UK Banks Set To Stress Test Cyber Security
Thu 24 Nov, 2011 // Chris Allan
British banks have taken part in a cyber attack simulated by the Treasury, Bank of England, and the Financial Authorities. The test attack was performed in order to test the responses to a cyber attack on payment systems in the context of the Olympic Games in London 2012, when transport systems will be extremely busy, and staff numbers may be at a reduced level due to desires to watch the games themselves.
The exercise, one of the largest of it's kind in the world, is aimed at creating a better understanding of how the banks will cope in the event of an attack on major infrastructure. A major focus of the exercise was on how quickly all systems could be fully restored to their original state after such an attack.
A total of 87 banks and organisations took part in the exercise carried out on the 22nd of November 2011, including HSBC, Barclays, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and Lloyds to name a few.
The event has been named the 'market-wide exercise' (MWE) by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), who have stated:
“The market-wide exercise is carried out to assess and improve the resilience of the financial services sector during a major operational disruption and is an important part of planning,”
“There are no passes or fails. The exercise is about firms assessing their business continuity systems and updating them where necessary and the authorities identifying areas for further attention.”
The exercise will help establish areas which require improvement. One of the most pressing issues is the limitation of any disruption to customers during the Olympic Games in 2012, whether they are withdrawing cash or making a payment by debit or credit card.. Dealing with how firms inform their customers of any temporary inability to use their credit cards or make payments is something the FSA is looking at closely.
After the completion of the exercise, it is up to the Financial Sector Continuity Group to analyse the results and identify a number of key lessons that need to be learned.
The FSA have confirmed that there are plans to publish the results of the exercise in February, 2012.
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