FFIEC's Seven Cybersecurity Priorities For 2015

While others were waiting for spring to arrive, community bank officers and directors were waiting for the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) to provide additional guidance on its cybersecurity assessment program. On March 17, 2015, FFIEC provided an overview of its cybersecurity priorities for the remainder of 2015. FFIEC's priorities include seven workstreams based on FFIEC's cybersecurity work program (Cybersecurity Assessment) conducted at over 500 community banks in the summer of 2014. FFIEC's top priority for 2015 is the development and issuance of a self-assessment tool that financial institutions can use to evaluate their readiness to identify, mitigate and respond to cyber threats. Consistent with the general observations of the Cybersecurity Assessment, FFIEC will evaluate community bank cyber incident analysis, crisis management, training, and policy development and expand their focus on technology service providers' cybersecurity