FSSCC R&D Committee out with new agenda

Research Agenda for the Banking and Finance Sector released by FSSCC

WASHINGTON DC – The Research and Development Committee of the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security (FSSCC) has released its 2008 Research Agenda for the Banking and Finance Sector.

The FSSCC is a group of more than 45 private-sector firms and financial trade associations that works to help reinforce the financial services sector’s resilience against terrorist attacks and other threats to the US’ financial infrastructure.

The agenda outlines the top seven research and development priorities to protect the physical and electronic infrastructure of the banking and finance sector.

These are:
1.Advancing the state of the art in designing and testing secure applications
2.More secure and resilient financial transaction systems
3.Improved enrolment and identity credential management to make it less susceptible to social engineering attacks
4.Understanding the human insider threat by developing deterrence and detection solutions to reduce risks posed by insiders
5.Data-centric protection strategies to better classify and protect sensitive information
6.Better measures of the value of security investments
7.Development of practical standards to reduce risk and enhance resiliency.

“Threats from adversaries are increasing, raising concerns over the integrity of devices, networks and applications,” said Shawn Johnson, chairman of the FSSCC, and chairman of State Street Global Advisor's investment committee and director of institutional fiduciary services. “While professionals from the banking and finance sector are working hard to deploy stronger technologies and better procedures, we need to expand co-ordination and collaboration with other sectors and the academic community. To address today’s threats and to prepare for challenges in the future, leaders in the banking and finance sector want to signal to our partners the need for greater co-ordination, funding and technological advancements in order to preserve and enhance the economic well-being of the United States and the banking and finance sector.” The R&D Committee of the FSSCC works in partnership with the US Treasury Department, regulatory agencies and the academic community.

The Committee has begun to beta test the Subject Matter Advisory Response Team (Smart) Program. The Smart program assists research and development organisations working on critical infrastructure protection projects by providing subject matter expertise from financial institutions necessary to facilitate their research and development endeavours.

“The financial sector’s dependence on information technology and telecommunication is a major focus of our critical infrastructure protection efforts. The FSSCC’s R&D agenda is an important means for addressing these dependencies and fostering a strong dialogue to improve the risk management of increasingly global financial operations,” said Valerie Abend, deputy assistant secretary for critical infrastructure protection and compliance policy at the US Department of the Treasury.

The 2008 research agenda is available by clicking here