NEW DELHI: Market regulator Sebi on Friday directed market infrastructure firms to set up cybersecurity operations centres manned by security analysts that will monitor systems round-the-clock to identify, respond to and defend against cyber attacks. According to Sebi’s circular, cyber security operation centres (C-SOC) of market infrastructure institutions (MIIs) like clearing corporations, depositories and exchanges need to prevent cyber attacks through proactive actions including continuous threat analysis.
According to the circular, Sebi has asked MIIs to “network and host scanning for vulnerabilities and breaches, countermeasure deployment coordination, deploy adequate and appropriate technology at the perimeter to prevent attacks originating from external environments and internal controls to manage insider threats”. “MIIs may implement necessary controls to achieve zero trust security model,” it added.
Appropriate alert mechanisms such as a comprehensive dashboard, tracking of key security metrics and provide cyber threat scorecards should be implemented, Sebi directed.
In order to detect security incidents in real time, Sebi said, the centre should go for 24X7 monitoring and analysis of relevant logs of MII’s network devices, data traffic, cyber intelligence feeds sourced from reliable vendors, inputs received from other MIIs as also from external agencies such as CERT-In, among others.
Six months granted
The move comes after Sebi issued detailed guidelines on cyber security for stock brokers and depository participants. The regulator has directed bourses, clearing corporations and depositories to put in place systems for implementation within six months