Platform Designed to Streamline New NCUA Cybersecurity Examinations

Huntsville, AL, March 8, 2018– The Redstone Consulting Group and Virtual StrongBox announced today the launch of a new cybersecurity collaboration portal to help Credit Unions prepare for fast-approaching NCUA cybersecurity examinations.

Fast Approaching Examination Requirements

Starting in 2018, NCUA is beginning to use its Automated Cybersecurity Examination Tool (ACET).  The ACET exam checklist consists of 530 questions and the collection and sharing of over 220 unique internal documents. ACET will allow greater visibility into the industry’s cybersecurity practices and gaps. Rumor has it that NCUA plans to use ACET to examine larger Credit Unions (>$1B) in 2018, and to fully roll it out to Credit Unions $300M and up by late 2018 or early 2019.

Streamlining Exam Preparations

Redstone Consulting Group’s ACET Collaboration Portal is a novel approach to preparing for NCUA cybersecurity examinations.  It combines the rigor of the FFIEC CAT with the teamwork capabilities of a modern SaaS solution.  The Portal naturally structures and tracks the team’s preparation efforts, ensuring deep visibility into progress against the completion date.  Its role-based workflow automatically moves examination items through the review and approval workflow. Integrated Dashboards allow instant visibility into the state of the organization’s efforts, and its assessed cybersecurity posture.

“Cyber systems are core to Credit Union operations.  Maturing cybersecurity operations and closing vulnerabilities is critical to ensuring business continuity, said Steve Powers, President, Redstone Consulting Group. Understanding your maturity level is key to establishing an improvement plan.  By pulling together all aspects of Cyber preparation into one view, the ACET Collaboration Portal provides a clear representation of where a CU stands, and makes that view accessible to the decision makers within the CU.”

The portal’s integrated documentation vault, provided by Virtual StrongBox, secures evidentiary documents against exposure while allowing selective sharing between a credit union and external users such as outside Auditing or Consulting partners or NCUA examiners.

“Working with the Redstone Consulting Group on the ACET Collaboration Portal to protect the sensitive digital assets required by the exam is just what we designed the Virtual StrongBox platform for” said Ron Daly, president and CEO of Virtual StrongBox. Coupling RCG’s deep understanding of the cybersecurity examination process with our secure Platform-as-a-Service solution has led to a highly productive and scalable solution that facilitates Credit Unions preparations for their next cybersecurity examination.”

Major Benefits to CUs Using the Portal

Top benefits to using the ACET Portal include:

1. Cybersecurity compliance material organized in one location;
2. Secure storage and transfer of critical information;
3. Likely shortened examiners onsite time onsite and the length of the exam; and
4. Reduced risk for last-minute panic and examiner findings, thanks to advance planning and preparation.

“It’s great to work with an industry leader like Virtual StrongBox to create the ACET Collaboration Portal.  Their secure document vault solution provides the infrastructure we need to ensure Client documents are secured and securely shared.” said Steve Powers, President, Redstone Consulting Group