IT Services for Financial Industry - FINRA
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, is a critical regulatory body that oversees the financial industry within the United States. Its role is to safeguard investors, maintain market integrity, and promote fair and transparent practices within the securities industry.
FINRA is an independent, non-governmental organization that is authorized by Congress. FINRA sets and enforces the rules and regulations governing brokerage firms, securities professionals, and the securities markets. Its goal is to foster confidence in the financial markets and protect investors from fraud, misconduct, and unfair practices.
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Components of FINRA's IT Security Standards
- Address the degree of awareness within your organization relating to security risks inherent in user activities.
- Teach employees to think before they click by giving them the skills needed to recognize distrusting links, phishing emails, any other social engineering schemes that would put the organization at risk.
- Develop protocols for reporting security incidents to reduce their impact.
- Invest in the company’s continuous cybersecurity education and training.
- Transform data into an unreadable format using encryption algorithms to protect it at rest (stored) and in transit (being transferred).
- Choose an encryption algorithm that is strong enough to resist known attacks, fast enough to encrypt and decrypt your data without causing any noticeable performance overhead, and compatible with the software and hardware that you’re using.
- Ensure that encryption keys are at least 12 characters long and include a mix of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
- Store encryption keys in a location that is inaccessible to unauthorized users.
- Backup encryption keys regularly in case they are lost or corrupted.
- Limit access to critical systems only to authorized individuals with the least privilege necessary.
- Require multiple verification factors, like a password and a fingerprint scan, to access sensitive information.
- Assign access permissions based on an individual’s job role and responsibilities.
- Monitor user activity for suspicious behavior, such as unusual access attempts or attempts to access unauthorized data.
Adopt FINRA's IT Security Standards
with our Simple 3-Step Process:
Gap Assessment
First, a gap assessment will allow us to identify existing vulnerabilities and shortcomings in your current cybersecurity practices in comparison to FINRA’s security standards.
We’ll then outline a step-by-step plan of what needs to be done to address those gaps and close them. That way you can be well on your way toward adopting the FINRA guidelines in no time.
Enlist in our FINRA IT Security Services
Incident Response Plan
Incident Response Plan
Backup and Disaster Recovery
Backup and Disaster Recovery
Encryption
Encryption
Vulnerability Scanning
Vulnerability Scanning
Multi-Factor Authentication
Multi-Factor Authentication
Cybersecurity Awareness Training
Cybersecurity Awareness Training
Access Monitoring
Access Monitoring
Network Monitoring
Network Monitoring
Data Loss Prevention
Data Loss Prevention
Adhere to FINRA's Requirements
Charles IT can enhance your finance firm’s cybersecurity by:
- Taking inventory of assets that need to be protected, with a focus on risk management, asset vulnerabilities, and data classification.
- Ensuring information security safeguards align with the firm’s priorities and information classification levels.
- Providing the means to proactively detect potential threats.
- Assigning key roles and actions for when a potential security incident is detected.
- Strategizing how to quickly restore affected capabilities and services with minimal damage and unscheduled downtime.
What results to expect
Once we start working with clients to adopt the FINRA cybersecurity standards, we’ve seen them enjoy…
- Confidence in passing a FINRA-related audit
- Improved documentation and storage options
- Significant reduction in cybersecurity risk
- Increased client and staff trust in firm's data management
Don't just take our word for it
It’s always a great feeling when you know that someone has your back. Thanks for the fast response time and professional service, Matt!
Charles IT are ALWAYS so responsive and helpful. Truly the best!
Charles IT are always thinking of everything we’re not. They listen to our needs and they don’t just point out problems, they have solutions.
