Carla Potter has co-authored an article titled “Cybersecurity Risks and Expectations for Community Banks” for Business Law Today, the newsletter of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section.
Write the authors: “The potential impact of cyber crime among financial institutions, and especially community banks, is considerable. Unless proactive steps are taken to implement cybersecurity programs, community banks will continue to be at risk. Increasingly sophisticated attacks exposing software and systems vulnerabilities have become commonplace for financial institutions focused on other, more traditional areas of compliance, such as mortgage and consumer lending and deposits. As a result of the number and sophistication of cyber attacks, a top-down approach to cyber security, a culture of compliance, and a culture of information security at financial institutions are all necessary to combat the evolving threat landscape.”
The article goes on to look at three key issues: how community banks can protect themselves from the ever-increasing risk of cyber attack; the importance of conducting a risk assessment and developing a response plan; and how vendor management and a review of cyberinsurance policies should be part of this process.