Banks warned cyber attacks still a big threat
BANKS need to better co-ordinate their response to any future cyber attack if they are to resist the assault and keep key systems functioning, a test of the industry’s capabilities has revealed.
Finance firms are more open about such attacks than they used to be, the simulation – dubbed Waking Shark 2 – found, but more changes are needed.
One solution would be appointing a central body to co-ordinate the response to any attack. The report suggests the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) could take the role.
“There is no central industry coordination for financial sector information sharing and communication to the wider public and it was suggested consideration should be given to allocating this role to a single coordination body (possibly the BBA) to manage communications across the sector during an incident,” said the report.
The BBA is open to considering the new job.
“Cyber-attacks pose a clear and present danger to our financial system. That’s why it’s so important that our industry conducts exercises to make banks better prepared to protect themselves and their customers from these threats,” said the BBA’s Andrew Rogan.
“We will consider the recommendations in the Bank of England’s report carefully and are looking seriously at what role we could play in the future to combat these threats.”
The simulation, run in part by the Bank of England, also found banks did not always report the attacks quickly enough to law enforcement agencies.
And it found banks were not always aware of which of the range of regulators they needed to inform about the attacks and their responses to them.
Meanwhile KPMG warned threats will develop just as responses to attacks do.
“Waking Shark 2 has shone a welcome light on current vulnerabilities, but that doesn’t mean it is safe to ‘get back in the water’,” said partner Stephen Bonner. “Hackers see each barrier as a challenge to be beaten, meaning that constant vigilance and testing is vital if financial organisations are to remain secure.”