WASHINGTON, DC (May 8, 2014) -- The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) today highlighted efforts to enhance financial institutions’ cybersecurity during a webinar for approximately 5,000 chief executive officers and senior managers from community financial institutions. The FFIEC offered this webinar to raise awareness about the pervasiveness of cyber threats, discuss the role of executive leadership in managing these risks, and to share actions being taken by the FFIEC.
FFIEC announced a vulnerability and risk-mitigation assessment as well as regulatory self-assessment of supervisory policies and processes. These assessments will be conducted later this year and will help the FFIEC member agencies make informed decisions about the state of cybersecurity across community institutions and address gaps and prioritize necessary actions to strengthen supervisory programs. FFIEC members want to provide additional support to community banks, which may not have access to the resources available to larger institutions.
FFIEC highlighted key focus areas for senior management and boards of directors of community institutions as they assess their institutions’ abilities to identify and mitigate cybersecurity risks, including:
- Setting the tone from the top and building a security culture;
- Identifying, measuring, mitigating, and monitoring risks;
- Developing risk management processes commensurate with the risks and complexity of the institutions;
- Aligning cybersecurity strategy with business strategy and accounting for how risks will be managed both now and in the future;
- Creating a governance process to ensure ongoing awareness and accountability; and
- Ensuring timely reports to senior management that include meaningful information addressing the institution’s vulnerability to cyber risks.
The webinar for community banks is part of a larger cybersecurity awareness initiative that covers institutions of all sizes.
The presentation from the webinar is available on the FFIEC Web site at www.ffiec.gov.