FFIEC Compliance

Any financial institution worth their salt needs to be held under appropriate scrutiny that ensures they’re up to the task regarding cybersecurity within their networks. FFIEC compliance with cybersecurity awareness has been a relatively recent initiative, dating back around eight years, wherein increased attention is paid to financial institutions for implementing stricter protections, better policies, improved training, and shoring up gaps in security measures for attaining a consistent level of compliance across all spectrums of the financial industry.

FFIEC ComplianceThe core purpose behind achieving FFIEC compliance is ensuring that all companies in the financial sector are accredited entities for providing sufficiently protective cybersecurity measures, responding appropriately to breaches in their networks, and instilling confidence within their customer base. Any failure to effectively manage, contain, and prevent internal and external threats reflects on the financial industry as a whole. Domain Technology Group possesses the expertise, history, and skilled workforce necessary to help your company meet the requirements for attaining FFIEC compliance.

Meeting the Standards

The beauty in ensuring your company’s network is up to code is that it falls to a checklist. So long as you have every box checked, meeting FFIEC compliance is feasible. Ensuring that you’ve actually thoroughly met the standards, however, is a different story that will take some effort. While the FFIEC provides a free cybersecurity assessment tool for your company’s use, enlisting the cybersecurity assessment services of a trained and experienced company like Domain Technology Group to analyze your network for vulnerabilities and shortcomings is the more effective, comprehensive route to take.

There are numerous categories the FFIEC provides guidelines for when determining whether your company meets with their standards. These include:

  • Business Continuity Planning
  • Development and Acquisition
  • Electronic Banking
  • Information Security
  • IT Audit
  • IT Management
  • Operations
  • Outsourcing Technology Services
  • Retail Payment Systems
  • Supervision of Technology Service Providers
  • Wholesale Payment Systems

The swathe of regulations between these categories means you’ll have your work cut out for you if you find you fall short of complying with one or more of the guideline lists. Even if it seems like a lot to handle, getting a head start on meeting these standards saves you heartache in the long run.

What if You Don’t Comply

The FFIEC itself doesn’t have the power to fine or directly regulate your company. It’s an interagency body, comprised of several agencies that govern an assortment of financial industries. However, since these individual entities do possess the authority to ascertain and penalize non-compliant companies, the most appropriate agency relating to your financial institution will be capable of charging you for your failure to comply with FFIEC standards.

Essentially, if you decide you don’t need to sink the cost, mileage, and time into improving your network, not only will you lose the confidence of your customers, it will prove to be prohibitively more expensive than if you invested in making the improvements from the start. Getting started is the hardest part.

Domain Technology Group has already performed numerous assessments based on the NIST frameworks for the FFIEC in the past. Working with us to assess your network and plot out an action plan to remediate your cybersecurity weaknesses is the clearest and most straightforward path toward FFIEC compliance. If you are interested in a partnership, visit our contact page so we can get started.