The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission release a manual by the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations entitled "Cybersecurity and Resiliency Observations." Within the document the SEC noted that cybersecurity threats come "from many sources, are global in nature, and do not discriminate across the spectrum of securities and financial markets and market participants."
Due to the global market and companies becoming increasingly reliant on technology, including digital connections and systems, cybersecurity risk management should be an essential plan for every security that is a part of the digital market.
Through thousands of audits of various companies and agencies by the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, the SEC has complied a list of practices that bring more security to an organizations digital information and practices. These practices include governance and risk management, access rights and controls, data loss prevention, mobile security, incident response, and vendor management.
Examples of the security practices include rigorous control for systems access and use of randomly generated passcodes. The commission stressed that companies use systems that can detect and block data transmissions that contain sensitive information.
"We believe that assessing your level of preparedness and implementing some of all of [the above] measures will make your organization more secure," the report concluded.
Cyberattacks and heighten security is not a new idea, with more and more firms are looking to make their data impenetrable to malicious outside forces.
According to the World Economic Forum's 2020 Global Risk Report, hackers taking their efforts to crippling infrastructure such as nuclear facilities and chemical plants rather than stealing credit card information is one of the biggest concerns facing the global economy in 2020.
The annual report was compiled for the forum in partnership with Marsh & McLennan
"What we've seen in the past are really thefts of data in a form of data being stolen, your social security number, your credit card numbers, or data being held hostage in the form of ransomware," Marsh & McLennan general counsel Peter Beshar said in an interview with Yahoo! Finance.
Beshar notes that there is potential in using emerging technologies like quantum computing and artificial intelligence to help combat cyber risks to global cities and companies. However, there is risk that these innovation could be compromised in the same manner as digital data.
Unfortunately, the best defense to this issue is currently vigilance.
