The New York Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) recently issued two additional answers to frequently asked questions related to filing procedures required by the DFS Cybersecurity Regulation (“Regulation”). The new FAQs come in the wake of the Regulation’s first annual Certification of Compliance filing deadline of February 15, 2018. The DFS clarified that individual licensees who are required to file a Certification of Compliance are acting as a “Senior Officer” as defined in the Regulation. The DFS also offered guidance to Covered Entities regarding the use of an “Entity ID” to complete required filings via the DFS’ cybersecurity portal.

Including the two latest FAQs, there are now 32 total FAQs issued by the DFS concerning the Regulation. Read the full text of the latest FAQs below, and find the complete set of FAQs at: https://www.dfs.ny.gov/about/cybersecurity_faqs.htm

  1. If I am an individual with no Board of Directors, then who can file my Certification of Compliance?
    23 NYCRR 500.01 defines Senior Officer as “the senior individual or individuals (acting collectively or as a committee) responsible for the management, operations, security, information systems, compliance and/or risk of a Covered Entity…”. A Covered Entity is defined as “any Person operating under or required to operate under a license, registration, charter, certificate, permit, accreditation or similar authorization under the Banking Law, the Insurance Law or the Financial Services Law.” Individuals filing a Certification of Compliance for their own individual license are acting as a Senior Officer, as defined in the Regulation, and should complete the process in that manner.
  2. In the cyber portal, what does Entity ID mean?
    Your Entity ID is your unique license or charter number issued by the State of New York. However, for Insurance companies, your Entity ID will be your NAIC number. For Mortgage Loan Originators, your Entity ID will be your NMLS number. For Insurance producers, please do not include the leading alpha characters of your License Number (e.g., BR, IA, LA, PC, TLA).