The global financial services sector’s dedicated cyber intelligence-sharing network, FS-ISAC, has announced a major new addition to its Critical Providers Program (CPP) – Google Cloud.
Acknowledging the increasing role of cloud providers in hosting, connecting, and protecting financial services organisations’ technology infrastructure, FS-ISAC said the new Google partnership will play an important role in reducing third-party cyber risk for the sector.
This, FS-ISAC said, would help to curtail service disruptions within the sector and “foster a community of transparency as critical service providers”.
The FS-ISAC’s Critical Providers Program, launched in 2022, serves as “an official conduit for non-financial organisations providing network infrastructure and services to share sensitive, timely, and industry-specific security information”.
Critical Providers are defined as non-financial organisations that provide network infrastructure and services that, if impacted by an incident, would interrupt a significant number of core financial services across the sector.
FSI-ISAC adds: “During large-scale cyber incidents or threats, providers can leverage the dedicated communication channels to expedite the dissemination of accurate information necessary to address the immediate risks and keep the financial industry safe.”
Phil Venables, chief information security officer at Google Cloud stressed that partnerships with intelligence-sharing organisations like FS-ISAC, “are vital to ensuring our customers are protected and educated amidst a complex and evolving threat landscape”.
“We are already a long-standing supporter of FS-ISAC and are excited to be the first major cloud provider in the Critical Providers Program. We look forward to sharing our resources and unique insights with FS-ISAC to build a more secure and resilient financial system.”
FS-ISAC said its mission is to “reduce cyber risk in the global financial system”, with the CPP designed to “ensure its member firms worldwide and their critical providers have a strong strategic and tactical working relationship at the sector level”.
Cloud services and cybersecurity provider Akamai was the first critical provider to join the program.
