In today’s financial world, transactions happen instantaneously.
Whether it’s a trader on Wall Street or a personal banker, events happen in real-time. The IT networks that work behind the scenes have to be able to handle these real-time transactions and remain compliant with the ever increasing regulations that they are governed by.
Recent regulations, acts and standards such as Sarbanes Oxley, Visa CISP - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, OATS, FFIEC and Gramm-Leach Bliley, mandate that financial records be secure and accurate. When performing an audit, the time a transaction was made needs to be authenticated. By providing accurate time-stamps and audit trail support, greater regulatory compliance can be gained.
Visa - CISP Regulation - 10.4 Synchronize All Critical System Clocks & Time:
NTP is used for time synchronization.Two or three central time servers within the organization receive external time signals (directly from GPS satellites - based on International Atomic Time and UTC (formerly GMT)), peer with each other to keep accurate time, and share the time with other internal servers (i.e., internal servers should not be all be receiving time signals from external sources).
NTP is running the most recent version.
Specific external hosts are designated from which the time servers will accept NTP time updates (to prevent an attacker from changing the clock). Updates can be encrypted with a symmetric key, and access control lists can be created that specify the IP addresses of client machines that will be provided with the NTP service (to prevent unauthorized use of internal time servers).
OATS - NASD Rule 6953 - Clock Synchronization:
Requires member firms that record order, transaction, or related data required by the By-Laws or other rules of NASD to synchronize all business clocks, including both computer system clocks and mechanical time stamping devices, that are used to record the date and time of any market event. In addition, the rule requires that member firms maintain the synchronization of such business clocks.
All computer system clocks and mechanical time stamping devices must be synchronized to within three seconds of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) atomic clock.
The ability to synchronize time improves the functionality of these networks. By utilizing a GPS enabled NTP Time Server, an organization can guarantee that the time across their network is secure, accurate and reliable.
When all the devices in a network are synchronized, all transactions that take place are able to provide an accurate, authenticated time source. For this very reason, Spectracom is able to provide Legally Traceable Time® that is official UTC, Coordinated Universal Time. When a transaction happens, that event can be traced back with the ability to precisely and legally prove its documented history.
Security is also increased, as with the use of such a time server, it resides behind the firewall so there is no need to open any additional ports and seek time from on an unreliable source over the internet.
Products for Financial Services
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Network Time Servers
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NetClock GPS time servers provide accurate, reliable, and secure time to networks, stand-alone devices and display clocks. Provides NTP for Ethernet networks and timecode outputs for specialized devices.
Features: Secure and Legally Traceable Time®, stratum-1 accuracy
Benefits: Supports Interoperability and regulatory compliance, accurate time stamps and audit trails, easy-to-install and manage
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Time Displays
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TimeView® time displays are synchronized from a time source using RS-485 or a wireless transmission (private radio or 900 MHz open frequency. Customizable to provide event and alert indicators.
Features: Wireless time, high visibility, Synchronized time
Benefits: Operational efficiency |