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The security laws, regulations and guidelines directory

Need to find and understand security and privacy laws, regulations and guidelines? Here's a handy compendium with summaries plus links to the full text of each law.

December 19, 2012 — CSO —

This directory includes laws, regulations and industry guidelines with significant security and privacy impact and requirements. Each entry includes a link to the full text of the law or reg as well as information about what and who is covered.

The list is intentionally US-centric, but includes selected laws of other nations that have an impact on US-based global companies.

The security regulations and guidelines directory will be updated and expanded over time on CSOonline.com. Please email editor Derek Slater (dslater@cxo.com) with suggestions or updates.

Click on a link to skip to a subsection of the directory:

• Broadly applicable laws and regulations Includes: Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX); Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS); Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB) Act; Electronic Fund Transfer Act, Regulation E (EFTA); Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT); Free and Secure Trade Program (FAST); Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA); Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA), including Red Flags Rule; Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP)
• Industry-specific guidelines and requirements Includes: Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA); North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) standards; Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations (21 CFR Part 11) Electronic Records; Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH); Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act (PSQIA, Patient Safety Rule); H.R. 2868: The Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Regulation
• Key state laws Includes: Massachusetts 201 CMR 17 (aka Mass Data Protection Law); Nevada Personal Information Data Privacy Encryption Law NRS 603A
• International laws Includes: Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPED Act, or PIPEDA)—Canada; Law on the Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Parties—Mexico; European Union Data Protection Directive; Safe Harbor Act

Section one: Broadly applicable laws and regulations

Sarbanes-Oxley Act (aka Sarbox, SOX)

What Sarbanes-Oxley covers: Enacted in 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is designed to protect investors and the public by increasing the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures. It was enacted after the high-profile Enron and WorldCom financial scandals of the early 2000s. It is administered by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which publishes SOX rules and requirements defining audit requirements and the records businesses should store and for how long.

Who is affected: U.S. public company boards, management and public accounting firms.

Full text of Sarbanes-Oxley Act: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ204/content-detail.html

Key requirements/provisions: The Act is organized into 11 titles:

1. Public Company Accounting Oversight
2. Auditor Independence
3. Corporate Responsibility
4. Enhanced Financial Disclosures
5. Analyst Conflicts of Interest
6. Commission Resources and Authority
7. Studies and Reports
8. Corporate and Criminal Fraud Accountability
9. White-Collar Crime Penalty Enhancements
10. Corporate Tax Returns
11. Corporate Fraud Accountability

Source: SarbanesOxleyCompliance.com

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)

What it covers: The PCI DSS is a set of requirements for enhancing security of payment customer account data. It was developed by the founders of the PCI Security Standards Council, including American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa to help facilitate global adoption of consistent data security measures. PCI DSS includes requirements for security management, policies, procedures, network architecture, software design and other critical protective measures.

The Council has also issued requirements called the Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA DSS) and PCI Pin Transaction Security (PCI PTS).

Who is affected: Retailers, credit card companies, anyone handling credit card data.

Link to the PCI DSS requirements:
The current version is PCI DSS v2.0, issued 10/28/2010. https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/security_standards/documents.php

You will also find full text of the latest PA DSS and PCI PTS requirements on that page.

Support documents (including a summary of the significant differences between PCI DSS v1.2 and PCI DSS v2.0): https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/security_standards/pci_dss_supporting_docs.shtml

Key requirements/provisions: Currently, PCI DSS specifies 12 requirements, organized in six basic objectives:

Objective 1: Build and Maintain a Secure Retail Point of Sale System
Requirement 1: Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data
Requirement 2: Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters

Objective 2: Protect Cardholder Data
Requirement 3: Protect stored cardholder data
Requirement 4: Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks

Objective 3: Maintain a Vulnerability Management Program
Requirement 5: Use and regularly update anti-virus software
Requirement 6: Develop and maintain secure systems and applications

Objective 4: Implement Strong Access Control Measures
Requirement 7: Restrict access to cardholder data by business need-to-know
Requirement 8: Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access
Requirement 9: Restrict physical access to cardholder data

Objective 5: Regularly Monitor and Test Networks
Requirement 10: Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data
Requirement 11: Regularly test security systems and processes

Objective 6: Maintain an Information Security Policy
Requirement 12: Maintain a policy that addresses information security

Source: PCI Security Standards Council

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB) Act of 1999

What it covers: Also known as the Financial Modernization Act of 1999, the GLB Act includes provisions to protect consumers' personal financial information held by financial institutions. There are three principal parts to the privacy requirements: the Financial Privacy Rule, the Safeguards Rule and pretexting provisions.

Who is affected: Financial institutions (banks, securities firms, insurance companies), as well as companies providing financial products and services to consumers (including lending, brokering or servicing any type of consumer loan; transferring or safeguarding money; preparing individual tax returns; providing financial advice or credit counseling; providing residential real estate settlement services; collecting consumer debts).

Link to the law: The Privacy of Consumer Financial Information rule within GLB: http://www.ftc.gov/os/2000/05/65fr33645.pdf

Laws and rules pertaining to GLB: http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/privacyinitiatives/financial_rule_lr.html

Key requirements/provisions: The privacy requirements of GLB include three principal parts:

The Financial Privacy Rule: Requires financial institutions to give customers privacy notices that explain its information collection and sharing practices. In turn, customers have the right to limit some sharing of their information. Financial institutions and other companies that receive personal financial information from a financial institution may be limited in their ability to use that information.

The Safeguards Rule: Requires all financial institutions to design, implement and maintain safeguards to protect the confidentiality and integrity of personal consumer information.

Pretexting provisions: Protect consumers from individuals and companies that obtain their personal financial information under false pretenses, including fraudulent statements and impersonation.

Source: Federal Trade Commission

Electronic Fund Transfer Act, Regulation E

What it covers: Enacted in 1978, this law protects consumers engaging in electronic fund transfers from errors and fraud. It carries out the purposes of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, which establishes the basic rights, liabilities, and responsibilities of EFT consumers of financial institutions that offer these services. EFTs include ATM transfers, telephone bill-payment services, point-of-sale terminal transfers in stores and preauthorized transfers from or to a consumer's account (such as direct deposit and Social Security payments). Effective August 2010, a new provision states that institutions may not impose dormancy, inactivity or service fees for pre-paid products, such as gift cards, nor can they have an expiration date of less than five years.

Who is affected: Financial institutions that hold consumer accounts or provide EFT services, as well as merchants and other payees.

Link to the law:
http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/6500-3100.html

With 2010 updates: http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title12/12cfr205_main_02.tpl

Key requirements/provisions: Regulation E includes the following provisions:

• Definition of access device (debit cards, PINs, phone transfers, bill payment codes, private label cards).
• Consumer acceptance of device (either through a request for the device or validation of an unsolicited device).
• Financial institution responsibilities, such as disclosure requirements and records retention.
• Consumer rights and responsibilities, such as procedures for reporting lost or stolen access devices and notifying the institution of an error.
• Rules for preauthorized debits and electronic check transactions.
• Error resolution process.
• Unauthorized EFTs.

Source: BankersOnline.com, Alston & Byrd LLP

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