Watchdog: Treasury hitting the mark as cyber steward

In its mission to help protect the nation's critical financial infrastructure, the Treasury Department is covering the bases, according to a new audit report.

Shutterstock image (by deepadesigns): protection concept, shield icon.

The Treasury Department is right in line with presidential directives to enhance critical infrastructure security through better national coordination and public/private partnerships, according to a report by the agency's inspector general.

The April 28 report, which comes as critical infrastructure sectors face an onslaught of breach attempts, contains no recommendations for different or additional actions.

The IG found that Treasury was meeting all its obligations as the agency for the financial services sector. Those obligations include preparing for cyber and physical attacks aimed at the U.S. financial system.

Treasury has been meeting a range of reporting requirements and engaging in close consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, regulatory agencies and the financial industry, the report states.

For example, during the Heartbleed vulnerability, Treasury worked with DHS to stay abreast of developments and threats to secure transactions and shared that information with financial industry leaders.

The report praised the work Treasury has done with the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security and with the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center.

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