Cybersecurity's Moment And What It Means For Financial Services

The recent announcement of President Barack Obama's Cybersecurity National Action Plan, with programs aimed at improving the security of public and private data,¹ is a reminder that cybersecurity—including identifying, defending against, recovering from, and notifying others about cyber attacks—is having its moment.

With the world becoming ever more connected, the number of cyber attacks, and the level of sophistication of those attacks, continues to increase. The goals of cyber attackers are evolving from traditional criminal activities to attacks aimed at disrupting major infrastructure and economic activity, and the financial sector is a particularly appealing target.² Significantly, the impact of an attack is not isolated to the target entity—it can affect partners, vendors, customers, consumers, even entire markets. As such, the growing recognition of the threat and the urgency to act by regulatory agencies, Congress, and the president himself is hardly