Bank of England hit by eight cyber attacks including malware-laced “spear phishing” campaigns, threats to banks' operations are at an all time high according to the Bank's Systemic Risk Survey.Now stepped up defences against cyber crime by introducing new measures to help banks detect and counter hacking.
Andrew Gracie, the Bank's executive director for resolution, on Tuesday unveiled CBEST, a framework that brings together intelligence from Government and security companies to assess risks to the financial system.
CBEST will then use bespoke tests to see whether banks' security systems are vulnerable. Mr Gracie said that unlike current cyber threat systems, it would replicate threats that are already being used by criminals.
In summit will bring together representatives from major banks, government departments and law enforcement operations in an attempt to ensure greater co-operation on security.
In a report ahead of the meeting, the BBA warned of the rising threat of cyber attacks and "an element of lack of awareness and cultural resistance" to co-operation across the sector.
CBEST, which was launched last month but not announced until Tuesday, will be voluntary. However, Mr Gracie said: "We expect take-up to be significiant given the benefits it will deliver."
The Bank said the new framework differs from existing security testing at banks because it uses real threat intelligence and focuses on the more sophisticated and persistent attacks on critical systems and essential services.
The framework was set up last month but was not publicly announced until Tuesday. Participation is voluntary, but Gracie expects take-up to be significant.
Cyber attacks have increased in recent years, with criminals, extortionists and hacktivists - politically motivated hackers - attempting to infiltrate systems or just disrupt operations, often through distributed denial of service attacks that bombard websites with traffic.
