Pub. 4 2015 Issue 1
l e a d i n g a d v o c a t e f o r t h e b a n k i n g i n d u s t r y i n k a n s a s 6 S TATE LAWMAKERS RETURN TO THE Kansas Statehouse on January 12th and will begin tackling a myriad of issues, including the state revenue shortage announced recently by the state’s Consensus Revenue Estimating Group (CREG). The revenue shortfall will require Governor Brownback and state lawmakers to cut an estimated $280 million from the current year’s budget in order to maintain a positive ending balance on June 30, 2015. Even more daunting is the additional $434 million in spending cuts that will be required to balance the FY-2016 state budget, which must be approved before adjournment of the 2015 state legislative session. While the budget process is driven by the Senate Ways and Means and House Appropriations Committees, it appears that everything is on the table for consideration, which means tax policy discussions by the Senate and House Taxation Committees may also be a focal point of this year’s state budget debate. As tax and spending KBA LEADERS LEDGER CYBER SECURITY By Chuck Stones, President C YBER-SECURITY IS MORE THAN A “BUZZ word” in the financial industry today. It is a huge problem that is costing banks a lot of money. I am not a big “techie” and it has been hard for me to get my arms around what can be done and what the KBA can do to help banks deal and work through some of the issues relating to cyber-security. KBA has recently hired Bobby Young, a recent law-school grad with a background in IT. Bobby is available through the KBA Legal Department and KBA Consulting to help with IT issues. There are two other offerings in the IT security arena that are currently available. First, KBA has partnered with Secure Banking Solutions to offer six technology-based certification programs. Secondly, the Graduate School of Banking at Madison is offering a Bank Technology Security School on October 11-16, 2015. Nationally, there are a couple of industry initiatives that have the potential to help in the cyber-security area. The first was just announced on December 4. The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center launched Soltra Edge, a free cyber threat information-sharing platform intended to help community banks and other smaller firms identify the most critical threats. Soltra Edge is intended to help bankers automate the initial analysis of threat information to identify those that pose the most risk to their own banks. The software from Soltra, a joint venture between FS-ISAC and settlement and clearing firm DTCC, takes only a few minutes to download, install and configure. A basic license to Soltra Edge is available for free. Threat information is converted into an open-standard language known as STIX and transmitted via an open-standard protocol called TAXII. Soltra Edge can be adapted to integrate with existing cyber-security tools. The free software can be downloaded at www.soltra. com. The second is a new web domain specifically for banks - .bank. (dot)bank is a banking industry initiative to create greater security for internet addresses for banks. The .bank domain name will provide greater security on several levels. The first level is the screening and approval process. Only banks will be allowed to use the .bank domain suffix, thus creating a level of security. Second, there will be security measures built directly into the .bank domain. The KBA will be hosting a two-part webinar on .bank and why your bank should utilize it. The first part will be January 22 and repeated on the 23rd, Part 2 will be Feb 25 and repeated on the 26th. I would urge you and other members of your staff to participate in these webinars. STATE LEGISLATIVE SESSION PREVIEW – BUDGETS AND BANKING By DougWareham, EVP-Government Relations
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