FAQs

The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center.

Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs) were created in response to US Presidential Decision Directive-63 (PDD-63), signed in 1998, which called for each critical infrastructure sector to establish sector-specific organizations to share information about cyber threats and vulnerabilities. After 9/11, the mission of ISACs was expanded to include the sharing of physical threats and vulnerabilities.

ISACs are trusted entities that collect, analyze and disseminate actionable threat information to their members and provide members with tools to mitigate risks and enhance resiliency. Besides sharing threat information with members, ISACs also share information with other critical infrastructure ISACs. ISACs are nonprofit corporations and most belong to the National Council of ISACs (NCI).

There are 16 critical infrastructures defined by DHS and each one has a sector-specific government agency assigned to each. Examples of other ISACs include Communications, Defense Industrial Base, Electricity, Multi-State, National Health and Oil & Gas.

FS-ISAC is the only global cyber intelligence sharing community solely focused on financial services. Serving financial institutions and in turn their customers, the organization leverages its intelligence platform, resiliency resources, and a trusted peer-to-peer network of experts to anticipate, mitigate and respond to cyber threats.

For both physical and cyber events, alerts contain a description of the threat or vulnerability, its severity and recommendations for solutions.

FS-ISAC members represent $100 trillion in assets in more than 70 countries. Examples of types of companies belonging to FS-ISAC include banks, broker-dealers, insurance companies, credit unions, payment processors, associations and more. FS-ISAC is actively recruiting members and accepting member applications from firms around the world. Member firm names are not released without member permission and no data is ever attributed to an individual member without that member's permission.

FS-ISAC was created in response to the US Presidential Decision Directive 63, which was issued in 1998 and updated in 2003 by Homeland Security Presidential Decision Directive 7.

Founded in 1999, the consortium was founded with a mission: to help assure the resilience and continuity of the global financial services infrastructure and individual firms against acts that could significantly impact the sector's ability to provide services critical to the orderly functioning of the global economy. 

In 2017, FS-ISAC expanded its geographical footprint by setting up regional hubs in London and Singapore.

With strong support from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Asia Pacific Regional Analysis Centre became fully operational in 2018.

At a time when trust has become a vital asset for business, trade and commerce, the organization leverages its intelligence platform, resiliency resources, and a trusted peer-to-peer network of experts to anticipate, mitigate and respond to cyberthreats. 

FS-ISAC shares among its members and trusted sources critical cyber-intelligence and builds awareness through a robust offering of alerts, indicators, member insights, threat assessments and analysis.

FS-ISAC leads multiple efforts to strengthen the financial system and aid in business restoration. This includes exercises, best practices, hands-on training and playbooks for rapid response.

Through summits, meetings, webinars and communities of interest, FS-ISAC convenes a global peer-to-peer network of experts and practitioners from the private and public sectors to share critical information and best practices in a trusting and collaborative environment.

FS-ISAC has created and continues to build a strong community designed to secure and protect the financial services sector and the billions of people who rely on a stable, functioning system.

We encourage regulated financial firms and other eligible firms to apply for membership, including:

• Bank & Credit Union
• Core Back Office Supplier
• Critical Utility
• Exchange
• Fintech
• Insurance
• Investments & Securities
• MSSP
• Payments
• Trade Association

Applications for membership are available on the Membership page.

The time between application and approval depends on a number of factors including the type of membership being applied for and the volume of applicants at the current time.

The FS-ISAC Board of Directors sets the policies and rules for the organization.