Category: Financial

.”These banks are among the best in the country when it comes to cyber security, but even they are having trouble keeping up with attacks that have the sophistication and the level of resources that a nation-state entity like Iran can devote to them,” he said.

Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee, told NBC News Wednesday that the FBI and “other law enforcement agencies are following up aggressively to identify the responsible parties” of the attacks. “Our computer networks are the subject of daily assault by hostile hackers, both state sponsored and independent, who hope to obtain confidential information for economic gain, to test our defenses, or simply because they can,” Schiff said.

Rogers, who is pushing for the passage of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, H.R.624, says that the federal government is “trying to share cyber threat information with these banks to help them get ahead of these attacks. He said, “needs to pass bipartisan information sharing legislation to knock down those barriers, so that American companies can protect their computer networks and the valuable intellectual property and personal customer information that resides on them.”

Doug Johnson, the American Bankers Association’s vice president of risk management policy, told NBC News that the attacks “have been intensifying since October and we expect them to continue.

Link: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/cyberattacks-banks-signal-urgent-need-security-bill-lawmakers-say-1C9202532

1. Overseeing the establishment and maintenance of a security operation that through automated and continuous monitoring can detect, contain and mitigate incidents that impair information security and agency information systems;
2. Developing, maintaining and overseeing an agencywide information security program;
3. Developing, maintaining and overseeing information security policies, procedures and control techniques to address all applicable requirements;
4. Training and overseeing personnel with significant responsibilities for information security;
5. Assisting senior agency officials on cybersecurity matters;
6. Ensuring the agency has a sufficient number of trained and security-cleared personnel to assist in complying with federal cybersecurity law and procedures;
7. Reporting at least annually to agency executives the effectiveness of the agency information security program; information derived from automated and continuous monitoring, including threat assessments; and progress on actions to remediate threats.

If enacted, the bill would create a federal information security incident center to provide timely technical assistance to operators of agency information systems regarding security incidents; compile and analyze information about incidents that threaten information security; inform operators of agency information systems about current and potential information security threats and vulnerabilities; and consult with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, agencies or offices operating or exercising control of national security systems regarding information security incidents and related matters.

The legislation also would give the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget the authority to oversee the development and implementation of policies, principles, standards and guidelines on information security as well as oversee the operations of a federal information security incident center.

Tom Carper, the Delaware Democrat who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has promised that his panel will draft a FISMA reform measure, but it is unclear whether it would be in the form of a standalone bill or part of a more comprehensive cybersecurity legislative package.

Link: http://www.bankinfosecurity.com/7-duties-for-cisos-under-fisma-reform-a-5620?rf=2013-03-25-eb&elq=5558a599647941f893a08b7d1d03e296&elqCampaignId=6234

Since September, a hacker activist group called the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters has said it was launching denial of service attacks against major U.S. banks.

In a posting Tuesday on pastebin.com, the group listed Wells Fargo as one of the banks “being chosen as a target.”

In its annual report filing last month, Wells said it had not experienced any “material losses” related to cyber attacks but that enhancing its protections remained a priority.

Link: http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2013/03/26/news/story_a57178bd-e005-4605-9097-7ba3ca50eccf.txt?mobredir=false

Check fraud increased last year over 2008; 42 percent of the victims say their checks were stolen and their signatures forged, up from 35 percent the previous year.

The ITRC says the bottom line is you can’t completely prevent ID theft.

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