Swift Customer Security Controls Framework

The Swift Customer Security Controls Framework (CSCF) is composed of mandatory and advisory security controls for Swift users.

The mandatory security controls establish a security baseline for the entire community. They must be implemented by all users on their local Swift infrastructure. Swift has chosen to prioritise these mandatory controls to set a realistic goal for near-term, tangible security gains and risk reduction.

The advisory controls are based on recommended practice that Swift recommends all users to implement. Over time, controls may change due to the evolving threat landscape, the introduction of new technologies, the evolution of security-related regulations in major jurisdictions, developments in cybersecurity practices, or user feedback,. As such, some advisory controls may become mandatory, or new controls may be added.

All controls are articulated around three overarching objectives:

• Secure your Environment
• Know and Limit Access
• Detect and Respond

Finally, control definitions are in line with existing information security industry standards.
 

Security Attestation

The information outlined in the CSCF document form the general, product-agnostic controls. All users must read the controls set out in this document carefully, and prepare their own organisation for implementation.

To complement the CSCF, Swift publishes product-specific Security Guidance (SG) documents. These provide the minimum security recommendations as well as additional guidance on how the existing security features of Swift’s messaging interfaces suite should be configured to align with the latest CSCF.

To ensure adoption, and to complement the CSCF, Swift publishes further details of the related attestation policy and process in the Swift Customer Security Controls (CSCF) Policy document.

The document contains information on:

• the requirement to attest against Swift’s mandatory security controls.
• the process and timelines for submitting your attestation to the KYC-Security Attestation application.
• the process for viewing counterparties’ attestation via the KYC Security Attestation application
• follow-up actions in case of non-compliance according to the reporting timelines.

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The Change Management process ensures that the Swift community has sufficient time (up to 18 months) to understand and implement required changes to the controls requirements.

Any changes to the controls will be announced mid-year, with attestation and compliance with the new version of mandatory controls required between July and December of the following year, dependent on the expiry date of the user’s attestation. 

In exceptional circumstances an emergency release may be required, but this happens rarely.

The introduction of new controls or guidelines will take account of strong cybersecurity practices that address currently known, new and arising threats in order to pragmatically and collectively raise the security bar for all.

Throughout the year we consult and gather feedback from a range of stakeholders to capture change requests. All new mandatory controls are first introduced as advisory, giving all users at least two cycles to plan, budget and implement any changes.