Bank regulator warns of growing cyber risk for financial sector

Cyber attacks are one of the top three operational risks that banks face, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, highlighting a type of email scam which the agency says has cost businesses more than $2.3 billion over the past couple of years.

Cyberattacks are one of the top three operational risks that banks face, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, highlighting a type of email scam that the agency says has cost businesses more than $2.3 billion over the past couple of years.

‘Operationally, banks are dealing with existing and constantly evolving cybersecurity threats and increasingly rely on third parties for essential services,’ Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry said, rolling out the OCC’s Semiannual Risk Perspective this week. The report adds ‘resiliency planning’ to that list of operational risks.

‘These areas require heightened management attention and continuous vigilance,’ Curry said.

In the twice-yearly report, the regulator references ‘[r]ecent cyber attacks against interbank networks and wholesale payment systems’ — i.e. the SWIFT attacks — saying they demonstrated the high-end capabilities of cybercrime gangs.

The report also notes that ‘[c]yber criminals increasingly target businesses, including banks and their customers, using social engineering attacks on … employees that request expedited wire transfers to pay phony vendor invoices.’

Known as business email compromise, or BEC, such attacks cost businesses globally more than $2.3 billion from October 2013 through February 2016, according to the report.

‘Banks may not adequately incorporate resiliency considerations, including recovery from cyber events, into their overall governance, risk management, and strategic planning processes,’ states the report.

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Government

• FBI officials say AI is bolstering adversaries, emphasizing need to focus on cyber basics, patching

• Feds accuse China of ‘systematic’ distillation of U.S. AI models

• CIA’s Michael Ellis says cyber intelligence is changing how the agency operates

• The G7 tells industry to hurry up and prep for post-quantum encryption

Technology

• European parliament members call for slowdown of Serbia’s EU entry over spyware use

• FCC proposes public scorecard to rate telecoms on anti-robocall efforts

• Pegasus, NoviSpy variant spyware found on devices of Serbian activists

• Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use

Threats

• Chinese espionage groups swarm to exploit triple-link chain of zero-days

• Microsoft discloses two actively exploited zero-days among 974 vulnerabilities

• Attackers exploit zero-days in consistently besieged SonicWall product

• Jail time for Maine child in 764 marks turning point in federal law enforcement

Policy

• Whistleblower says USPS deploying new, ‘untested’ IT systems governing mail-in ballots

• ‘Watershed 250’ test program in Texas looks to private sector for water cybersecurity help

• Former sexual abuse victims say Grok used their images, videos to train deepfake capabilities

• Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure