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NCUA Board Briefed on Cybersecurity Threats and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program

April 2022
NCUA Board Briefed on Cybersecurity Threats and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program

Board Action Bulletin

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (April 21, 2022) – Through a live audio webcast, the National Credit Union Administration Board held its fourth open meeting of 2022 and was briefed on two matters:

  • Current cybersecurity events and trends affecting federally insured credit unions and the broader financial system.
  • The NCUA’s diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging program.

Board Briefed on the Cybersecurity Threats Facing Credit Unions

Geopolitical tensions, supply chain risks, ransomware, COVID-19, and cyber criminality have contributed to a dynamic threat landscape that creates evolving risks for federally insured credit unions, according to a briefing provided to the NCUA Board by the agency’s Critical Infrastructure Division. Additionally, the potential for Russian cyber retaliation resulting from the U.S.’s support of Ukraine is an imminent danger.

“Briefings like this one today are a critical part of the NCUA’s communications efforts to promote cybersecurity best practices and raise awareness about the threats credit unions face,” said NCUA Chairman Todd M. Harper. “Each of us — the NCUA, state supervisory authorities, credit unions, and vendors — has a responsibility to protect our IT systems, improve our collective ability to recover from incidents, educate our employees, share information, and report and address potential vulnerabilities. All of us must do our part and be cybersmart.”

The briefing also summarized the NCUA’s efforts to improve its information security examination program, which is being field-tested by the NCUA and some state supervisory authorities. These new examination procedures are designed to scale to the size and complexity of all credit unions.

The NCUA strongly encourages credit unions to strengthen their institution’s cybersecurity programs and preparedness and immediately report cyber incidents to the NCUA, the FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Credit unions are also encouraged to download and use the NCUA’s Automated Cybersecurity Evaluation Toolbox, or ACET.

Additional cyber-related information is available on the NCUA’s cybersecurity resources webpage.

Briefing Highlights NCUA’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Initiatives

The NCUA Board received a briefing by the Director of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion on the agency’s diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging activities for hiring, employee retention, and supplier diversity.

“At their core, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are more than policies and principles,” Chairman Harper said. “They are foundational practices and behaviors to be acted upon. They are vital to strategy, sustainable growth, innovation, talent acquisition, and employee retention at the NCUA and throughout the credit union system. In recent years, we have also seen efforts to embrace and solidify the principles of DEI as a pillar of the credit union industry. I encourage these worthy efforts to continue.”

Highlights from the briefing include:

  • 42.4 percent of the NCUA’s new hires in 2021 were people of color;
  • 36.8 percent of the NCUA’s total reportable contracting dollars for the year were awarded to minority- or women-owned businesses; and
  • 240 federally insured credit unions submitted Voluntary Credit Union Diversity Self-Assessments in 2021, compared to 188 in 2020.

The briefing also included an update on how the NCUA supports minority depository institutions and opportunities for enhancing and fostering greater diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging within the credit union system. More information on NCUA’s efforts can be found in the NCUA’s OMWI Annual Report to Congress.

The NCUA tweets all open Board meetings live. Follow @TheNCUA on Twitter, and access Board Action Memorandums and NCUA rule changes at www.ncua.gov. The NCUA also live streams, archives and posts videos of open Board meetings online.

Todd M. Harper