Article 5 Risk management for TLPT

The secrecy of TLPT is of utmost importance to ensure that the conditions of the testing are realistic. For that reason, testing should be covert, and precautions should be taken to keep the TLPT confidential, including the choice of codenames that should be designed to prevent the identification of the TLPT by third parties. Should staff members responsible for the security of the financial team be aware of a planned or ongoing TLPT, it is likely that they would be more observant and alert than during normal working conditions, thereby resulting in an altered outcome of the testing. Staff members of the financial entity outside of the control teammeans the team composed of staff of the tested financial entity and, where relevant in consideration of the scope of the TLPT, staff of its third-party service providers and any other party, who manages the test; should therefore only be made aware of any planned or ongoing TLPT where there are cogent reasons and subject to the prior agreement of the test managersmeans staff designated to lead the activities of the TLPT authority for a specific TLPT to monitor compliance with this Regulation;, inter alia to ensure the secrecy of the test in case a blue teammeans the staff of the financial entity and, where relevant, staff of the financial entity’s third-party service providers and any other party deemed relevant in consideration of the scope of the TLPT, of the financial entity’s third-party service providers, that are defending a financial entity's use of network and information systems by maintaining its security posture against simulated or real attacks and that is not aware of the TLPT; member has detected the testing.

There are inherent elements of risks associated with TLPT as critical functions are tested in a live production environment, with the possibility of causing denial-of-service incidents, unexpected system crashes, damages to critical live production systems, or the loss, modification, or disclosure of data. Those risks highlight the need for robust risk management measures. To ensure that the TLPT is conducted in a controlled manner all along the testing, it is very important that financial entities are at all points aware of the particular risks that arise in a TLPT and that those risk are mitigated. In that respect, without prejudice to the internal processes of the financial entity and the responsibility and delegations already provided to the control team leadmeans the staff member of the financial entity responsible for the conduct of all TLPT-related activities for the financial entity in the context of a given test;, information about the TLPT risk management measures, or, in particular cases the approval of those risk management measures by the financial entity’s 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) Directive 2009/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) (OJ L 302, 17.11.2009, p. 32)., 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; itself, may be appropriate. To be able to deliver effective and most qualified professional services and to reduce those risks, it is also essential that the testers and threat intelligence providersmeans the experts, contracted by the financial entity for each TLPT, and external to the financial entity and to ICT intra-group service providers if any, who collect and analyse targeted threat intelligence relevant for the financial entities in scope of a specific TLPT exercise and develop matching relevant and realistic threat scenarios; (together, the TLPT providersmeans testers and threat intelligence providers;) have the highest level of skills, expertise, and an appropriate experience in 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; and TLPT in the financial services industry.