Here’s a quick item of note, which ran in recent reports and is worth repeating.  Deputy Treasury Secretary Sarah Raskin, when speaking at conference of the Texas Bankers’ Association, advised that banks need to purchase cyber risk insurance – pointing to recent data breaches suffered by Target, Home Depot, and JP Morgan as evidence.  Raskin stated:

We have learned from these attacks that the prevalence of cyber risk creates a persistent and complex challenge for financial institutions spanning the sector, including financial institutions of all types and all sizes.

Raskin further stated in a prepared statement that “I have been asking our insurance and cyber experts at Treasury to think about how to encourage an environment where market forces create insurance products that enhance cyber security for businesses.”  “Ideally, we can imagine the growth of the cyber insurance market as a mechanism that bolsters cyber hygiene for banks across the board.”

A link to Deputy Secretary Raskin’s prepared remarks is here: http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl9711.aspx