NYDFS Letter To Insurance Executives Regarding Cyber Security

Keywords: NYDFS letter, cyber security, DFS

Following up on its promise to "integrate regular, targeted assessments of cyber security preparedness at insurance companies as part of [its] examination process," the New York Department of Financial Services ("DFS") issued a letter on March 26, 2015, to chief executive officers, general counsels and chief information officers of approximately 160 insurance companies informing them that the DFS has expanded its information technology examination procedures to focus more attention on cyber security (a copy of the letter is available here).

In the letter, the DFS emphasizes that cyber security should no longer be viewed solely as a subset of information technology, but rather as an integral aspect of an insurer's overall risk management strategy. In its February 8, 2015 "Report on Cyber Security in the Insurance Sector," the DFS had noted that, of the 43 insurers surveyed for the report, only one insurer had provided