Cybersecurity and Financial Firms -- Bracing for the Regulatory Onslaught

Given the recent SEC Risk Alert regarding cybersecurity and the recent FINRA Sweep announcement, the time is now for financial firms to refresh and improve their cybersecurity efforts. Today, when financial firms experience any form of data breach, financial regulators are going to come knocking (or even pounding) on the door. Recent reports indicate that regulatory examiners have expanded their focus beyond merely what financial firms have in place to protect the data of their customers. In 2014 and beyond, regulators will also want to know much more about firms' security measures--including the policies and procedures firms have to detect the origin, nature and extent of the cyber-related incident; regulatory notifications of any cybersecurity breach; and remediation efforts after any cybersecurity-related incident. A regulatory cyber-storm is clearly brewing and its onslaught will have a dramatic impact upon how financial firms build, manage and protect their information and trading systems, To help practitioners, in-house counsel, compliance officers, technology personnel, exchanges and the many other professionals impacted by this recent financial regulatory surge, we are providing two webcasts from two teams of experts. In this, the first of these two webcasts, we will discuss: * The current regulatory landscape of, and recent regulatory interest in, the cybersecurity policies and practices at financial firms; * SEC enforcement actions pertaining to cybersecurity; * The type of cybersecurity information FINRA and OCIE examiners may expect to receive during their examinations; and * Recommended technology-related steps for broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, hedge funds, private equity firms, exchanges and other financial firms to take in response to increased regulatory focus and new regulatory initiatives, including how financial firms can launch a "pre-emptive holistic strike" to counter the anticipated regulatory offensive.