The American Bankers Association, in partnership with the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council, offered five recommendations last week to the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity aimed at mitigating the increasingly advanced threats related to cyber crime. In the letter, the council also underscored the continued importance of a public-private partnership to address cyber risk.
The FSSCC — which represents a broad cross-section of the financial service industry — recommended that the federal government adopt a forward-looking, risk-based approach to emerging technologies, and fund research and development initiatives to determine the risks and potential solutions they pose. The Council also encouraged harmonizing the many different existing regulatory frameworks and requirements related to cybersecurity and adhering to a common lexicon, such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework; adopting risk-based criteria to identify and prioritize financial services as an essential sector in the National Cyber Incident Response Plan; developing a robust cybersecurity workforce; and enhancing global and cross-sector coordination to address cyber norms, deterrence, and response.
The commission, which was started earlier this year as part of a broader presidential initiative to help the federal government and businesses protect Americans from cyberattacks, is expected to publish a set of comprehensive cybersecurity recommendations by the end of 2016. For more information, contact ABA’s Denyette DePierro.
