External IT, which provides cloud computing services to clients in the financial sector, has developed a cybersecurity training and testing program for advisors.

External IT has launched a security awareness training offering to educate financial advisors and their employees on best practices when using corporate IT systems. 

The firm has also launched a policy and procedure development and lifecycle management offering to educate firms on the latest SEC and FINRA mandates. This will place advisors in training programs to ensure they are operating under the industry's rapidly developing compliance guidelines, and also includes a quarterly cybersecurity update and a yearly cybersecurity report.

“We've come to a point in the financial services space where cybersecurity is not only paid attention to, but has become a differentiator among firms,” said Justin Kapahi, technical director at External IT. 

“But for all of the attention cybersecurity is getting, there's one important point that is being missed - the majority of security threats are actually originating from inside the walls of these firms, Kapahi said. “Information is shared through non-secured programs; passwords are being carelessly generated - the list goes on. We've developed SAT to provide advisors with clear security guidelines to ensure their information is protected from the inside-out, at every level.”

In a similar move last week, Schwab Advisor Services unveiled a Cybersecurity Resource Center for advisors (see here).