The financial industry needs to come together to better understand the threat of cybercrime, according to an expert.
Gottfried Leibbrandt, CEO of SWIFT, described cybersecurity as a “critical issue”, which needs to be improved.
Speaking candidly at the 14th annual European Financial Services Conference in Brussels, Mr. Leibbrandt acknowledged that this will be an ongoing battle.
"There will be more cyberattack. And inevitably some will be successful. Acknowledging this doesn’t mean we are resigned to it."
"There will be more cyberattacks,” he said. “And inevitably some will be successful. Acknowledging this doesn’t mean we are resigned to it.
“Rather, it means that we must work even harder at our collective defensive efforts.”
He described the cyberheist at Bangladesh Bank as a “watershed” moment – when cybercriminals made off $81 million back in February, they forever changed the financial industry.
The attack could have been worse, as a spelling mistake prevented the perpetrators from netting close to $1 billion.
“This is a big deal,” Mr. Leibbrandt continued in his speech. “And it gets to the heart of banking. Keeping money secure is core business for banks.”
In related news, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US said that cybercrime is the biggest threat facing the financial industry.
Speaking at the Reuters Financial Regulation Summit in Washington D.C., Mary Jo White, chair of the SEC, explained that the commission’s analysis has shown that cyber policies are lacking.
"What we found, as a general matter so far, is a lot of preparedness, a lot of awareness but also their policies and procedures are not tailored to their particular risks," she was quoted by Reuters as saying.
