Overview
Financial-services contractors combine federal contracting cybersecurity with sector-specific financial-data rules — chiefly the GLBA Safeguards Rule.
GLBA Safeguards Rule
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act's Safeguards Rule (16 CFR Part 314, as amended by the FTC) requires covered financial institutions to maintain a written information security program with specific elements, including a designated qualified individual, risk assessment, access controls, encryption of customer information, multi-factor authentication, and an incident-response plan. The amended rule materially raised the bar for technical controls and accountability.
Federal Contracting Overlap
On federal work you may also face NIST SP 800-171 (if CUI is involved), FISMA for systems operated for an agency, and FedRAMP authorization if you deliver cloud services to the government.
FedRAMP: the government-wide program standardizing security assessment and authorization for cloud products and services sold to federal agencies.
Treasury and financial-regulator contracts may add agency-specific security clauses. As with other sectors, the underlying controls overlap — build once, map to each regime.
What to Do Next
Confirm whether GLBA, NIST 800-171, FedRAMP, or all three apply to your offering, then consolidate them into a single written security program. Start with Find My Requirements.
Sources
- FTC GLBA Safeguards Rule, 16 CFR Part 314 (ftc.gov); NIST SP 800-171; FedRAMP (fedramp.gov)