22nd Century Group, Inc. - (XXII)

10-K Filing Date: March 28, 2024

Item 1C. Cybersecurity

The Company recognizes the critical importance of maintaining the trust and confidence of our customers, clients, business partners and employees. The Board has delegated to the Audit Committee oversight of cybersecurity and other information technology risks affecting the Company. The Audit Committee and senior management are actively involved in oversight of the Company’s risk management program, and cybersecurity represents an important component of the Company’s overall approach to enterprise risk management (“ERM”). In general, the Company seeks to address cybersecurity risks through a comprehensive, cross-functional approach that is focused on preserving the confidentiality, security and availability of the information that the Company collects and stores by identifying, preventing and mitigating cybersecurity threats and effectively responding to cybersecurity incidents when they occur.

Risk Management and Strategy

As one of the critical elements of the Company’s overall ERM approach, the Company’s cybersecurity program is focused on the following key areas:

Collaborative Approach: The Company has implemented a comprehensive, cross-functional approach to identifying, preventing and mitigating cybersecurity threats and incidents, while also implementing controls and procedures that provide for the prompt escalation of certain cybersecurity incidents so that decisions regarding the public disclosure and reporting of such incidents can be made by management in a timely manner.

Technical Safeguards: The Company deploys technical safeguards that are designed to protect the Company’s information systems from cybersecurity threats, including firewalls, intrusion prevention and detection systems, anti-malware functionality and access controls, which are evaluated and improved through vulnerability assessments and cybersecurity threat intelligence.

Third-Party Risk Management: The Company maintains a comprehensive, risk-based approach to identifying and overseeing cybersecurity risks presented by third parties, including vendors, service providers and other external users of the Company’s systems, as well as the systems of third parties that could adversely impact our business in the event of a cybersecurity incident affecting those third-party systems.

Education and Awareness: The Company provides regular, mandatory training for personnel regarding cybersecurity threats as a means to equip the Company’s personnel with effective tools to address cybersecurity threats, and to communicate the Company’s evolving information security policies, standards, processes and practices.

The Company engages a third-party service provider specializing in information technology, which assists with the periodic assessment and testing of the Company’s policies, standards, processes and practices that are designed to address cybersecurity threats and incidents. These efforts include a wide range of activities, including audits, assessments, tabletop exercises, threat modeling, vulnerability testing and other exercises focused on evaluating the effectiveness of our cybersecurity measures and planning.

Governance

The Audit Committee oversees the Company’s ERM process, including the management of risks arising from cybersecurity threats. On an annual basis, the Audit Committee discusses with Senior Management cybersecurity risks, which address a wide range of topics including recent developments, evolving standards, vulnerability assessments, third-party and independent reviews, the threat environment, technological trends and information security considerations arising with respect to the Company’s peers and third parties. As applicable, the Audit Committee also receives prompt and timely information regarding any cybersecurity incident that meets established reporting thresholds, as well as ongoing updates regarding any such incident until it has been addressed.

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Senior management, in coordination with the Company’s third-party service provider specializing in information technology, works collaboratively across the Company to implement a program designed to protect the Company’s information systems from cybersecurity threats and to promptly respond to any cybersecurity incidents in accordance with the Company’s incident response and recovery plans. Through ongoing communications with the third party service provider, Senior Management monitors the prevention, detection, mitigation and remediation of cybersecurity threats and incidents in real time and report such threats and incidents to the Audit Committee when appropriate.

Cybersecurity threats, including as a result of any previous cybersecurity incidents, have not materially affected or are reasonably likely to affect the Company, including its business strategy, results of operations or financial condition, but we cannot provide assurance that they will not be materially affected in the future by such risks or any future material incidents. For more information on our cybersecurity related risks, see Item 1A Risk Factors in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.