers looking to obtain confidential information that can be potentially very lucrative. In a bid to make sure banks are prepared to respond to cyber threats in the most efficient manner, three U.S. federal agencies in charge of overseeing and regulating the work of banks have proposed a set of requirements that the financial institutions must meet when it comes to the management of cyber security risks.

The Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) that contains standards on how to manage and improve resilience regarding cybersecurity risks.

The standards are designed to help protect financial institutions, as well as their clients, against potential cyber threats.

Incident Response and Cyber Resilience Among the Standards

Per the advance notice, the proposed standards will cover a specific group of financial institutions, including depository institutions and depository institution holding companies with total assets of at least $50 billion, along with financial market infrastructure companies and non-bank financial companies that are supervised by the Board.

These covered entities should comply with specific requirements that are designed to improve their cyber incident response procedures and prepare for potential cyber-attacks.

The agencies propose five categories of standards regarding cyber security:

·      cyber risk governance

·      cyber risk management

·      internal dependency management

·      external dependency management

·      incident response, cyber resilience and situational awareness

One Platform to Comply with all Requirements

Considering that there are a lot of aspects that the covered entities will have to pay attention to in order to meet the afore-mentioned standards, it would be most cost-effective and practical for them if they adopted a platform that is capable of completing all tasks proposed by the standards.

Such platforms are now available on the market and can make life much easier for all organizations that these standards apply to. For instance, there are platforms that can help organizations ensure an effective and extensive incident response plan, providing complete control over cyber incidents. Organizations are advised to acquire such a platform that provides the ability to track and predict cyber security incidents, track and gather digital evidence, and create statistical reports, which are a key element to resolving a certain breach.

Also, that same platform can automatically manage all cases and data that’s required for cyber threats within your organization, as well as lab and inventory management, helping you comply with the cyber risk management requirements.

Finally, a platform that is specifically designed to prioritize your response and reduce the time it takes you to solve a cyber incident. The solution should help you comply with the Internal dependency management standards, while assessing the risk and provide action plans. A complete and full solution helps organizations reduce the risks of cyber-attacks and comply with the External dependency management standards.