New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, introduced new cybersecurity proposals in his January State of the State address following the recent DNC hack and Russia’s attempt to influence the 2016 election in favor of Republican Donald Trump.
Cuomo’s new proposals involve two areas: improved incident response and increased deterrence through more severe legal ramifications, stating “our laws must keep pace in order to combat these increasingly sophisticated criminals acts.”
A new cyber incident response team (CIRT) is to be established and assembled from security experts across various government agencies. These individuals will work to help state agencies, local authorities, critical infrastructure, and schools who experience cyber-attacks or system breaches. These individuals will also provide guidance on how to better protect organizations’ IT assets, critical operations systems, and data from cyber-attacks, malware, and ransomware attacks.
The deterrent aspect of this proposal involves the increased and progressed punishment for cyber crimes, with harsher punishments for more severe attacks. For example, the theft of multiple identities could range from an A-level misdemeanor to a D-level felony. Additionally, there’s a proposed new B-level felony for those causing more than $1 million in damages to victims.
The state of New York is keen to stay ahead of cybercriminals, as back in December 2016, the New York State Department of Financial Services published proposals for new cybersecurity regulations in New York’s financial sector.
The two main new requirements for New York financial institutions would be the need to employ a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and the need for annual reports, effectively signed-off by the board with a certification document to be sent to the DFS. This new regulation will now require that on February 15, 2018, and annually thereafter, the organization’s Board of Directors confirm, or certify, to the DFS with a “Certification of Compliance with New York State Department of Financial Services Cybersecurity Regulations.”
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