New York Banking Regulator Steps Up Cybersecurity Rules: Reports

The measures of the New York State Department of Financial Services include cybersecurity insurance, login security and supervision over third-party providers. All New York state banks will be asked to provide their information security officer CVs.

MOSCOW, December 10 (Sputnik) — The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) will impose tougher cybersecurity rules on the banks under its supervision in an attempt to protect them from cyberattacks, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.

"Increasing the intensity of the most important thing we do, which is bank examinations, could help prevent a large, systemic, Armageddon-like attack," FT quoted Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky as saying.

According to the publication, measures on the financial regulator's agenda include cybersecurity insurance, login security and supervision over third-party providers. "This is not an us versus them issue. This is an issue where we are all going to sink or swim together," Lawsky added.

The newspaper went on to add that all New York state banks will be asked to provide further details pertaining to cybersecurity, including a survey of 96 questions and their information security officer CVs.

A cyberattack on JPMorgan Chase over the summer compromised data on the accounts of 76 million households and 7 million small businesses. The data breach exposed names, addresses, phone numbers and emails. The attack on the banking giant’s database was initially attributed as coming from Russia. These claims were ruled out by the FBI and Secret Service officials in October.

A DFS survey published in May found that most financial institutions inside New York were subject to cyberattacks at least once over the past three years. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies,some 3,000 company databases or websites in the United States were hacked in 2013.