WASHINGTON, DC (February 12, 2014) -- The National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) issued the following statement regarding the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) release today of a cybersecurity framework for reducing risks to critical infrastructure, providing credit unions and other financial institutions with voluntary guidelines – not mandatory regulation – on which to base privacy policies, an approach supported by NAFCU. Credit unions and other financial institutions are already subject to stringent regulatory requirements under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and make cybersecurity a top priority.
“NAFCU appreciates the NIST’s voluntary approach to a cybersecurity framework, which we hope is flexible enough to address circumstances of individual credit unions of varying size and complexity,” said NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger. “NAFCU will carefully review this framework and will seek input from our members to determine its impact on credit unions.”
“NAFCU believes that data security is an important piece of the cyber debate. We look forward to working with the administration and Congress to help advance action on this critical issue.”
During the past year, NAFCU participated in a meeting with representatives from the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Infrastructure Protection, of which NAFCU is a founding member, and NIST, to discuss the framework. Last April, NAFCU submitted a comment letter to NIST on its initial notice of inquiry regarding the framework. NAFCU supported the initiative as it is voluntary, but it urged NIST to not take a one-size-fits-all approach as it develops the framework.
NAFCU’s Five-Point Plan for Regulatory Relief also calls for national standards on merchant data security, liability if such standards are not met and immediate notification to financial institutions and their account holders when breaches occur.
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The National Association of Federal Credit Unions is the only national organization that focuses exclusively on federal issues affecting credit unions, representing its members before the federal government and the public.