Company: BCTF
Filing Date: 2025-03-06
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001552781-25-000058
Chunk: 51

Company: Bancorp 34, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-06
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 51
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new business conditions or opportunities. Efforts to make systems more robust may make them less adaptable, and vice-versa. Also, our
efforts to control expenses, which is a significant priority for us, increases our operational challenges as we strive to maintain client
service and compliance at high quality and low cost.

A
failure in or breach of our operational or security systems or infrastructure, or those of our third party vendors and other service
providers or other third parties, including as a result of cyber-attacks, could disrupt our businesses, result in the disclosure or misuse
of confidential or proprietary information, damage our reputation, increase our costs and cause losses.

We rely heavily on communications
and information systems to conduct our business. Information security risks for financial institutions such as ours have generally increased
in recent years in part because of the proliferation of new technologies, the use of the internet and telecommunications technologies
to conduct financial transactions, and the increased sophistication and activities of organized crime, hackers, terrorists, activists,
and other external parties. As client, public, and regulatory expectations regarding operational and information security have increased,
our operational systems and infrastructure must continue to be safeguarded and monitored for potential failures, disruptions, and breakdowns.
Our business, financial, accounting and data processing systems, or other operating systems and facilities may stop operating properly
or become disabled or damaged as a result of a number of factors, including events that are wholly or partially beyond our control. For
example, there could be electrical or telecommunications outages; natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes; disease
pandemics (such as the COVID-19 pandemic); events arising from local or larger scale political or social matters, including terrorist
acts; and cyber-attacks.

38

As noted above, our
business relies on our digital technologies, computer and email systems, software, and networks to conduct our operations. Although we
have information security procedures and controls in place, our technologies, systems, networks, and our clients’ devices may become
the target of cyberattacks or information security breaches that could result in the unauthorized release, gathering, monitoring, misuse,
loss or destruction of our or our clients’ confidential, proprietary and other information, or otherwise disrupt our or our clients’
or other third parties’ business operations. Third parties with whom we do business or that facilitate our business activities,
including financial intermediaries, or vendors that provide services or security solutions for our operations, and other third parties,
could also be sources of operational and information security