With all the recent punitive actions triggered by the SEC's Red Flags Rule, the floodgates have opened when it comes to Johnny-come-latelys touting their wares in the cybersecurity solutions market for the independent financial advice space.
And if the latest fallout in recent months related to the SEC's Red Flags Rule has taught us anything, it's that chief technology officers, chief information officers, chief security officers and other mission critical gatekeepers with oversight of large enterprise vendors owe it to themselves, their firms and their advisors to look past cybersecurity propaganda and dive deep on the details.
Therefore, consider cracks in logic when evaluating whether you have a cybersecurity partnership in place that actually delivers both what is advertised and what is needed.
TABLE STAKES
One claim going around is that cybersecurity software "designed specifically for large enterprise firms" is somehow by itself a significant value-add. It's not. Any software worth its salt in the independent advisory space should be able to accommodate firms of all sizes, so long as the customer is willing to pay for the scope of service required.
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Providers will also frequently say their offerings are "seamless" or "at scale." These words may sound great out loud, but when you really start to think about it, these are things that should be — and have been for years — table stakes from any credible vendor.
Along these same lines, beware of catchphrases that are thrown around in place of substantive value-add features, such as "robust administrative dashboard," "multiple levels of hierarchy," and "compliant with the highest levels of due diligence review."
In other words, if a cybersecurity vendor is spotlighting promises of a decent user interface, the ability to flag and escalate cybersecurity issues at varying levels of potential severity, and the ability to pass the initial taste test with the technology gatekeepers with most firms, there's probably more sizzle than steak with the meal they're offering.
