Chief Information Security Officer

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In a first, bold move by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) following its new Rules on Cybersecurity Risk Management, Strategy, Governance, and Incident Disclosure by Public Companies, issued on July 26, 2023, this week, the SEC filed suit against SolarWinds and its Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) alleging that SolarWinds and its CISO…

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey launched the Arizona Cybersecurity Team (ACT) by Executive Order on March 1, 2018. The ACT, comprised of 22 members representing officials from the Executive Branch, including the state’s Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer, representatives from public safety, homeland security, emergency and military affairs, as well as members of…

On March 1, 2018, the one year transition period within which banks, insurance companies, and other financial services institutions and licensees regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services (“Covered Entities”)  must have implemented a cybersecurity program ends. By March 1, the Covered Entities must be in compliance with the following requirements:

23 NYCRR…

On March 1, 2017, New York’s Cybersecurity Regulation (23 NYCRR Part 500)[1] became effective.  The regulation is the first of its kind in the nation and requires certain companies, including banks, insurance companies and other financial services institutions regulated by the Department of Financial Services (“Covered Entities”), to have:

  • a cybersecurity program designed to protect consumers’ private data;
  • a written policy or policies that are approved by the Board of Directors or a senior officer;
  • a Chief Information Security Officer to help protect data and systems; and
  • in place controls and plans to help ensure the safety and soundness of New York’s financial services industry.[2]

In addition, pursuant to the regulation, Covered Entities must report a cybersecurity event if (a) the event impacts the Covered Entity and notice of it is required to be provided to any government body, self-regulatory agency or any other supervisory body; or (b) the event has a reasonable likelihood of materially harming any material part of the normal operation(s) of the Covered Entity.  Details regarding what makes up such an event are detailed on the New York Department of Financial Services website.[3] 
Continue Reading Compliance With New York’s Cybersecurity Regulation 23 NYCRR Part 500

On September 13, 2016, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the first proposed broadly applicable cyber regulation in the U.S. (the “Regulation”). The Regulation covers banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions (Covered Entities) regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services (the “DFS”). The Regulation is tightly focused, but with broad reach. It appears to adopt aspects of other regulations and standards, but then adds some unique requirements that create the most sweeping and protective regulation proposed. If adopted in a form close to the draft presented, financial institutions regulated by the DFS will have significant responsibility, and oversight, for protecting core operations and data, which extends far beyond personally identifiable information covered by most existing statutes and regulations.

At the core is the Regulation’s first section, which requires Covered Entities to “establish and maintain a cybersecurity program designed to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the Covered Entity’s Information Systems.” This requirement is analogous to, and may have been modeled on, Section 242.1001(a) of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Regulation Systems Compliance and Integrity (Reg SCI). This seemingly simple requirement has broad implications, as failures of data and systems integrity and availability have the potential to be far more devastating to institutions and individuals than confidentiality breaches. Much of the Regulation provides the regulatory scaffolding designed to ensure that Covered Entities meet this requirement.

However, whereas Reg SCI uses language in its core requirement that does not have clear definition in existing cybersecurity standards, DFS took another route. By using the terms “confidentiality, integrity and availability” and requiring Covered Entities to identify Nonpublic Information, the sensitivity of Nonpublic Information, and how and by whom such Nonpublic Information may be accessed, the Regulation incorporates concepts that appear to come directly from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-53 Revision 4 (NIST 800-53 Standard). The NIST 800-53 Standard requires data and systems identification and classification, and may provide an analogous structure that could be used for much, but not all, of the policies, processes and procedures required by the Regulation.Continue Reading The Cyber Regulation Drops

The proposed New York Department of Financial Services Cybersecurity Requirements for Financial Institutions (the “Regulation”) has many different aspects that are designed to bring about overall improvement in cybersecurity programs. One that has yet to be explored is how the Regulation elevates the role of the Chief Information Security Officer (the “CISO”) beyond the traditional role at many financial services companies. The Regulation has detailed requirements for what must be included in a company’s cybersecurity policy and procedures. While most of the requirements are standard for information security policies, a few place responsibilities for areas of business that are necessary for cybersecurity, but go far beyond cybersecurity within organizations.

One of the requirements is for inclusion of data governance and classification. Data must be appropriately classified and governance rules applied for proper cybersecurity. However, data classification includes many topics, such as licensed data, third party confidential information,  company confidential information, intellectual property and many others. Data governance ensures that data when correctly classified is used in a manner appropriate to the business need, objectives and in compliance with laws and regulations.

The Regulation also requires business continuity and disaster recovery planning and resources be a part of the cybersecurity policy and procedures. In many companies, the executive responsible for these areas and resources is does not report to the CISO. Business continuity and disaster recovery planning also goes far beyond traditional cybersecurity planning, and yet is critical to cybersecurity effectiveness.Continue Reading The (Regulated) Rise of the CISO