Commodity Futures Trading Commission Proposes Cybersecurity Best Practices

On December 16, 2015, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") approved two proposed rules which would require regulated entities to conduct specific tests of their cybersecurity capabilities, remediate vulnerabilities, and institute board-level review of the testing results.¹ The CFTC safeguard proposals, which are substantively similar but focus on different regulated entities, would amend existing rules for derivative clearing organizations, designated contract markets, swap execution facilities, and swap data repositories ("regulated entities") and require these entities to implement certain cybersecurity best practices.² Though this is not the CFTC's first foray into cybersecurity,³ these proposals come at a time of increased regulatory and public focus on cyber threats and require the attention of regulated entities.