KUALA LUMPUR: With cyber threats a growing cause for regulatory concern given their evolving nature with diverse origins and motivations, the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has begun examinations of security preparedness among intermediaries.
Intermediaries need to have in place preventive, detection and recovery measures to reduce their vulnerability to cyber-attacks, the SC said in conjunction with the release of its 2014 Annual Report.
The SC conducted a survey on 10 intermediaries to review their ability to detect, protect from and respond to cyber threats to their online trading systems.
The review revealed that there is room for improvement in relation to intermediaries’ cyber risk assessment, cybersecurity education and awareness as well as the information sharing environment among industry groups.
With regard to money-laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF), the SC conducted a Sectoral Risk Assessment (SRA) last year for the stockbrocking, derivatives broking and fund management sectors.
A framework designed to implement broad-based reforms to the existing ML/TF regime in the capital market includes recalibration of priorities, policies and action plans to mitigate ML/TF risks, it said.
“To this end, the SC has effected several policy changes to our supervisory function, including issuing new internal guiding principles for enforcement of non-compliance on ML/TF by reporting institutions,” it said. – Bernama