As the National Governors Association summer meeting convened in Providence this month, more than 30 governors from around the country joined by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence placed special attention on one issue in particular: cybersecurity. That can't be a surprise to anyone. We now know that data theft played a role in the 2016 Presidential election. We also know that nearly two-thirds of federal agencies have suffered a data breach, while more than 95 percent of federal agencies consider themselves vulnerable to a breach, according to a report from the cybersecurity firm Thales. And of course, we know that cybersecurity incidents are having a major impact on commerce. Cybersecurity practices are doing a booming business counseling victims of data breaches, when they aren't being targeted themselves something DLA Piper experienced in late June, when a cyberattack shut down the firm's phones and email for days.

The problem is everywhere, and there's no doubt that many of the governors in Providence are searching for solutions to it. As they do, they might consider the example of New York, which introduced groundbreaking cybersecurity rules in 2017 and is openly calling on other states to follow its lead. The New York regulatory framework offers a viable model for other jurisdictions to adopt, particularly as global cyberattacks make cyber defense an urgent matter.

New York's cybersecurity regulations are the first of their kind. Implemented earlier this year by the state's Department of Financial Services, they apply only to insurers and certain financial institutions businesses that, due to the sensitive nature of customer data they maintain, have much at risk in any data breach. One of the regulations' major provisions is a mandate that the banks and insurers subject to them appoint a Chief Information Security Officer by August 2017. In addition, they require periodic risk assessments and the maintenance of cybersecurity programs, as well as requiring entities to:

Implement written cybersecurity policies;

Comply with governance and staffing requirements, including appointment of a CISO by August 2017;

Limit user access privileges;

Install a vendor risk-management program, policies and procedures;

Destroy nonpublic information periodically and securely;

Establish a written incident-response plan;

Provide regular cybersecurity awareness training; and

Notify the DFS of any breaches within 72 hours.

Not long after the implementation of the New York rules in March, the WannaCry ransomware outbreak infected approximately 200,000 endpoints across 150 countries. That was more than enough to underline the cyberthreat to financial institutions and insurance companies, even before a second round of global ransomware attacks arrived via the "Petya" software.