CYBER CRIMES

Banks ‘not paying attention’ on cyber crime
UK financial services industry is ‘perfect target’ for attack, warns lobby group TheCityUK
London (UK) – 17 May 2016 – FT - The UK financial sector is failing to take cyber crime seriously enough, a report will say on Tuesday, recommending that companies share more information while calling for tax breaks to boost investment in cyber defences.
The financial services industry is “the perfect target” for cyber attack, warns the report from lobby group TheCityUK, presenting the results of a six-month review of cyber security in the sector.
“The UK government and its agencies have already started to take action,” says Mark Weil chief executive of insurance broker Marsh Ltd and chairman of TheCityUK’s cyber task force. “However, outside of a very few firms, we do not yet see cyber getting the attention it needs from business leaders.”
Underlining the threat to banks from hackers, the Swift global payments system warned last week that it had discovered a second case of a bank being robbed using similar methods to the record digital theft at the Bangladesh central bank in February.
TheCityUK proposes to help create a new “cyber forum” that it said could improve the flow of information about the threat of hackers across the financial system.
The new body, intended to complement various other groups already established to co-ordinate the industry’s response to cyber crime, would comprise a steering group of board-level directors and a working group of risk executives or chief information security officers.
Some senior bankers admit they have been slow to share much information on cyber security, particularly because of worries about breaching customer privacy laws or competition rules.
Conceding that improving defences against cyber crime will raise costs for financial groups, the report suggests that this could be partially offset against specific industry taxes, such as the bank levy and tax surcharge or the insurance premium tax.
“There is also a talent gap, given the rapid increase in demand for cyber security capabilities and given the high level of training required,” the report states, calling on firms to offer more apprenticeships and work placements in the area of cyber security.
The cyber-security market was valued by Gartner at ￡50bn in 2015 and the report argues that the UK has an opportunity to increase its share of this growing market from its roughly ￡1.5bn of cyber security exports in 2014.
“We in the financial and related professional services sector need to act with the urgency of knowing that a large, systemic risk is upon us,” says John McFarlane, chairman of Barclays and of TheCityUK.
“That means individual firms acting to make themselves safe and ready to recover. It also includes the industry acting collectively to make the system safe.”