WASHINGTON—The Financial Services-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) has released a plan to toughen financial institution cybersecurity defenses through “Sheltered Harbor,” which standardizes data storage for retail accounts.
The plan has the backing of CUNA.
“CUNA and the leagues support the financial services industry’s efforts to lead on protecting the integrity of the industry and in protecting consumer’s financial information by creating data security measures that go beyond regulatory requirements,” said CUNA Senior Director of Advocacy Lance Noggle, a member of the Sheltered Harbor board of directors. CUNA is a FS-ISAC member.
The FS-ISAC is an industry forum for collaboration on cybersecurity threats and Sheltered Harbor is a proactive initiative undertaken by the financial services sector.
The Sheltered Harbor initiative adds a layer of protection to the cyber defenses that credit unions and other financial institutions already use, according to the FS-ISAC release. It is intended to be just one of a series of steps to be taken by the U.S. financial services industry, CUNA said.
The Sheltered Harbor plan, according to an FS-ISAC fact sheet, “enables financial institutions to securely store and rapidly reconstitute account information” making it available to members or customers, whether “through a service provider or another financial institution, if an institution appears unable to recover from a cyber incident in a timely fashion.”
The consumer data stored in a Sheltered Harbor-specified data vault is kept private by each institution. The information is encrypted and protected from change, CUNA said.
“The model is a distributed one, with no central repository of information. The concept for Sheltered Harbor arose during a series of successful cybersecurity simulation exercises between public and private sectors and known as the ‘Hamilton Series,’” a FS-ISAC fact sheet noted.
Earlier this year, FS-ISAC created a credit union council at CUNA’s request.
Coming up, FS-ISAC will conduct three webinars specifically for credit unions on Dec. 15, Dec. 20 and Jan. 12, all starting at 1 p.m. (ET). The free webinars are designed to explore ways FS-ISAC can help credit unions get the latest information on how FS-ISAC can provide them with services and solutions to combat cybersecurity threats, CUNA said.