Banks

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) was established by the Financial Institutions Regulatory and Interest Rate Control Act of 1978. The council’s primary mission is to ensure uniformity and consistency in the supervision of financial institutions.

FFIEC Cybersecurity Assessment Tool:
https://www.ffiec.gov/resources/cat


🔐 1. Access and Identity Management (IAM): Role-based access control Multi-factor authentication (MFA) Privileged access management Identity governance

☁️ 2. Infrastructure Security Network: segmentation and perimeter defenses Secure cloud architecture and controls (AWS, Azure, etc.) Firewall, IDS/IPS, VPN, proxy usage Hardening of endpoints and servers

🔄 3. Change Management Version: control and change documentation Change review boards and approvals Automated CI/CD with security gates Risk assessment for code/infrastructure changes

🛡 4. Threat Detection & Response: Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) 24x7 Security Operations Center (SOC) Threat intelligence and hunting capabilities

🔧 5. Configuration Management: Standardized build and config baselines Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible) Continuous compliance monitoring Drift detection and auto-remediation

📊 6. Logging & Monitoring: Centralized log aggregation (e.g., ELK, Splunk) Alerting thresholds and escalation protocols Application Performance Monitoring (APM) Audit trails for access and changes

💥 7. Incident Response IR: playbooks and tabletop exercises Defined RTO/RPO, escalation paths Forensic readiness and evidence collection Communication protocols (internal/external)

🔍 8. Vulnerability & Patch Management: Routine scanning (SAST, DAST, SCA) Automated patching and configuration updates Risk-based prioritization and SLAs Third-party and supply chain vulnerability tracking

🧪 9. Testing & Assurance Penetration: testing and red team exercises Secure SDLC and code reviews Business continuity and DR testing Backups with integrity validation

📄 10. Data Protection & Privacy: Data classification and handling procedures Encryption (at rest, in transit) Data Loss Prevention (DLP) controls Privacy compliance (GLBA, CCPA, GDPR)

⚖️ 11. Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC): Risk assessments and control testing FFIEC CAT (Cybersecurity Assessment Tool) Alignment with NIST CSF, COBIT, ISO 27001 Regulatory reporting and audit readiness