Does your credit union’s cybersecurity pass the test?

September 3, 2015 by Preston Packer

A new program offered by the FDIC is calling for credit unions to beef up their cybersecurity and risk management strategies. Recent information from “FDIC on Why Banks Need a Disaster Plan for Cyber Threats” reports that the FDIC says it “encourages banks to practice responses to cyber-risk as part of their regular disaster-planning and business-continuity exercises.”

The FDIC’s “cyber challenge” program offers a series of videos and exercises to help banks consider appropriate steps for dealing with key threats, including account take-over, malware infections and other risks related to third parties and vendors.

“Cyber Challenge: A Community Bank Cyber Exercise,” is available on the FDIC’s website. The program includes four real-world attack and cyber-threat scenarios presented in brief videos. After viewing the scenarios, participants are directed to materials that pose questions and possible solutions for banking teams to discuss.

The scenarios include a processing failure; an account takeover incident; a phishing attack that infects a bank’s network with malware; and operational problems stemming from an institution’s technology service provider performs an update. Given the many threats they now face, community banks and credit unions should take advantage of all available resources.

It is suggested that community bank directors use the cyber challenge program to openly discuss operational risks with their peers and employees and review the potential impact of cyber-attacks and other technology disruptions on their customers and operations.