FINRA Announces A Sweep To Assess BDs’ Cybersecurity

After announcing that cybersecurity will be one of its 2014 examination priorities, FINRA wasted no time before commencing a sweep.  FINRA announced a Targeted Examination Letter to conduct an assessment of firms' approaches to managing cybersecurity threats.

FINRA bases its concern on "the critical role information technology (IT) plays in the securities industry, the increasing threat to firms' IT systems from a variety of sources, and the potential harm to investors, firms, and the financial system as a whole that these threats pose."  FINRA's assessment will look into such cybersecurity related areas as:

• approaches to information technology risk assessment;
• business continuity plans in case of a cyber-attack;