As part of its Fundamental Elements Series, the G7 Cyber Expert Group - chaired by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Bank of England - released today a policy paper on Collective Cyber Incident Response and Recovery in the Financial Sector.
Since major cyber incidents increasingly have a global character, effective cyber incident response and recovery are ever-more dependent on a collective response. This includes cooperation, both domestically and across borders, between financial authorities, financial entities and their relevant third-party service providers, as well as with actors from other sectors, including government authorities.
A voluntary or formal, coordinated collective cyber incident response and recovery approach offers significant advantages. These include increased information sharing and improved communication in containing the impact of incidents as well as contributing to the stability of the financial system, and reinforcing public confidence.
U.S. Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection, Cory Wilson, and the Bank of England’s Executive Director for Supervisory Risk, Duncan Mackinnon, Co-Chairs to the G7 Cyber Expert Group, said:
“In today’s deeply interdependent financial system, responding to shared collective threats in an effective and coordinated manner has never been more important. The fundamental elements of collective cyber incident response and recovery will be a useful tool for organizations to consider when reviewing their own incident response protocols.”
The G7 Fundamental Elements of Collective Cyber Incident Response and Recovery in the Financial Sector are non-binding, high-level principles that may guide the establishment and refinement of Collective Cyber Incident Response and Recovery Arrangements across the financial sector and beyond. They aim to facilitate greater convergence and compatibility among different approaches, while allowing flexibility and tailoring to national, sectoral, or organizational needs based on the unique markets and regulations within each jurisdiction.
The G7 Cyber Expert Group’s membership includes representatives of financial authorities across all G7 countries as well as the European Union. It was founded in 2015 to serve as a multi-year working group that coordinates cybersecurity policy and strategy across the member jurisdictions. In addition to policy coordination, the G7 Cyber Expert Group also acts as a platform for information sharing, cooperation, and incident response.