Intralinks : Cybersecurity Action Items — And Helpful Guidance from the HFSB.

Cybersecurity is infamous for two things: its complexity, and the countless threats in the online world today.

The Hedge Fund Standards Board (HFSB), long providing useful information and guidance that addresses cybersecurity for hedge funds, has released a 10-page memorandum to keep cybersecurity top of mind - and ensure hedge funds clearly understand how to protect their data.

Companies across all industries are susceptible to data hacks if they do not have the right security measures in place. The HFSB hopes to solve this problem. In an article for Hedgeweek, Thomas Deinet, CEO of the HFSB, wrote the board has 'pulled together a series of links on all the main regulatory developments in respect of cybersecurity in one place to give managers a quick go-to resource on what the current climate is from a regulatory perspective.'

The memorandum identifies a range of technical action items such as regular sweeps of undesired applications to ensure organizations are deploying only trusted software on the operating system. A useful resource to firms, the memorandum also provides information on what global regulators have been saying about cybersecurity resilience. Managers in particular can take advantage of this feature when they are trying to determine regulators' expectations. 'At the HFSB, our cybersecurity memorandum will attempt to bridge the gap into a single document,' Deinet explained. 'It will, as such, detail a number of quick fix cybersecurity action items that managers can undertake, and outline some of the main cybersecurity projects to enhance firms' resilience to cyber-attacks.' These action items may be critical to the protection of a firms' confidential information.

Because hedge funds differ significantly from investment banks and other financial institutions, they require their own set of data security guidelines. Says Deinet, 'You can find a lot of high-level frameworks for all types of firms in the marketplace to address cybersecurity concerns, but there isn't really a lot of hands-on guidance in terms of what hedge fund managers need to do.'

All industry participants, from managers to investors, should take precautionary measures in order to protect their organization's data. Deinet recommends cybersecurity projects that include emergency contingent plans, along with staff training and certification.