What It Is

APRA Prudential Standard CPS 234 (Information Security) is a binding prudential regulation for APRA-regulated financial entities in Australia. Effective from 1 July 2019, it mandates maintaining information security capabilities commensurate with threats to ensure resilience against incidents impacting confidentiality, integrity, or availability of information assets, including those managed by third parties. It adopts a risk-based, assurance-driven approach focused on governance, controls, and testing.

Key Components

• **Governance and accountabilityBoard ultimate responsibility, defined roles.
• **Risk managementAsset classification by criticality/sensitivity, commensurate controls.
• **Incident responseDetection mechanisms, response plans, annual testing.
• **AssuranceSystematic testing, internal audit of controls including third-party.
• **Reporting72-hour notification for material incidents, 10-day for weaknesses. No fixed control count; principles-based with PPG 234 guidance.

Why Organizations Use It

Mandatory for ADIs, insurers, super funds to meet legal obligations, mitigate cyber risks, protect stakeholders, and avoid APRA enforcement. Enhances operational resilience, third-party oversight, and board-level assurance for trust and stability.

Implementation Overview

Phased: gap analysis, policy framework, asset inventory, controls, testing program. Applies to all sizes of APRA entities/groups; requires ongoing internal audit, no external certification but APRA supervision.

What It Is

MAS Technology Risk Management (TRM) Guidelines (revised January 2021) are supervisory guidance issued by Singapore's Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for financial institutions. They provide a principles-based framework focused on managing technology and cyber risks to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA) of systems and data. The risk-proportional approach emphasizes governance, controls, and continuous improvement.

Key Components

• 15 main sections covering governance, risk frameworks, secure development, IT service management, resilience, access controls, cryptography, data security, cyber operations, assessments, and audit.
• Synthesised into 12 core principles like board accountability, asset classification, third-party oversight, and defence-in-depth.
• No fixed controls; outcomes-based with independent assurance.

Why Organizations Use It

• Regulatory compliance for MAS-supervised FIs to avoid enforcement.
• Enhances cyber resilience, reduces incidents, builds stakeholder trust.
• Supports digital transformation with secure engineering and third-party management.

Implementation Overview

• Phased: governance setup, asset inventory, risk assessment, control deployment, testing.
• Applies to all MAS FIs, scaled by size/complexity; no formal certification but supervisory review.