Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden announced on Wednesday that his office’s Investor Protection Unit is participating in a nationwide project to measure the strength of Delaware’s investment advisors’ cybersecurity systems.
“Financial services firms have a responsibility to protect personal data, and the results of these surveys will help our Investor Protect Unit ensure the data is protected as strongly as possible,” Biden said.
Investor Protection Unit Director Owen Lefkon sent surveys to 44 investment companies that ask whether the investment advisor has experienced a cybersecurity event in the past year, experienced loss or theft because of a cybersecurity breach and when the advisor last underwent a cybersecurity threat assessment. These surveys, which were developed by the North American Securities Administrators Association, are due back Oct. 31.
The project will help regulators better understand the technology and data practices of state-registered investment advisors, how they communicate with clients and their current policies and procedures.
“As the investment business is increasingly conducted over the Internet, the potential for identity theft and other security breaches has risen as well.” Lefkon said. “It is thus ever more important to ensure that registered firms and individuals take reasonable and adequate precautions to protect the security of information stored in computers and communicated over the Internet.”