Bridget Gaughan and Aaron Spradlin of cleverDome.
You know you need to secure your computer hardware and software at your firm, including all the apps your team uses every day, like email. That's especially the case due to the rise of sharing data over the cloud between you and your vendor partners.
Keeping client data safe isn't just a "nice to have" feature; it's required by regulators like the SEC and FINRA and the states. If you don't have the resources to do it yourself you can use an outside vendor, such as an MSS (managed security service) provider. But how do you choose an MSS? What questions should you ask all your vendors about how they secure your data? How can you achieve peace of mind when it comes to cybersecurity?
If you're a member of the cleverDome cyber security co-op, you've now got the support you need to vet your vendors, perhaps the trickiest link in the cyber security chain.
On May 31, cleverDome and 3PAS Global, a third-party credentialing and risk assessment service, announced a partnership under which the co-op's members will be given 3PAS' vendor security risk assessment services. Effective immediately and for no extra charge to members, those services will include 3PAS' basic due diligence for vendors—which complies with the international ISO standard—but also cleverDome's broader due diligence standards that meet federal and state regulatory requirements.
CleverDome is the co-op that provides a software-defined perimeter (SDP) network technology to its members using software called NetFoundry that secures companies' important data off the public internet and 'under the Dome.'
In a previous ThinkAdvisor article about independent broker-dealer Geneos' decision to join cleverDome, Geneos CTO Dean Rager noted that most cyberattacks "come in from a third-party back door." To slam shut that door, Geneos decided to join cleverDome since its NetFoundry technology creates "for lack of a better term…our own dark web" which frustrates hackers.
