Week ending 5 November 2020
29 October 2020: The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has issued a statement on a global initiative on cyber security led by the International Investment Funds Association (IIFA) and supported by fund associations around the world. IIFA has published a document ‘IIFA Cybersecurity program basics’ which sets out key cyber prevention standards for investment management companies. The document sets out:
• establish an overarching cyber-security framework
• conduct cyber-risk awareness trainings with company staff
• have an incident response plan
• conduct tabletop exercises to test the response plan
• establish and monitor normal network activity
- participate in trusted information sharing networks
4 November 2020: The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it has awarded over $US 28m to a whistleblower who provided significant information which allowed the SEC to bring a successful enforcement action. The whistleblower reported the information internally which prompted the company to initiate an internal investigation. The whistleblower then went on to provide testimony and identified a key witness. The Chief of the SEC’s Office, Jane Norberg, said: ‘I hope our recent awards will continue to incentivize whistleblowers to come forward to report potential fraud or other wrongdoing.’