In the wake of the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack in early May, U.S. financial regulators have been sending louder messaging about data protection for all financial entities, said Sheltered Harbor president Carlos Recalde on a recent episode of the Dell Technologies Power2Protect podcast.
Recalde said regulators are showing an increased interest in Shelter Harbor-style data protection, which “has us expediting our efforts to leverage our good work to protect other financial segments beyond the banks and brokerages which have been our cornerstone.”
Sheltered Harbor, was launched in 2015 as an industry-led initiative created to protect customers, financial institutions and public confidence in banks in the event of a catastrophic cyber-attack. The not-for-profit initiative is comprised of financial institutions, core service providers, national trade associations, alliance partners and solution providers.
At the heart of Sheltered Harbor are some best practices, said Recalde, including to just have a plan. He adds: “if you don’t make these plans ahead of time, it’s too late.” Isolating and protecting data and ensuring it is going to be available even if all automation is lost, is another best practice. “Even if all systems are lost can you still recover that data?” Recalde said.
