Risk management framework

Preamble (Recitals 1 – 30)

Recitals

Title I (Article 1)

General principle

Article 1

Overall risk profile and complexity

Title II (Articles 2 – 27)

Further harmonisation of ICT risk management tools, methods, processes, and policies in accordance with Article 15 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2554

Chapter I (Articles 2 – 18)

ICT security policies, procedures, protocols, and tools

Section 1

Article 2

General elements of ICT security policies, procedures, protocols, and tools

Section 2

Article 3

ICT risk management

Section 3

ICT asset management

Article 4

ICT asset management policy

Article 5

ICT asset management procedure

Section 4

Encryption and cryptography

Article 6

Encryption and cryptographic controls

Article 7

Cryptographic key management

Section 5

ICT operations security

Article 8

Policies and procedures for ICT operations

Article 9

Capacity and performance management

Article 10

Vulnerability and patch management

Article 11

Data and system security

Article 12

Logging

Section 6

Network security

Article 13

Network security management

Article 14

Securing information in transit

Section 7

ICT project and change management

Article 15

ICT project management

Article 16

ICT systems acquisition, development, and maintenance

Article 17

ICT change management

Section 8

Article 18

Physical and environmental security

Chapter II (Articles 19 – 21)

Human resources policy and access control

Article 19

Human resources policy

Article 20

Identity management

Article 21

Access control

Chapter III (Articles 22 – 23)

ICT-related incident detection and response

Article 22

ICT-related incident management policy

Article 23

Anomalous activities detection and criteria for ICT-related incidents detection and response

Chapter IV (Articles 24 – 26)

ICT business continuity management

Article 24

Components of the ICT business continuity policy

Article 25

Testing of the ICT business continuity plans

Article 26

ICT response and recovery plans

Chapter V (Article 27)

Report on the ICT risk management framework review

Article 27

Format and content of the report on the review of the ICT risk management framework

Title III (Articles 28 – 41)

Simplified ICT risk management framework for financial entities referred to in Article 16(1) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2554

Chapter I (Articles 28 – 32)

Simplified ICT risk management framework

Article 28

Governance and organisation

Article 29

Information security policy and measures

Article 30

Classification of information assets and ICT assets

Article 31

ICT risk management

Article 32

Physical and environmental security

Chapter II (Articles 33 – 38)

Further elements of systems, protocols, and tools to minimise the impact of ICT risk

Article 33

Access Control

Article 34

ICT operations security

Article 35

Data, system and network security

Article 36

ICT security testing

Article 37

ICT systems acquisition, development, and maintenance

Article 38

ICT project and change management

Chapter III (Articles 39 – 40)

ICT business continuity management

Article 39

Components of the ICT business continuity plan

Article 40

Testing of business continuity plans

Chapter IV (Article 41)

Report on the review of the simplified ICT risk management framework

Article 41

Format and content of the report on the review of the simplified ICT risk management framework

Title IV (Article 42)

Final provisions

Article 42

Entry into force

Article 21 Access control

As part of their control of access management rights, financial entitiesas defined in Article 2, points (a) to (t) shall develop, document, and implement a policy that contains all of the following:

  1. the assignment of access rights to ICT assetsa software or hardware asset in the network and information systems used by the financial entity based on need-to-know, need-to-use and least privilege principles, including for remote and emergency access;

  2. the segregation of duties designed to prevent unjustified access to critical data or to prevent the allocation of combinations of access rights that may be used to circumvent controls;

  3. a provision on user accountability, by limiting to the extent possible the use of generic and shared user accounts and ensuring that users are identifiable for the actions performed in the ICT systems at all times;

  4. a provision on restrictions of access to ICT assetsa software or hardware asset in the network and information systems used by the financial entity, setting out controls and tools to prevent unauthorised access;

  5. account management procedures to grant, change or revoke access rights for user and generic accounts, including generic administrator accounts, including provision on all of the following:

    1. assignment of roles and responsibilities for granting, reviewing, and revoking access rights;

    2. assignment of privileged, emergency, and administrator access on a need-to-use or an ad-hoc basis for all ICT systems;

    3. withdrawal of access rights without undue delay upon termination of the employment or when the access is no longer necessary;

    4. update of access rights where changes are necessary and at least once a year for all ICT systems, other than ICT systems supporting critical or important functionsa function the disruption of which would materially impair the financial performance of a financial entity, or the soundness or continuity of its services and activities, or the discontinued, defective or failed performance of that function would materially impair the continuing compliance of a financial entity with the conditions and obligations of its authorisation, or with its other obligations under applicable financial services law and at least every 6 months for ICT systems supporting critical or important functionsa function the disruption of which would materially impair the financial performance of a financial entity, or the soundness or continuity of its services and activities, or the discontinued, defective or failed performance of that function would materially impair the continuing compliance of a financial entity with the conditions and obligations of its authorisation, or with its other obligations under applicable financial services law;

  6. authentication methods, including all of the following:

    1. the use of authentication methods commensurate to the classification established in accordance with Article 8(1) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 and to the overall risk profile of ICT assetsa software or hardware asset in the network and information systems used by the financial entity and considering leading practices;

    2. the use of strong authentication methods in accordance with leading practices and techniques for remote access to the financial entity’s network, for privileged access, for access to ICT assetsa software or hardware asset in the network and information systems used by the financial entity supporting critical or important functionsa function the disruption of which would materially impair the financial performance of a financial entity, or the soundness or continuity of its services and activities, or the discontinued, defective or failed performance of that function would materially impair the continuing compliance of a financial entity with the conditions and obligations of its authorisation, or with its other obligations under applicable financial services law or ICT assetsa software or hardware asset in the network and information systems used by the financial entity that are publicly accessible;

  7. physical access controls measures including:

    1. the identification and logging of natural persons that are authorised to access premises, data centres, and sensitive designated areas identified by the financial entity where ICT and information assetsa collection of information, either tangible or intangible, that is worth protecting reside;

    2. the granting of physical access rights to critical ICT assetsa software or hardware asset in the network and information systems used by the financial entity to authorised persons only, in accordance with the need-to-know and least privilege principles, and on an ad-hoc basis;

    3. the monitoring of physical access to premises, data centres, and sensitive designated areas identified by the financial entity where ICT and information assetsa collection of information, either tangible or intangible, that is worth protecting or both reside;

    4. the review of physical access rights to ensure that unnecessary access rights are promptly revoked.

For the purposes of point (e)(i), financial entitiesas defined in Article 2, points (a) to (t) shall establish the retention period taking into account the business and information security objectives, the reasons for recording the event in the logs, and the results of the ICT riskany reasonably identifiable circumstance in relation to the use of network and information systems which, if materialised, may compromise the security of the network and information systems, of any technology dependent tool or process, of operations and processes, or of the provision of services by producing adverse effects in the digital or physical environment assessment.

For the purposes of point (e)(ii), financial entitiesas defined in Article 2, points (a) to (t) shall, where possible, use dedicated accounts for the performance of administrative tasks on ICT systems. Where feasible and appropriate, financial entitiesas defined in Article 2, points (a) to (t) shall deploy automated solutions for the privilege access management.

For the purposes of point (g)(i), the identification and logging shall be commensurate with the importance of the premises, data centres, sensitive designated areas, and the criticality of the operations or ICT systems located therein.

For the purposes of point (g)(iii), the monitoring shall be commensurate to the classification established in accordance with Article 8(1) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 and the criticality of the area accessed.

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