Amid an increase in cybersecurity threats accompanying the new working realities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wall Street's self-regulatory organization will soon announce it has vetted a handful of third-party cybersecurity vendors taking part in a preferred pricing program for member firms.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is expected to announce the details of the plan on Friday via its website, though only behind the login for member firms. Public posting is expected on Monday or Tuesday.
A FINRA spokesperson declined to confirm the program as of press time Thursday, but several sources outside of the agency acknowledged it was imminent. Those sources did not want their names published because they did not have an agreement with the agency to speak before the announcement.
On Friday April 17, FINRA updated the Compliance Vendor Directory page of its website to include four “free and discounted cybersecurity offerings for member firms dealing with remote workplace arrangements.”
The four firms, which include BlueAlly, Entreda, FCI and OS33, are a mix of security vendors that range from managed service providers to endpoint security monitoring, and network security protection. While FCI and OS33 specifically focus on the financial services industry, Entreda has clients in another highly regulated industry: health care. BlueAlly serves multiple industries including education, large media companies and others.
All four firms, according to multiple unnamed sources, went through a lengthy application and vetting process with FINRA that actually began prior to the pandemic crisis.