Threat-led penetration testing

Preamble (Recitals 1 – 29)

Recitals

Chapter I (Article 1)

General provisions

Article 1

Definitions

Chapter II (Article 2)

Criteria to identify financial entities required to perform TLPT

Article 2

Identification of financial entities required to perform TLPT

Chapter III (Articles 3 – 12)

Requirements regarding test scope, testing methodology and results of TLPT

Section I

Testing methodology

Article 3

TCT and TLPT Test Managers

Article 4

Organisational arrangements for financial entities

Article 5

Risk management for TLPT

Article 6

Risk management for pooled and joint TLPTs

Section II

Testing process

Article 7

Specificities for pooled and joint TLPTs

Article 8

Preparation phase

Article 9

Testing phase: Threat intelligence

Article 10

Testing phase: Red Team Test

Article 11

Closure phase

Article 12

Remediation plan

Chapter IV (Article 13)

Requirements and standards governing the use of internal testers

Article 13

Use of internal testers

Chapter V (Articles 14 – 15)

Cooperation and mutual recognition and final provisions

Article 14

Cooperation

Article 15

Entry into force and application

Article 4Note: This article is based on the final draft from the ESAs and is not yet adopted. Organisational arrangements for financial entities

  1. Financial entitiesas defined in Article 2, points (a) to (t) shall appoint a control team lead who shall be responsible for the day-to-day management of the TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems and the decisions and actions of the control team.

  2. Financial entitiesas defined in Article 2, points (a) to (t) shall establish organisational and procedural measures ensuring that:

    1. access to information pertaining to any planned or ongoing TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems is limited on a need-to-know basis to the control team, the management bodymeans a management body as defined in Article 4(1), point (36), of Directive 2014/65/EU, Article 3(1), point (7), of Directive 2013/36/EU, Article 2(1), point (s), of Directive 2009/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (31), Article 2(1), point (45), of Regulation (EU) No 909/2014, Article 3(1), point (20), of Regulation (EU) 2016/1011, and in the relevant provision of the Regulation on markets in crypto-assets, or the equivalent persons who effectively run the entity or have key functions in accordance with relevant Union or national law;, the testers, the threat intelligencemeans information that has been aggregated, transformed, analysed, interpreted or enriched to provide the necessary context for decision-making and to enable relevant and sufficient understanding in order to mitigate the impact of an ICT-related incident or of a cyber threat, including the technical details of a cyber-attack, those responsible for the attack and their modus operandi and motivations; provider and the TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems authority;

    2. the control team consults the test managers prior to involving any member of the blue team in a TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems;

    3. the control team is informed of any detection of the TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems by staff members of the financial entity or of its third-party service providers, where relevant, and the control team contains the escalation of the resulting incident response, where needed;

    4. arrangements relating to the secrecy of the TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems, applicable to staff of the financial entity, to the staff of relevant ICT third party service providers, to testers and to the threat intelligencemeans information that has been aggregated, transformed, analysed, interpreted or enriched to provide the necessary context for decision-making and to enable relevant and sufficient understanding in order to mitigate the impact of an ICT-related incident or of a cyber threat, including the technical details of a cyber-attack, those responsible for the attack and their modus operandi and motivations; provider are in place;

    5. the control team provides any information pertaining to the TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems to the test managers upon request;

    6. where possible, parties involved in the TLPT(threat-led penetration testing) a framework that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors perceived as posing a genuine cyber threat, that delivers a controlled, bespoke, intelligence-led (red team) test of the financial entity’s critical live production systems refer to it by code name only.

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