On October 13, 2020, state financial regulators in partnership with the Bankers Electronic Crimes Taskforce and the U.S. Secret Service, released the Ransomware Self-Assessment Tool (R-SAT) to help financial institutions mitigate the risks of ransomware. The R-SAT is a detailed questionnaire designed to evaluate the effectiveness of an institution’s general security controls as well as […]
Search Results for: ransomware
FinCEN Alerts Financial Institutions on Role in Facilitating Ransomware Attacks
With an increase in the frequency, sophistication, and cost of ransomware attacks, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an advisory on October 1, 2020 alerting financial institutions to ransomware trends and typologies, and related financial red flags, that may result in a regulatory obligation to report and share information related to ransomware attacks. Based […]
OFAC Ransomware Advisory Warns Companies of Potential Civil Liability
Yesterday, October 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued its “Advisory on Potential Sanctions Risks for Facilitating Ransomware Payments.” The advisory begins with the observation that “ransomware attacks have become more focused, sophisticated, costly, and numerous,” citing certain FBI statistics, before making clear what was already well […]
SEC’s OCIE Issues Ransomware Risk Alert
On July 10, the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) issued a Risk Alert noting the increasing sophistication of ransomware attacks on SEC registrants and service providers to SEC registrants. The Risk Alert is notable for its encouragement of financial services market participants more broadly and not just SEC registrants to monitor CISA […]
Outbreak of “WannaCry” and “Wanna Decryptor” Ransomware Affects Companies Across the Globe
On Friday, May 12, companies in countries across the globe witnessed an unprecedented malware outbreak as ransomware labeled “WannaCry” and “Wanna Decryptor” infected a large range of critical systems. The malware exploits a vulnerability in older versions of Microsoft’s Windows, locks the systems it infects, and threatens to delete files unless a bitcoin ransom is […]